Wayne Boatwright > wrote:

>I honestly don't care whether the airline charges them for a second seat or
>not. I just don't want the obese person flowing over into *my* seat. I
>paid for it and I'm entitled to it.

I care, in the sense that sound energy policy requires that
planes be optimally loaded. This means seats cannot be
too large, nor can too many seats be empty, nor can they
just give away a second seat to some customers for free,
otherwise there are too few passengers on the plane and energy
costs balloon. Economics dictates that airliner seats will be
slightly smaller than is comfortable for most people.

Every time someone has started up an "all big seats" airline
it has failed.

It is better to pack the airplanes, and if they are too
packed to be comfortable, bump some passengers to the next,
less crowded flight. In the interest of fairness, they
should bump any passenger, not just large passengers,
on an equal basis, so that all passengers are treated
equally and there is no discrmination. But what they shouldn't
do is automatically keep seats empty, and/or not charge for the
second seat when desired/necessary, or randomly underload airplanes
due to some ill-thought-out equal-rights argument.

Conserving energy is not just a woozy liberal planet-saving
goal, it saves lives in the third world where people are
starving due to the food/energy crisis. If we need a
policy change, a policy that treats large passengers equally
but _without wasting fuel_ is what is needed. Any policy
change that results in burning more fuel is a non-starter.

Steve