Ryanair say these things for the publicity. Quite often you'll see a Ryanair story about charging for toilets, or obese passengers... Keeps them on the front page.
I see no problem with it. It is torture to sit on a flight next to an extremely obese person. They take up more plane space so they should pay more. They also turn a 13 hour flight into 13 hour torture for those on the left, right and in front of them.
The same goes for hand luggage. You get stupid ass people that will remove your laptop (only luggage) from a safe place and put it so that it can fall down to make place for their 3 pieces of luggage.
Ryanair annoy me in other ways though, such as the mad dash for the seats, and their habit of introducing hidden fees late in the booking process. (they happen to be the only airline to service the journey to my girlfriend's parents with direct flights, so we use them a few times a year)
Odd: from the article:
“Will we give you a refund on a nonrefundable ticket because your granny died unexpectedly?” he asked. “No! Go away. We’re not interested in your sob stories! What part of ‘no refund’ do you not understand?”
whereas Ryanair do actually fully refund tickets if an immediate relative dies.
Is it not a slippery slope where people who are not standardised are charged more? Maybe non standard people should sit at the back of the plane so no one has to see them?
I thought we'd progressed beyond this but it seems we are still a greedy, self centred species at heart willing to condemn a fellow member for a few pathetic dollars and a few minutes of our lives.
The fairest system IMHO would be to give everyone a "total weight allowance" that includes, you, and all your luggage. And if you're so big you spill onto other peoples laps, buy extra seats.
Next you'll be suggesting we give terrorists equal rights on flights as well! They're people too!
Incidentally, I agree with the rest of your post.
(ok,ok! -- I deserve the downmod for that one. Just couldn't help myself)
Likewise, if a person does not physically fit into an airline seat, it does not seem unreasonable to me that they would need to pay for a second seat (or a first-class seat, or an extra large seat, however the airline chose to handle the situation).
These are completely different issues. A lot of disabled people are able to sit still in their allotted space. A disability is usually also not a lifestyle choice (as obesity is in 99.99% of cases).
I have great empathy for a disabled person. But my empathy does not stretch to people who to supersize their burgers.
> Is it not a slippery slope where people who are not standardised are charged more? Maybe non standard people should sit at the back of the plane so no one has to see them?
They use up more of a service. If a fat person is in a restaurant and he eats to burgers instead of one, is he charged more or not? If you use more of a service then you should pay more.
Also, I pay good money for my small piece of seat. If you sit alongside a fat person he will unapologetically take up 30-40% of your seat space. If you do not want to charge him more, can you at least charge me less? (Since I do not get to use the seat space).
Or why not let fat people sit alongside each other? That way they can feel themselves how they make other people on the plane feel.
The very least an obese person can do is to minimise his carryon luggage – but unfortunately the opposite seems true.