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Comment by catzaa | Hacker News Reader

> Ryanair story about charging for , or obese passengers...

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.

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Unfortunately they got shot down on grounds of discrimination for that suggestion. It's one of their crazy schemes I would have actually supported. Airlines have always annoyed me with the fact that you have to pay crazy money if your luggage is 1kg overweight but the guy next to you weighs 80kg more than you and pays the same.

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.

It used to be to protect the staff handling the luggages so they don't have to wreck their backs lifting your heavy stuff. Although some airlines charge you if you exceed 15kgs some if you go over 20 so that is strange for the same airport. Some saw an opportunity and lowered their barrier so they can rip you off. Still...it's our whining nature. Pay 5000$ for a business class ticket with a full service carrier and you will have none of these problems. I can visit places/friends more often now thanks to low cost flights even if I don't like them.

Yeah and disabled people and ill people. The take up precious time and space!

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.

Have you not sat next to a morbidly obese sweating person whose mounds of fat are spilling onto your leg, arm, shoulder? You should try it some day.

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!

New law (based on Godwin): Whoever invokes terrorists or 9/11 in a conversation unrelated to terrorism loses.

Incidentally, I agree with the rest of your post.

If we find out that Nazis caused 9-11, it will be the end of civilized internet discourse as we know it

(ok,ok! -- I deserve the downmod for that one. Just couldn't help myself)

Yeah I agree with that :) I think obviously you have to draw the line somewhere.

Your hyperbole is inappropriate here. As an analogy, laws already make exceptions to discrimination if the nature of the job requires certain abilities. Go look for manual labor jobs and you will see statements like "applications must be able to lift X pounds to a height of Y feet". One might naively claim this was discrimination against some disabled people, but an exception is made if the job requires it.

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).

> Yeah and disabled people and ill people. The take up precious time and space!

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.

As well as weighing your luggage at the check in desk, they should weigh you. And if you're too fat, tell you to go away and diet, or pay an excess.

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