United Airlines to charge overweight passengers for two seatsBy Edgar Sandoval and Corky Siemaszko
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Wednesday, April 15th 2009, 1:10 PM
So much for jumbo jets.
From now on, United Airlines passengers with extra-wide bodies will have to pay for an extra seat - if they want to fly the friendly skies.
Flight attendants will be on the lookout for portly passengers who can't buckle the seat belts or put their arm rests down.
Those deemed too fat to fly "must either purchase a ticket for an additional seat, or purchase an upgrade to a cabin with seats that address the above-listed scenarios," United Airlines wrote on its Web site.
If no other seats are available on that flight, the hefty flier will be grounded until two adjacent seats can be found on the next plane out.
"It's discrimination," said Jack Gillotto, a 300-pounder from Danbury, Conn., as he waited for a flight at LaGuardia Airport.
"I understand if a person takes space from another, they should pay extra," said Gillotto, 48. "But not an entire second seat."
Maria Garcia, flying home to California from LaGuardia, said United is picking on full-figured fliers like herself.
"They are taking money away from us," said Garcia, 31. "It's bad as it is for the economy."
Juan Rivera, who goes by "El Gordo" because he weighs 230 pounds and stands just 5-feet-2, said, "That affects me, as an overweight person.
"I don't feel like I should pay for being bigger," said Rivera, 45, of the Bronx.
United insisted it was simply acting on the 700-plus complaints it received last year about obese travelers "infringing" on their neighbors' space.
"This will apply after all other solutions are exhausted," United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski Janikowski said. "Should the flight be full, which is rare in today's economy ... we will offer the second seat on another flight at the same fare that was originally paid."
Fat fliers are a growing problem for U.S. airlines at a time when space is at a premium, travel is expensive and 34% of Americans are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Eight other U.S. airlines - including Delta and Southwest - have similar seating policies requiring extra-large passengers to "purchase a second seat" if they can't fit into one, Urbanski Janikowski said.
Karl Shen, who weighs 250 pounds and flies frequently to Florida on business, said it was just a matter of time before the airlines cracked down on fliers like himself.
In years past, Shen said flight attendants would offer him an extra seat for free out of courtesy - if not sympathy. "They could see the seats were too small for me," said Shen, 47, of Brooklyn.
Now, if he has to, Shen said he's ready to fork out more "to be comfortable."
"By the time I get off the plane, it's very painful," he said.
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