Tubby Tax' on the way for obese travelers? Australia considers it. Can America be far behind?

http://www.thatsfit.com/2007/11/13/tubby-tax-on-the-way-for-obese-travelers/
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DU had conversatons about this subject not long ago. We predicted the emergence of such taxes, following the increase in cig tax.
I believe in the world of profit, anything not yet taxed will find its way to the surface. They will always present a "good" argument for the tax and a campaign designed to gain support by singling out groups and encouraging the finger-pointing of their opposites, much like playground bullying.
All fine for the finger-pointers until they also find themselves the target of a group specific tax.
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'Tubby Tax' on the way for obese travelers?
Posted: Nov 13th 2007 11:23AM by Martha Edwards
Filed under: Health in the Media, Diet and Weight Loss

When your luggage weighs too much, you have to pay an extra fee. But could this kind of excess weight tax be applied to your body weight as well? One doctor in Australia thinks so -- according to Dr John Tickell, an expert in nutrition and weight control, obese travellers should have to pay extra rates to fly because they are driving up the cost of flights for everyone, since it takes more jet fuel to transport them. Really? If that's true, it does seem a little unfair for all of us to be paying the same price, especially since we encourage airlines to charge more for people who bring too much luggage because we don't want to pay for their extravagance.

Still, it seems cruel and embarrassing to base the cost of a flight on how much someone weighs. What do you think if this idea?

before they boarded:)

Wouldn't we love that ...NOT!!!

Perhaps the airlines are aiminng to get the "masses" out of airports & planes completely..

Pretty soon the only people who will be flying are rich folks & the occasional terrrrrrraissssst..:maybe those two classes deserve each other :P

and tax. hair color, no hair, Gucchi vs Vitton, Ya, it'll be interesting to watch the most worthy among us as they pick apart each other.

use the restrooms. There should also be a surcharge for the chatty.

On small planes, there are weight restrictions, and everything on the plane needs to be accounted for, or the plane could crash.

I don't think the same thing is applicable on large crafts. The difference of 50-100lbs is miniscule compared to the weight of the plane. Now if someone takes up two seats, then the airline is potentially losing the revenue of one seat.

I am not a big fan of sitting next to the morbidly obese on planes. Thats why I fly southwest, no slutty skanks allowed. and If I am quick enough I will take the remaining seat next to two skinnier folk.

who weighs over a certain limit. Including any NFL linebacker who chooses commercial flights. Big & Tall men and women would also suffer this tax in this case. UNLESS along with your security scan they would do a body fat ratio test also.

And at risk of flaming, it could impact races generally in a favorable or unfavorable way. Well, for that matter, it would impact, generally, men unfavorably over women, they tend to weigh more in general.

NFL players are generally not fat enough to ooze over the seat into my space.

Tall people are the same and most overly tall people get bounced into the aisle seat or the front seat for their legs which are the problem.

The proposals of alot of airlines are for people so obese that they take up room for two seats.

I used to be that way and I have fought a battle with it all my life, but I do it for my health.

I am a big guy,(6'1" about 230) and I have flown airlines that charge extra, but I have not been charged even though I am not a skinny man.

actually be more relevant.

Which actually could affect women adversely. And in fact, logically they would have to charge pregnant women extra.

Southwest's clothing police, but apparantly the joke fell dead.

fuel used is relevant. Otherwise, they'd already be weighing us, if not to keep the obese off of the plane, then to calculate the amount of fuel.

God, Western society is becoming so punishment oriented. It's like we want to punish people for every little vice and turn every crime into a bigger crime with bigger penalties, with no forgiveness either. Why are we so obsessed with making life harder for other people, based on some type of moral judgment?

Your last paragraph is worthy of a thread of it's own.

I support the concept. Obesity is a greater threat to the community than the fake GWOT. Such a tax should be expanded beyond the airline industry to punish the purveyors of fat.

If efficiency is the name of the game, and that is how you keep costs down, you can do nothing but tax every aspect of life.

I had a very unpleasant experience sitting next to a very fat man on a Jetblue flight. I could not use the armrest at all as it was submerged under the belly blubber. Meanwhile, the thigh blubber was oozing *under* the armrest and onto my seat cushion, resulting in less room for me. Early in the flight he tried to lower his tray table but could only get it down to about a 45 degree angle because his fat belly was in the way. However, when the flight attendant brought the snacks around he forced his tray table down to almost a flat position, literally wedging it into his huge stomach, because he wanted to make damn sure that he got to eat the Doritos Munchy Mix.

I'm pretty much a libertarian and if someone wants to chow down and not go the gym that's fine with me, but I shouldn't be forced to sit next to him on a plane.

:popcorn:

I've taken 20 or so individual flights in the last couple of months, and I'm sick and tired of massive hambeasts taking up way more than their fair space. Why shouldn't they pay at least twice what I pay?

There should be a minimum fare based on combined luggage and passenger weight and the occupancy of one seat. Every additional stupid carryon bag, every additional pound past a certain BME, every additional stored bag... these should dramatically raise air fares.

People who are slow getting in and out of their seats, by the way, should pay at least triple.

... if you're under 6'

I would have to guess that the airlines make fuel calculations based on the expected percentage of seats filled on a given flight, times the average body weight of the typical flier. Since some people have to weigh less than the average, it probably balances out on most flights.

I do agree with the concept of requiring people to buy two seats if they don't fit in one, though. I hate sitting next to someone who's so fat that their torso hangs over the armrest, thereby leaving their hambone of an arm sticking 6" into my seat and forcing me to lean over the other way for the entire flight. If I'm going to pay for the whole seat, I'd like to use the whole seat. Give me a 25% discount and charge to the other guy if he's going to use 25% of my seat. Hell, he can even have my peanuts.

As long as I'm in a bitching mood, let me complain about the people who lean the seat back. I'm 6'5", and I almost never lean my seat back; I hate the thought that I am intruding into the limited space allowed the person behind me. Why, then, do I always get stuck behind some 5'2" person who thinks they need every inch of space they can get, and promptly bangs their seat all the way back against my knees?

There, I feel better already. Thanks! :)