November 08, 2004
"...no no, bad management is not the reason why airlines are going broke, the reason is fat people"
yeah, they've actually said it...and this time, apparently, they have scientific "proof" to back their claims.
UGH! *%^$%^%%$#@#!! a-holes! honestly, what's next?
Dear passengers, this plane is a "haute couture" only environment
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Whose *%^$%^%%$#@#!! a-holes are you talking about? I hope you're not dissing us fatties.
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I suppose fat people don't fly jet blue, who seems to have no trouble running their business. Did southwest airlines ask fat people to buy 2 seats for themselves because of financial troubles, or for the comfort of their other passengers? (I don't mean to sound insensitive, but if you're too big to fit in your seat and sort of overflow into mine on a 4 hour flight, it may make the passengers sitting next to you uncomfortable. Jets tend to make people claustrophobic as it is, even without all the extra crowding.)
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*reads over last post* Oh dear, I think I'm going to have an interesting Monday after all. Please disregard the second paragraph of my post. Or at least substitute the word overweight for any other word you deem insensitive.
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I think that airlines are going broke because of double posts.
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OOOPS, I'm sorry goetter! the mental database that I've created *exclusively* for MoFi must be malfunctioning... *BOWS IN REVERENCE* Please monkey gods, erase this post. -_-
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How dare you not track every comment on every post, every day. How dare you!!
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*pinches one of those chubby cheeks*
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I don't see why this is controversial. Americans weigh more on average than they did 20 years ago. Increased per passenger weight has a direct effect on fuel consumption by aircraft. Ergo, airlines spend more per passenger on fuel than they did 20 years ago. Of course, the increase in fuel spending attributable to fat flyers has little to do with the problems of the airline industry. As the article demonstrates, the difference due to "increased adiposity" appears to be £149 million for all U.S. airlines, while increased fuel prices account for a £650 million increase in fuel spending this year by United Airlines alone. Additionally, although not discussed in the article, labor and maintenance costs have also increased dramatically over the early 1990s, and have certainly affected the airlines' bottom lines in amounts much more significant than a total of £149 million.
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stirfry, you touch my bum one more time, I'm gonna bop you.
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I should note that the real impact of increased weight is in the flightworthiness of small aircraft. The linked article ends with this note: "A commuter plane crash that killed 21 people in North Carolina last year has been blamed on the passengers' greater than average weight." Again, however, this is not the fault of the passengers. Airlines need to carefully monitor the weight of small aircraft, and ensure that the cargo, whether it be passengers or luggage, does not exceed the maximum safe weight.
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Bankrupt United Airlines, America's second biggest air travel company... Interesting name for an air travel company.
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Alnedra.... not one of THOSE cheeks!
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First sentence from the article: "Fat Americans are eating into the US air industry's bottom line, forcing planes to consume ever more fuel to transport their bulk". This is, I'm sure, very offensive to fat people but for some reason it struck me as erotic. Americans are at once angry at the fat among us and aroused! Deal with it. They're plump, hot and delicious. I'm suddenly hungry.
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The "fat acceptance lobby?" I want to become a "fat acceptance" lobbyist. How, exactly, does one accept another's fat? I suggest bending over to accept mine.
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I've been doing a lot of reading on investment recently, and one thing I've read in several books is that the airline sector overall has been a terrible destroyer of wealth since the inception of commercial air travel. Basically, the price point at which people will pay to travel is not enough for airlines to stash away reserves for bad years. This is just the latest in a never-ending stream of problems that airlines didn't see coming.
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I don't understand the airplane industry at all. I mean, if McDonalds is doing poorly, they close stores. Why don't the airlines close airports? I mean, When I was living in Bowling Green, ohio, people would fly into Toledo but lots would fly into Detriot. Does Toledo really need an airport when the Detriot one is little more than an hour away? I guess I'm just jealous that I'm not in a buisness that looses tons of money and gets handouts from the governement rather than going out of buisness...
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If we didn't have highly subsidized airlines in the U.S., all in the name of free-market capitalism you understand, then we'd be forced to have a real train system. And that would be so, well, European. Ugh!
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if necessity is the mother of invention, then why haven't they come up with ultra-light, ultra fuel efficient airplanes? obviously these people always find a way to hide out under the skirt of gov't. whatev..
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I would start working out, but I have heard that muscle weighs more than fat, and I don't want to burden the airlines any further.
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vitalorg: The Economist published an article about 3 years ago claiming the net profit/loss of the airline industry over the years was a mild loss.
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Yeah, Bernockle! Damn inconsiderate fitness club members
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I don't understand the airplane industry at all. I mean, if McDonalds is doing poorly, they close stores. Why don't the airlines close airports? As airlines don
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Screw 'em.. they're all silver death machines anyway.
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This topic was up a little while ago, and someone posted a rough calculation of the cost of the extra weight - a dollar or so per person.