@Didymos Thomas,
Didymos Thomas wrote:This message coming from Aedes about selling seats - isn't this the same mind who suggested the majority go do something uncomfortable if they are morally unjust?
There's a difference between public policy and 1) running a business (which in the case of airlines is tanking), and 2) having tight physical constraints with FAA-mandated weight limits for a plane's passengers + cargo.
I mean do you consider it immoral for a plane to charge you extra if your suitcase is overweight? It's the exact same consideration.
And it's not like I don't hear your argument, I mean I feel really bad for people who suffer because of obesity and I think it's only so much
self-consciously their fault. And it's certainly not the purvue of the airlines to punish them. On the other hand, there are safety issues and there are financial issues unique to those people.
I mean the airline could just as easily bar them from flying coach altogether if they cannot fit into a single coach seat. And that would force them to buy a first class seat at a higher price anyway, so it's the same in the end.
BlueChicken wrote:My concern is that there is no genetic factor that forces one to be obese, no state where "I have an FTO polymorphism so I MUST be overweight."
This is not a statement that can be made so conclusively. Many conditions are polygenic, so the absence of a single identified locus does not rule out this possibility. Obesity runs strongly in families and it often begins in late infancy. And it is clear that this is not solely due to lifestyle, since monozygotic twins raised in different households continue to share this risk.
We have to work with the genes we've got, so someone genetically predisposed to be obese has to work a lot harder to maintain weight than someone who doesn't.
Quote:there are always opportunities for excersie and changing eating habits, regardless of status...
While I do accept that parents control what their children eat/do, and that there is a strong link between childhood habits and adult habits, I don't think this serves as an excuse. You can lose childhood weight, it is not a permanent condition. While it will be harder than someone who became overweight later in life (as various research suggests) it is not as if it cannot be done.
And you make a great case for public health interventions, health education, exercise opportunities, etc. But this is not a case for how this or that business gets to justify treating them differently. It's not the airlines' job to punish people. It's their job to maintain a safe environment first, and remain fiscally solvent second. If someone needs to put their peritoneal dialysis machine on the seat next to them for their 18-hour New York - Delhi flight, then they've got to buy that next seat.