Obese customers should pay more for flights.

:: REBUTTAL :: 1. Cost of Insurance This contention is highly flawed. While obese customers may cost more to insure (as they pose a higher risk of becoming ill during flights), so do the elderly, those with allergies, those with asthma, those with mental illness, pregnant women, children in general, those who use/abuse drugs, those taking medication, etc. Because airlines do not require a background check before booking a flight, it would be extremely unjust to require specifically obese people to pay extra under the premise of an insurance issue, and not charge other potential 'threats' for the same substantial risk. Additionally, my opponent indicates that in only 1% of cases involving obesity is the condition genetic. I ask that statistics like this only be taken into account if they are cited/sourced, as it would be very easy for either side to draw up random stats that may or may not be true. Furthermore, I disagree with that figure on the basis of psychology alone -- I'm sure that even if 99% of obese individuals "choose" that lifestyle, there are some deep-rooted depression and self-esteem issues, which cause obesity to lean towards a medical (mental) condition rather than just a choice. Now even if you buy into the fact that overweight people choose that condition, you cannot deny my previous point that there are all kinds of conditions or circumstances which would increase the cost of insurance for certain flyers. To make this call for higher prices legit, you would have to agree upon charging a superior price for ALL flyers with medical conditions/situations that would cause insurnace to increase. Otherwise, a great deal of discrimination lawsuits would be on your hands, in which cases the airlines would be forced to charge migh higher prices for tickets than they already do in order to sustain legal fees. Plus, consider the fact that in order to regulate this kind of additional fee, new jobs would have to be created that deal specifically with insurance and charging passengers the right amount of money as designated for their flight. This would cause airline disruption, inevitably draw upon negative publicity, and most importantly cause the airline to shell out more money to pay the salaries of these new jobs and deal with other legal issues. In essence, the money that you are trying to 'save' is actually not profitable at all (it may even be an added expense), as new jobs would have to be compensated. And finally on this matter, you must take into account how many times one's obesity actually causes a MEDICAL EMERGENCY on a flight, to the point where insurance is actually even necessary. If the figures are low (and Pro hasn't given us any proof to indicate otherwise), you must find this contention to be entirely unnecessary and completely in my favor. 2. Comfort In order for this point to be validated, you must extend this argument to all forms of public transportation - not just airplanes. Therefore my opponent has the burden of affirming this resolution in terms of trains, subways, public buses, etc... in which case it would be easy to oppose for economic reasons. Further, a counter-attack may conclude that the airline be responsible for administering more comfortable seating for larger passengers; that is to say that bigger seats can/should be implented for comfort. You may charge passengers more money for this type of seating; you may even force a larger passenger to purchase a ticket for this kind of seating. However, you may NOT charge them extra for sitting in the same size seat as everyone else. Thirty percent of Americans are obese [1]. Statistics show that the highest demographic of obesity occurs amongst those of a lower class; in other words, the fattest people tend to also be the poorest [2]. Thus the likelihood of an obese person being able to afford a plane ticket is much lower -- say 10% (and that may be a generous figure). Now knowing that there is a 10% chance that an obese individual may cause you discomfort on a plane, a consumer has the option to buy THEMSELF an extra plane ticket, which would ensure them extra room for comfort even if an overweight person sat beside them. Sometimes, life is unfair and you make purchases hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. If you book a vacation in Aruba and it rains the whole time (causing you to have a disappoting experience), you won't find your hotel or airline refunding you any money for your misfortune. Similarly, airlines don't give you lower rates for the possibility of sitting next to a particularly foul-smelling passenger, or for being subjected to crying children. Better luck next time, mate. 3. Weight & Money --> The Real Issue There have been a lot of changes since the 1990s that have made things more expensive, specifically THE COST OF GASOLINE IN GENERAL. Many people blame George W. Bush for the rise in prices -- does that mean we get to charge all Republicans an added fee for contributing to our economic situation by voting for GWB? Certainly not. The truth be told, America has been looking for ways to promote healthy life choices by making it more expensive to lead an unhealthy lifestyle. For instance, we place high taxes on cigarettes partly because of their health cost. Similarly, ideas about making fast food drive-thrus more expensive have been discussed; Dr. Schmidt (an economist at the college of William & Mary) said people would expend more calories if they had to get out of their cars to pick up their food. The bottom line is, you cannot realistically blame overweight people for society's troubles, such as high gasoline prices. "'This is like, let's find another reason to scapegoat fat people,' Dr. Oliver (a political scientist at the University of Chicago) says." -- "Katherine Flegal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also wryly cautions against being quick to link cause and effect. 'Yes, obesity is to blame for all the evils of modern life, except somehow, weirdly, it is not killing people enough,' she said. 'In fact that's why there are all these fat people around. They just won't die'" [3]. :: CONCLUSION :: Based on my arguments, it is clear why obese customers should NOT pay more money for plane tickets at the present time. It is neither cost effective nor fair, and the incentive for people to lose weight in order to save money just doesn't work. Countless studies prove that instead of helping, the stigmatization of being obese just leads to more over-eating and a higher rate/weight for those who are over-weight. This in turn leads to more fat people, meaning more sociological and economic issues in the United States and beyond. :: SOURCES :: [1] http://www.breitbart.com... [2] http://www.philly.com... [3] http://www.nytimes.com...