Fat People Should Pay More to Fly on Airplanes and to Use Mass Transit

I hope this proves entertaining for everyone. Fat people should have to pay more to fly on airplanes and to use mass transit. Why? Quite simply because they’re heavier, and take up more space. Heavier people require that more energy is needed to move them, and when space is a premium, such as on airplanes and crowded buses/trains, someone who is fat may take up as much space as two (or more) average/skinny sized people who each paid the same amount of fare. Now I’m not going to be politically correct here, so please excuse my language at times. Have you ever gotten to your seat on an airplane and noticed that there was a person sitting next to you who was so fat that their body was protruding onto your seat? Have you even gotten onto a bus or train, tired and in desperate need of a seat and noticed that there was a fat person occupying two seats? Well you’re not alone. This has happened to me many times. Why should I have to surrender 25% of my airplane seat to a fat person when I paid for 100% of it? Why should I have to stand when there technically is a seat available but it’s being occupied by a fat person’s single butt-cheek? In these situations, average weight people like me are penalized, while the fat people are not. That is not right and that is why fat people should pay more to fly and ride on mass transit. How will it Work? Here’s how it will work. At the airport since we each have to be individually body scanned, that same scanning machine can be used to weigh a person. Since you are forced to take your shoes and outer clothes off, this will accurately weigh you very close to your naked body weight. The scanner can also use a laser to accurately measure your height. Once this is done, your BMI is instantly calculated and as you exit the scanner a ticket is printed out with a bar code and ID number. This ticket has your BMI digitally encoded on it. Before you are allowed to board the plan, you simply just scan the ticket into a machine after scanning your plane ticket and your BMI calculation is added to your ticket price. For every pound over the BMI limit (27.5) you are charged an extra dollar over your ticket price. So if you are 50 pounds over your BMI limitation, you pay an extra 50 dollars on your ticket. This system is efficient and uses existing protocols to make sure there is very little delay time added to the check in process. And since everyone is scanned equally, fat people are not singled out and humiliated in any way. When it comes to buses/subways when you buy your ticket you will be asked to step into an enclosed area that will weigh you and a laser will scan you for your height. For every pound over your BMI you will be charged an extra penny. So if a train ticket cost $1.50, and you are 50 pounds over your BMI, you will be charged an extra 50 cents for a total of $2. A penny per pound may not seem like much, but for people who use mass transit twice a day it will add up. To ensure honor in calculating BMI, the area will be under camera surveillance and your credit card info will be noted when you purchase the tickets in case you try to cheat the system. A computer software system can also be employed to make sure you cannot lean on something to off-balance your weight through the camera. The logistics of all this need not be completely practical for my argument but we have the technology to do this, and any kinks could always be worked out, what matters is the principle that fat people should pay more. Charging people more for flying/using mass transit that are fat will penalize them for unduly making the experiences of other travelers worse. This will also greatly encourage those who are fat to lose weight because every pound they gain will be costing them more money whenever they fly or use mass transit. Economic Justifications Besides the personal costs to average weight individuals who have to deal with the circumferences of those who are fat, there are good economic reasons to justify surcharging them. It doesn’t take a genius to know that it takes more energy to move something 300 pounds than something 100 pounds. According to Tony Webber, former chief economist for Qantas airlines, since 2000 the average weight of a passenger has increased by 2 kilos. “For a large, modern aircraft like the Airbus A380, that means that an extra $472 of fuel has to be burned on a flight from Sydney to London. If the airline flies that route in both directions three times a day, over a year it will spend an additional $1 million for fuel, or, on current margins, about 13% of the airline’s profit from operating that route. ”[i] The logic behind charging fat passengers more is the same behind charging for luggage over 50 pounds. It amounts to covering the airline’s extra fuel costs for their passenger’s extra pounds while at the same time providing them with a healthy incentive to lose weight. This same principle also applies to mass transit. This will also potentially trickle down to lower transportation costs to all of us. Is This Reasonable? There might be complaints over my definition of “fat. ” The line over what is fat has to be drawn somewhere, and drawing it at a BMI of 27.5 allows people who are “chubby” to escape being penalized while only those who are truly overweight are. This is a reasonable standard because people with “a few extra pounds” are not harming anyone to the degree that the obese are and we all know that some people are just naturally chubby and can’t help it. But as I said in the rules, Con had to agree with my definition of fat before accepting this debate so that should not be an issue. He has to make a counter argument based from some other angle. I think that surcharging fat people to ride on airplanes and mass transit can be ethical depending on how it’s done. The method I proposed above provides us with a non-invasive and non-humiliating way that this can be done efficiently and with as little disruption to service as possible. It will encourage weight lose, giving those who are fat an incentive to get healthier, this will also lower healthcare costs for all people, and it will lead to less incidents of weight related discomforts to those who stay within regular weight limits. We penalize smokers and gamblers for their lifestyle habits, there is no reason not to also do so to those who chose to live unhealthy lifestyles who burden those around them with conditions due to their excessive size and increased amount of energy costs. It’s bad for business, bad for customers and bad for the environment and a “fat tax” will help stop this. [i] . http://www.project-syndicate.org...