Normal passengers should not be forced to subsidise passengers of size

I would like to thank Imabench for accepting this debate and respond to his opening paragraphs which, to summarise, state that some airlines don't force obese passengers to buy an extra seat in coach / economy, or to pay for an upgrade to business / first class, but they do so as a "courtesy". This is a courtesy that they do not extend to tall passengers, if they did, I wouldn't have an argument. The cost, whether large or small, of this largess is immaterial because it is, in principal, wrong to expect thinner passengers to subsidize fatter passengers through higher fares. In point of fact, however, with obesity rates soaring in America and Europe the problem is bigger than my opponent supposes. His final point, relating to the cost of installing wider seats actually understates the true cost of accommodating the obese - the airlines would be unable to fit as many seats on the planes so that the cost per passenger would increase dramatically - fat or thin. So, to answer his points in turn: 1) It is just courtesy, much like allowing old ladies to have a seat on the bus, and outlawing it would be immoral Old ladies are offered seats by fellow passengers. If a passenger on a plane invited an obese to park their huge frames on their seats and squash them up for the duration of a flight, that would be up to them - I'm not suggesting they shouldn't be allowed to be so foolish. 2) It is up to flight attendants to decide if someone should be upgraded, not the airline policy makers Flight attendants have that discretion, but they also have guidelines. The real problem occurs when planes are fully-loaded. 3) It does not affect everybody on the plane, it only affects the one person who is losing the first class seat to the fat person It also affects the person sitting next to the fat person on a fully-booked flight. Can you imagine how incredibally uncomfortable and unpleasant it is to be like squashed up against the window by a huge pile of sweating blubber who is taking up half of your meagre seat on a long-haul flight? 4) The fat person has a very legitimate excuse for needing the first class seat So do tall people, but they don't get upgraded because they don't squash other passengers like the fat do. 5) There may not even BE a person in that first class seat, so allowing the upgrade to occur would only be a cost towards the airline No problem in this case. 6) The alleged "cost" of each person (allegedly) being (forced) to "subsidize" fat people's upgrade to first class would be marginal, close to $5 unless its a ridiculously long distance flight This depends on the number of upgrades / free seats given on each flight but, again, the cost is irrelevant: it is a cost that must, ultimately, be borne by less corpulent customers. 7) The alternative to making fat people enjoy their flight more without letting them upgrade to first class would be to upgrade the size of every seat on every plane in the world, which would cost billions, maybe a couple trillion Agreed - that's not the solution - the solution is to make the obese pay their way and buy two seats on planes or pay for an upgrade. Thank you.