John Oliver wrote:
On Sun, Jan 06, 2008 at 05:06:50PM -0800, Andrew Lentvorski wrote:
Tracy R Reed wrote:
So we all pay.
How about kids? I think that children's tickets should be 10 times the
price of an adult. I find the number of screaming children on flights
far more repulsive than even the most morbidly obese individual.
How about pregnant women? They're going to be running to the bathroom
continuously and inconveniencing everybody on the row they have to get
out of and are far more likely to throw up.
How about that? Now do you understand why what you are proposing is
wrong on a philosophical level?
What is wrong with either of those scenarios?
Because, at the inevitable extreme of accepting this kind of thinking,
profit determines who lives and who dies. The best example I know of
this was the French Revolution. Eventually, the guillotine comes to your
town. And then to your head. Because you don't profit the immediate
society of the moment.
When material wealth is the only incentive to do what's right and
humane, it's called greed and avarice.
It may not "be fair" that someone must face an adverse consequence for
either their choices or the results of cosmic coin flip. But how is it
any more fair to subject everyone else to a nuisance just because the
source of the nuisance "can't help it"?
You've accused the wrong object of being a nuisance. The person next to
you is not the problem - the airplane is the problem.
Put another way... this is a perfect example of letting the free market
decide. Airline A charges more for kids, fat people, pregnant women,
etc. They lose the business of those with kids or who are "too heavy",
but gain the business of those who do not want to deal with kids or
tight seating. Airline B may decide to cash in on all of those
underserved travellers, and offer one price for everyone. Which will
win? Maybe both. Maybe one of those airlines will not succeed, because
the market segment they've chosen to pursue is not profitable.
You assume competition always survives. We've seen that it seldom does
in industries with a small number of big players. Especially if their
combined wealth and influence gives them seats on any governmental
agencies that would regulate their propensity to maximize profits
(greed) at any cost.
And if you are especially overweight and cannot
reasonably fit in one seat (and who hasn't sat next to that person?)
they can charge you for the seat beside you and leave it empty. It isn't
fair for the other passenger to have your flab falling over into their
lap. Especially on a 15 hour flight to, oh, say, VIETNAM.
Let me switch this the other direction:
Why should someone large pay for *your* convenience? *You* could have
paid for first class, after all.
Because I reasonably fit in a seat. I paid $XXX for one seat, which I
fit in, and I have an expectation that I'm going to be the only one in
my seat. The "plus sized individual" is not "paying more for my
convenience"... they're paying their own way. It may not be "fair" that
their travel costs twice as much as mine, but that's life. Sometimes,
things aren't "fair".
Your problem is not the fault of the large individual next to you, it's
with the design of the airplane's seating design being incapable of
comfortably accommodating any but the statistically average human.
The larger individual should no more or less expect to compensate you
for their size than you should for yours. Sometimes you just have to sit
there and be mutually elbowed. After all, that person paid $XXX for
their one seat, and sometimes, things just aren't fair, and that's just
life. Your misery is his company.
And then, sometimes people are just too easily irritated.
My argument about this comes from the fact that no matter *what* weight
I'm at, my shoulders are going to hit yours. A lot. I'm 6' 3" and my
weight has *zero* impact on how wide my shoulders are. My genetics,
however, does.
What does have an impact is the fact that the seats on the airplanes
have been shrinking for years and are too damn small. I can't even open
a 13" laptop anymore without worrying that the seat in front of me is
going to crush the display. *That's* how I know that the seats have
been shrinking--my laptop provides an independent measuring stick.
Yup, airplane seats are shrinking while we grow. As long as we continue
to pay and fly, they have no incentive but to continue to try to
maximize profit (or minimize losses).
Given that the airline industry as a whole is basically a
government-misregulated transportation monopoly (i.e. there is as yet no
competing form of transportation which is practically comparable), and
they seem to own their share of influence on governing agencies, there's
no incentive for them to innovate or even improve their service or their
infrastructure. Certainly not for /your/ benefit.
But still, their lousy business model has no god-given or constitutional
right to succeed, let alone to profit. Unless, of course, you've given
them that option by helping them to survive with your patronage.
I think that when looked at from a distance, there has not been much
advancement in commercial aviation in more than half a century. Yet the
industry still seems to thrive, despite their constant whining. The top
people involved still seem to make money. Airplanes are still flying and
the sheeple are still boarding them.
There are niche airlines that cater to people with "special needs".
Who are they, specifically? And why don't you take advantage of them
yourself, in order to avoid Fatty and her screaming children?
You could choose to fly an airline with bigger seats, more space, etc. You
don't. Why not? Because it "costs too much". That boils down to, it
isn't worth it to you.
It more often boils down, not to it isn't worth it, but to "I don't have
that kind of money, but there is no option but to fly". I assume that
it's not worth it to you to pay whatever it costs to fly comfortably
without being elbowed by those less average than you?
I expect most people now only fly because they have to. They've already
been relegated to being just cargo as a product for an anachronistic
business model looking to survive, and now they are expected to be
treated like animals by America's unaccountable new Gestapo, the TSA.
Having to sit for hours uncomfortably is getting to be but a smaller
kernel in what amounts to a large pile of steaming crap.
Furthermore, weight is not always under voluntary control. Certain
races have a genetic predisposition to be large and *still* be
healthy--should they get penalized?
Of what concern is that to me when I'm wedged into half of my seat?
What do I care what the root cause is? All I want is full use of the
seat I paid for, and my reasoonable expectation that I fly ina certain
amount of comfort to be met. The "fatty" isn't being "penalized"...
they're using more of a scarce resource (space on the plane) than I am,
and need to pay for that.
You got what you paid for. You accepted the definition of "Seat" when
you made that payment. Based on that, and on FAA, DOT, and Airline
industry standards, your personal expectations are *un*reasonable. That
fatty on the plane is no less comfortable than you.
Again, the problem isn't the fatty next to you. The problem is the seats
you're both sitting in. Why should your comfort be a higher priority
than his in any but your own mind? Remember, you haven't bought a seat
on an airplane, you've bought statistically appropriate space in a cargo
container.
Everybody has some characteristic that is unprofitable for the
corporatocracy. Be very careful about providing the power to
discriminate based upon it.
I am far more afraid of a society that commands me that
I must provide an equal service to everyone, regardless of the costs
borne by me, than I am of a society where I might be expected to pay
more when I want more of a good or service.
What about a society that demands that you pay more for less and worse
service? That's the one which profitability as the highest motive has borne.
--
Best Regards,
~DJA.
Consumerism is where the customer is the product.
--
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