Airlines Flight Service Policy : Obese Travelers and Airlines Seat Service for Air Travel

Airlines in Canada are now asking doctors to write notes for obese travelers who would need to book two seats on an airplane. The two Canadian airlines who have started asking doctors to do this are Air Canada and West Jet Airlines.

This new policy that the two airlines have implemented has upset people in the medical community. Doctors do not want to assess their patients and determine who is excessively overweight and should have an extra seat on an airplane.

The airlines now have a policy that states that obese passengers can get two airlines tickets for the price of one only if they first obtain a note from a doctor saying that they are excessively overweight. The airlines had to implement this policy because the Supreme Court of Canada ordered them to do it. The Supreme Court’s ruling will take effect on January 10, 2009. The extra seat may also be used for an attendant if the obese or disabled person needs one.

Doctors do not feel like it is their business to have to make this determination. They have busy schedules and many patients to see on a daily basis. This policy will make their daily schedules much harder. Now, their patients who are disabled or obese will need to see them and obtain a note from them every time that they want to take a flight somewhere. This is aggravating to passengers who need an extra seat on an airplane because they will have to visit their doctors and it can take a while to schedule an appointment. If they do not have the doctor’s note that is required then they will have to change their flight plans. The passengers will also need to have approval by a medical doctor saying that they are healthy enough to travel.

This policy is bad for doctors and passengers. It is a huge inconvenience for them. The doctors should not be burdened with this type of responsibility. There are no guidelines for determining who is too obese to fit into one airline seat. How are the doctors supposed to make this determination? Every doctor has their own opinion of what would classify as being too obese to take up one airline seat. There should be a particular body mass index that is necessary to determine whether or not a passenger is too obese for just one airline seat. This would allow the doctors to make an easy determination as to who they will write a note for.

The airlines do not want to have to give out free seats to obese and disabled passengers because they will lose money. They will have to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling but they will try to find ways to get around it. They could also try and make it harder for obese passengers to actually get the seats that they are promised. Hopefully, the doctors and the airlines can come to some type of middle ground so that doctors and passengers are not so inconvenienced by this policy.