Two major airlines in Canada have taken an important decision which requires obese and disabled patients to provide a doctor’s note to get special privileges on-board.
The Canadian Airlines are implementing the Supreme Court decision. The decision has disappointed the doctors who feel that this is an internal matter of the airlines and doctors should not be involved in it.
According to the "one-person, one-fare" policy, two seats would be offered to disabled persons who need an attendant or to obese people who cannot fit into a single seat. However, these passengers would be charged for a single seat.
But the doctors feel that whether a passenger could fit into a single seat or not has got nothing to do with medicine. This decision would further burden the over- burdened doctors in Canada.
The Canada Medical association president Dr. Robert Ouellet says, "In as much as the CMA supports the rights of these travellers, we feel that airlines should not try and pass the buck to physicians over what is essentially a business matter." He also said that the association was not consulted before coming to a conclusion.
Latest News
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cause of Obesity matters.
It is ridiculous that a private company has to be forced to comply with things like this.
That disabled persons can take an attendant along if necessary for free - fine. Airlines are a business, and we're reducing the ability of our domestic airlines to compete internationally with companies that have less flights (% of total) to Canada. The cost is also passed to everyone else - but fine. It's totally unfair to the rest of society, but they didn't choose to be disabled, so we're nice.
Obesity? If you have an actual medical condition, then you're disabled - group it up with those that need an attendant. What was said above applies.
Obesity for non-medical reasons however, should NOT have the same treatment. If you're disabled, fine. If you're not, then you should be forced to deal with the consequences of your own decisions. I believe that's called growing up. Just because you mess up your life doesn't give you a right to impose on everyone else.
As for if being a "business matter"? The correct business response is to not do this at all. Our airlines aren't exactly booming growth industries. If you take a 100 seat flight that's barely profitable due to the current economy, but you only sell 50 seats, you're suddenly losing money since the weight (and thus fuel consumption) stays the same.
Heck, a the best practice would be pricing based on weight. The only real variable per flight (aside from fluctuating fuel costs) is fuel used, which is based on weight carried. A plane full of underweight teenagers with a single backpack will make more money than a plane loaded with Overeater Anonymous with 3 lead suitcases each. So do what postal services do - charge by weight.
Wheelchair Accessible ramps are a one-time cost to a business. For airplanes, changing price per weight directly impacts the sustainability of the business. Imagine if Obese people should ship heavy parcels at a 50% discount. Unfair? Of course. Exactly what is happening here.