Update: Here's a wire report that sums up the decision: Canadian airlines lose disability appeal. The way it's presented here, disability actually was the impetus for the suit, not obesity, so this will be new territory for the Canadian airlines (and, presumably, American and other foreign carriers operating point-to-point within the country). Keep on rockin', Supreme Court of Canada!
This item on CNN just caught my eye. It's about a court decision in Canada regarding commercial airlines' policy towards obese passengers, but it mentions a corollary that made me do a double-take:
The Supreme Court of Canada is upholding a regulatory ruling that people who are "functionally disabled by obesity" have the right to occupy two airline seats on a flight for the price of one.
The ruling late last week said that airlines in Canada can no longer charge an obese passenger extra for an additional seat. The same goes for a disabled person who needs space for a wheelchair or who must be accompanied by an attendant.
Yowza! In the US the "space for a wheelchair" bit is already covered by the Air Carrier Access Act of 1990, but the only language about attendants is that the carrier can't force you to travel with an attendant except in very narrowly defined circumstances, in which case they can't charge you if you don't think you need the help (of course, the chances of someone wh falls into one of the categories the law mentions wanting or being physically capable of traveling solo are nada). But if you obviously do need help and "choose" to bring an attendant, you're on your own for the cost of the seat.
I've actually discussed this with flight attendants on slow flights, and apparently Southwest—the carrier of choice for gimps—has tried to draft a policy several times that would allow for free attendant travel, but they thus far have been unsuccessful at crafting a policy that's not opening them up to people looking to game the system. Completely understandable, but ultimately just an excuse.
But it looks like Canada either is taking this on legally, or it's already been on the books. Which is amazing. I haven't traveled internationally (unless you count south Georgia /grin), but it's my understanding that the transportation infrastructure of Western Europe and Australia is light-years ahead of ours in terms of accessibility. It's great to know that that progress has gotten to our borders … now a bunch of us just need to start filing lawsuits! (She says with glee …)
My name is Becky Blitch, and this is my blog.
