View Full Version : Ryanair 'Fat Tax'
Ryanair has announced that it will now consider how to charge a ‘fat tax’
Charge per kg over 130kg/20 stone (male) and 100kg/15 stone (female);
Charge per inch for every waist inch over 45 inch (male) and 40 inch (female);
Charge for every point in excess of 40 points on the Body Mass Index (+30 points is obese);
Charge for a second seat if passenger's waist touches both armrests simultaneously.
Maybe it's just me but isn't this totally absurd! [disgust]
After producing your passport and boarding pass you may well have to be weighed, your waist measured, and your bmi calculated.
Ryanair seems to come up with more daft rules than any other company/business!
That might be tongue in cheek, but having experienced the 'service' of Ryanair on their flights, always find interesting what others say: http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/ryan.htm (http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/ryan.htm)
Margaret M.
26-Apr-09, 15:44
I can understand the need to charge a large passenger for an extra seat if one seat is not enough to accommodate. However, putting a passenger through the embarassment of weighing, measuring and checking BMI is taking it too far, in my opinion.
Gene Hunt
26-Apr-09, 16:02
That might be tongue in cheek, but having experienced the 'service' of Ryanair on their flights, always find interesting what others say: http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/ryan.htm (http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/ryan.htm)
They are a nightmare to deal with in Air Traffic as well, I wouldn't fly with them. Or KLM, nothing but a bunch of dutch clowns.
But if you have ever been stuck on a long flight next to a large person who is spilling into your seat it is not pleasant. But in in the interest of fairness they should introduce a BO tax as well, that's worse in my view.
If it's genuine then I quite agree with Ryanair. Unless there is a medical problem, with proof from a doctor, there is no excuse for anyone to be over 20 stones.
If this is to be the case surely people who are under a certain weight get a reduction :confused
northener
26-Apr-09, 17:50
I'm all for a 'Porker' tax.:Razz
Get the fat gits away from me! Can't be doing with their flab flopping into my personal space and the constant ogling of my chesse and pickle sarnies.
but dont some companys already charge for an extra seat if the customer is over sized, its for the safty and comfort of the said oversized person and other passengers.
northener
26-Apr-09, 19:31
Theres plenty of large aircraft flying with the military that could be used for transporting porkies.
Anything fitted with bomb doors would do fine.....
so northern im guessing your super slim and svelt , and would never need extra room?
you know a lot of people would be very hurt and insulted by your comments.
i personally dont find them funny...
i think, on this issue.. that yes if someone is needing two seats then they have to pay for them. no need to weigh measure and humuliate them.
been a few years since i flew.. so gonna have to see how tight a sqeeze it is! *G* im not a skinny minnie by any means... ive had 3 very large children and my waist line has gone by the way.. but not quite needing two seats yet.. (i hope!)
brandy i agree with you totally
i was very offended by northerners comments. i have been fighting to lose weight all my life and have had to put up with ignorant comments like those right through school.
yes i can understand the reasons behind fat tax but surely there is a better way of handling it
Gene Hunt
26-Apr-09, 21:28
Ding Ding .. All aboard the Outrage Bus !! .. stopping at Annoyed, Irritated, Offended and How Dare You.
Request Stops are .. Its not my fault, Its easy for you to say that, and Its alright for you your thin.
Fare .. One Indignant Grunt.
Seriously though, I have sat next to a guy for a three hour flight who was intent on taking up half the seat that I had paid for. What was worse was he then forcefully suggested that I should be more considerate for his size. I think suggesting that he fly Cargo the next time was a good idea, he didn't. I think that there should be a combined weight and baggage allowance based on gender and age. If you are overweight it comes out of your baggage allowance, at the end of the day we all pay the same fare.
sevenfortyseven
26-Apr-09, 21:32
They are a nightmare to deal with in Air Traffic as well, I wouldn't fly with them. Or KLM, nothing but a bunch of dutch clowns.
But if you have ever been stuck on a long flight next to a large person who is spilling into your seat it is not pleasant. But in in the interest of fairness they should introduce a BO tax as well, that's worse in my view.
haha BO tax is a great idea! Is it true ryanair are thinking of charging for toilet use? Or was that just another mad idea?
I think that there should be a combined weight and baggage allowance based on gender and age. If you are overweight it comes out of your baggage allowance, at the end of the day we all pay the same fare.
Actually that's kind of how it works on small planes in Africa and Asia -both you and your bags are weighed together. And for freight now there's the volumetric weight calculation to encourage economical packing. I personally think that's fine.
I happen to vary between 72 and 76 Kg depending on my current fitness and diet so am more likely to be encroached upon than encroach into another's personal space on a plane and have suffered too many long haul flights in the company of those not designed, by their nature, to fit economy seats to have any great sympathy for them.
Being as going through security nowadays involves removing your shoes and being x-rayed in such detail that Customs will know if you have a kidney stone I don't think being weighed should be regarded as any more of an invasion of personal privacy than we already accept for the privilege of flying relatively cheaply around the globe.
There is a very small minority of obese people who are blameless of their condition and I am sensitive to them (particularly those of low self-esteem) but fat Americans - don't even try getting assertive with me!
A fat tax seems to be fairly reasonable to me.
northener
27-Apr-09, 00:02
Here we go again ......the 'outraged' are aboot.
BTW - a thought for the 'outraged':
Have you ever thought that I may actually fall into the category of being clinically obese?....Nah, didn't think so.[disgust]
<edit> just calculated my BMI online to make sure I'm not bulling anyone:
6' 2" and 245 lbs = BMI of 31.5...officially obese.
So get stuffed............
LOL this has to be a joke right?
Aaldtimer
27-Apr-09, 03:31
Here we go again ......the 'outraged' are aboot.
BTW - a thought for the 'outraged':
Have you ever thought that I may actually fall into the category of being clinically obese?....Nah, didn't think so.[disgust]
<edit> just calculated my BMI online to make sure I'm not bulling anyone:
6' 2" and 245 lbs = BMI of 31.5...officially obese.
So get stuffed............
Seems like you already did!:)
northener
27-Apr-09, 09:07
So get stuffed............[/[/color]quote]
Seems like you already did!:)
I most certainly did..........:Razz
Brandy and Gee........calm down dears.
Weight only becomes a 'problem' if you make it so or it is physically harming you (or if you're trying to fly with Ryanair...).
There's too much emphasis on how we are perceived cosmetically by our peers in Western society these days. I couldn't give a monkeys what size someone is..I go by their attitude (that's me screwed straight away) and how they relate to the world around them.
There have aways been people who are overweight in society, up until very recently no-one appeared to bother too much about it - providing the weight wasn't caused by pure gluttony. But these days we are constantly told we should be this shape/folow this fad/ mimic such and such a 'celebrity'/not be happy unless you are trying to be someone else.
Unless you are stuffing your face with burgers and just lying on the couch 24/7, then you have nothing to be ashamed ofor to worry about in my book. By your responses I would say that your weight is a touchy subject with you. And it shouldn't be.
Enjoy life, size doesn't matter.......
BTW I constantly get the rip taken out of me by my oppos about my expanding gut...the other forum I frequent is populated by overweight middle aged blokes like me...and you should read some of the rather choice comments that are posted on there about various members weight and pie/cm ratio. But nobody takes it seriously. Life's too short.
<edit> just re-read this, apologies if it comes across as being patronising - it's not meant to be.
Kevin Milkins
27-Apr-09, 09:16
A few years ago a group of us flew to Ireland to watch the Wales V Ireland rugby game.
One of the party that is 25 stone plus was forced to pay for an extra seat or leave the plane.:eek:
It was a good job that he has a good sense of humour and was not at all embarassed by the request, but I could see how the new requests would.
I think he enjoyed his five minutes of fame as it made the newspaper headlines at time.
wickscorrie
27-Apr-09, 09:35
agree about the adding weight and luggage then it would give an appropriate weight for the plane, however giving my proportions (not heavy just short !!!!) then i think my luggage would be smaller than average allowance lol
northener
27-Apr-09, 09:38
When this was covered by the Beeb yesterday morning, it became aparrent that it was all very vague as to how the more rotund members of our society were to be winkled out and charged.
Ryanair stated that they would not be pulling out people and weighing them as they went to check in...which begs the question - just how are they going to do it then?
Just in case you're wondering what this is all about...
Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:
“Over 100,000 passengers logged on to ryanair.com to take part in our competition and almost one in three (over 30,000)think that very large passengers should be asked to pay a fat tax.
“With passengers voting overwhelmingly for a ‘fat tax’ we are now asking them to suggest which format the charge should take. The above four points seem to us to be the simplest, fairest and administratively easiest to apply. In all cases we’ve limits at very high levels so that a ‘fat tax’ will only apply to those really large passengers who invade’ the space of the passengers sitting beside them.
“These charges, if introduced might also act as an incentive to some of our very large passengers to lose a little weight and hopefully feel a little lighter and healthier.
“The revenues from any such fat tax will be used to lower the airfares for all Ryanair passengers yet further. Passengers can vote for their preference onwww.ryanair.com (http://www.ryanair.com/) until Monday 27th April”.
http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/news.php?yr=09&month=apr&story=gen-en-220409
Gene Hunt
27-Apr-09, 10:20
I was on shift last night and was talking to a guy who works for an american airline, he was chuckling away as he said if they did that in America then almost everyone would be getting hit with the fat tax.
He raised a good point though. Every aircraft has an all up weight that it can operate to. If you had a max of 100 passengers at 20 stone that met the all up weight you are only making half the amount through seat ticket sales than if you took 200 that are 10 stone. With the price of fuel still high and the recession biting airlines are trying to save as much as they can, there was a famous instance a few years back when American Airlines took one cherry out of every first class pudding and saved a $1,000,0000 a year.
I cant see this "Fat Tax" happening though. All it will take is for one cake fanatic to claim "discrimination" and "weightism" and when the PC crowd wade in it will die a death due to bad PR. I recently had to attend a meeting for a seriously overweight girl that works in our place, it has got to the point that she cannot do the tasks that she is being paid for. You should have heard the ruckus when I answered "Why, cant you walk or run ??" to her claims that it was "impossible" for her to lose weight. It all ended in claims from her of "harassment", "discrimination" and her "Human Rights".
Ryanir wont risk the bad PR on this one I bet .. EDIT .. maybe I am wrong, just seen the above post !!
Yeah i agree that larger people should have to pay more, it makes me mad to have had to pay for excess luggage allowance for just a few extra kilos when there were people double my size on the plane who looked as if they had swallowed their entire luggage before boarding the plane.
Weight only becomes a 'problem' if you make it so or it is physically harming you (or if you're trying to fly with Ryanair...).
The Ryanair bit will now have to be added to that comment for all eternity, 'it's ok it you are overweight as long as you are healthy and not planning flying with Ryanair any time soon'
:lol:
well i weigh in at 14.5 stone im 5ft 9 inches tall.. but have skinny legs and bum G* all my weight is in my boobs and belly. and thats all from babies..
i dont eat junk, i exercise, i dont smoke or drink.. yet im still considered obese..
im a size 16-18 in trousers and an 18-20 in tops.. depending on the make.
i eat very heathily.. (im diabetic) so have to keep on top of everything i eat!
i do drink diet coke. keep trying to stop that one!
the smallest of my boys weighed in a 10 lbs 1 oz at birth and the biggest at 10lbs 14 ozs..
let me tell you.. its hard to bounce back from that!
i think that is what gets me.. when people shake there head ad say... well if you ate right and exercised, then you would loose the weight...
in an avrage day, i run up and down the staris about 50 times, hoover the floor about 10 times, mop about 3 times, play Lord only knows how many games on the wii sports with sam an ben, walk the dog for about an hour. school trips.. given i do drive when im running late.
i also work outside the home part time, and when i have an extra 15 min i do yoga for dummies, and exercise for dummies..
and once in a blue moon i can actually make it to the gym to get onto the tread mill to run off some stress..
thats probably why my legs and bum are not big!
i dont mind the thought of a fat tax, how it is gone about is another thing.. it will have to be done delicatly... as sayin... we have to weigh and measure you...
saying that people are fat because they are lazy or gluttonus is also a sterotype.. most women are not stick thin, and have extra baggge after havig kids...
and as far as americans being labeld as an obses nation.. does no one watch national geographic or discovery anymore?
if you look at native tribes... you will see that most of the women are well rounded in the tribes. GOD i love those shows makes me feel so much better about myself! *G*
and ancient art of women will show fertility goddesses not as svelt skinny twigs but lushly rounded, slightly sagging women in the prime of thier lives.. not the blush of womanhood.
*grins* cant say much for the men... *laughs* as im a woman...
and BBW rule *wink*
I have four flights booked with Ryanair over the few days so keep an eye out for the headlines, 'Large Caithnessian woman shoves flight bag up flight attendants left nostril in struggle to board tiny plane' [lol]
Gene Hunt
27-Apr-09, 13:20
I have four flights booked with Ryanair over the few days so keep an eye out for the headlines, 'Large Caithnessian woman shoves flight bag up flight attendants left nostril in struggle to board tiny plane' [lol]
Get pictures if you can .. I hate Ryanair.
I suppose the positive outlook to adopt would be to get slimmer and see all the fatties subsidising your airtravel, wouldn't that be a very good incentive?:confused
northener
27-Apr-09, 20:55
And, as Mrs N pointed out - if you're 4'11" and seven and a half stone...do you get a discount?
northener
28-Apr-09, 09:24
Interesting article: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090428/tpl-uk-obesity-acceptance-06677c0.html
I'm post from Dublin Airport, as you can see no problems getting here! Service not too bad so far, fingers crossed!
See-ing I'm of average build, next time I fly I'll wear all my clothes and bring back loads of goodies in the suitcase. [lol]
Just wondering if pregnant women would be exempt from the fat tax if they happen to go over the bmi threshold ryanair decide on....
The women may be all bump and may have put on a lot of weight before the unable to fly because you are pregnant situation kicks in:eek:
tiggertoo
28-Apr-09, 22:31
there seems to be a tax for everything nowdays am just waiting for an announcement that we have to start paying tax on the air we breath or do we already do that,i pay that much taxes on things that am left with less money than what i would have on giro
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