Fat people allowed free extra plane seat in Canada

Disabled, obese allowed free extra plane seat

Top court refuses airlines' appeal of 'one-person, one-fare' ruling

Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, November 20, 2008

Canada's two largest airlines must give disabled and morbidly obese passengers an extra free seat on domestic flights, beginning in January, after the Supreme Court refused yesterday to consider the carriers' appeal of a federal order.

The Supreme Court, by convention, gave no reason for declining to intervene in the case. The decision ended a six-year battle by disabled travellers to secure two seats for the price of one if they need inflight attendants. Obese people can also qualify if they are too large to fit in a single seat.

Air Canada and WestJet failed in their pitch for the court to consider a January 2008 decision from the Canadian Transportation Agency that gave them one year to implement new policies in the absence of being able to show that a "one-person, one-fare" structure would cause undue hardship.

"This means I'm equal now," said Joanne Neubauer, a Victoria woman whose severe rheumatoid arthritis requires her to use a wheelchair. "I'm just so excited and happy that justice prevailed."

The agency said the airlines must develop a process to assess eligibility. The free seats need not be provided to obese people who are just uncomfortable in their seats or are not disabled by their size, said the ruling.

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