The story.

Saw that on the news. Its quite sad. My guess is they will settle out of court.
On the news this morning they said something about the safety of other passengers had their been an emergency....
Does te airline have an argument? Maybe, but they will settle if they are smart. They will be vilified as the bad guy any way it goes.

KLM got her over there, it should have been able to get her back...the aisles are getting smaller it seems, or people are getting bigger...

How come our grandmothers were not overweight, but most of us seem to be?

That's heavy.

Could be that they walked 20 miles uphill in the snow in each direction to school.

It doesn't say whether the couple called KLM first to make the proper arrangements?

The story I read said she tried several airlines. The last one put her on the plane, but she was incapable of moving from a wheelchair to her seats, and was too heavy for the crew to move. So they wheeled her off.

Also, the couple, though being from Hungary originally, did not seek medical treatment for her because they didn't trust the doctors over there.

I believe I read it in a British newspaper. This is more than a case of insensitive airlines.

Oh, and both my grandmothers were overweight. And diabetic.

My first thought when I read the headline to this thread?

"Of course she did...she was still a woman." Aw, my poor brain.

It's sad, but if she had such existing health issues was traveling abroad really in her best interest? And I'm sorry, but accomodating a 400#+ passenger isn't a "simple accomodation".

Our modern diet has way more sugar in it than in times past. People focus on fat content when they should be focusing on the sugar and glucose content in their food. Problem is, many "low-fat" foods have an increased amount of sugar to make up for the taste.

I cut sugar and wheat out of my diet and have been losing about a pound a week for the last 8 months. Bacon and avocado are no longer "off limits".

Yum - bacon and avocado. What a wonderful combination.

Airlines are private businesses, they can deny whoever they want. I don't see a reason for a settlement. No ones rights were denied here, you don't have a right to fly.

I feel somewhat responsible. Had I booked a flight from there I'm pretty sure that they would have put her in the seat next to me. If she had a screaming infant or toddler on her lap, it would have been a guarantee.

Being fat is not a protected class.

She was not healthy so should not have traveled there to begin with...her fault, not the airlines.
She was overweight..her fault, not the airlines.
They couldn't ensure her safety so didn't allow her to fly....her fault, not the airlines.
Yet they are to blame for this????
What kind of wacky logic is that? And if they would have let her fly and ANYTHING had gone wrong it would have been the airlines fault, not hers...

Yet

werd

All of this would have been great (IMO) had she been refused the ticket in America, when she went to get her ticket to fly overseas in the first place. It's an assumption for anybody, fat, skinny, young, old, black, white, that if they fly you over there, they can fly you back.

I know there have been legislative attempts to make obese people a protected class, but being obese, for 99% of people who are, is a choice. No protection should be afforded for this...

PC Police stopped by...

Some say being [other "protected class folk" (in certain jurisdictions, at least)] is a choice too!

well, if she had been in exactly the same condition, then i think that would be a valid assumption. But she had progressed to the point that she could no longer walk, couldn't get out of a wheelchair, was unable to lift herself, was basically an immovable object and in the event something needed to happen, or did happen, she couldn't have been assisted quickly, and was in jeopardy of putting others in danger.

They said there was an issue with the seat, not that they were never going to let her fly. If there is an issue with the engine and I don't get to fly for safety reasons is that enough to sue the airlines?
Sorry, rant over. I just get so aggrevated with the sue happy society. No one wants to be responsible for their own actions.

I don't necessarily see the evidence of this in the article, but if circumstances had changed to that degree, i'd agree. It sounded like they had a chore getting her on the original flight too.

Hey now, don't be trying to bring logic into this argument!

A lawsuit will likely occur, and there will be a settlement to save face. Nobody wants to be the airline that hates "fat" people, because there are a lot of them and airlines can't afford the revenue loss or any more bad press.