by Anthony Megna

Created on: May 04, 2009   Last Updated: October 02, 2011

The ugly truth is that obese passengers pay more, not only in dollars and cents, but in health related costs.  It takes more effort and time to get to where you want to go. Everyone wants to get where they are going as fast as possible with the minimum amount of effort, and there never seems to be enough time in the day to do what we want. What does this have to do with obesity? Read on....

When traveling by air, time is one of the most important factors determining pricing. Airlines need to meet their schedules, passengers need to meet their schedules, and companies need to satisfy their shareholders. Anything that slows the process of traveling down needs to either be eliminated or severely penalized.  Obesity doesn't fit in well in today's society no matter which way you look at it. No one wants to wait for a passenger or passengers that are obese to waddle down the airplane gangplank and then try to fit into a small airline seat. It takes time, it aggravates people, and it slows down the entire traveling day. These people must pay more. Why should the rest of society pay for their right to overeat?

Now there are going to be people that are furious reading this saying that obesity is a disease. And that is partly true, there are people who suffer from perhaps a thyroid problem that slows down their metabolism a great deal so that they can't lose weight that easily. For those people who can prove a disease causes their obesity, an exception should be made. But in our "super-size it" society, a lack of willpower to stop overeating shouldn't penalize the rest of society for some who have no willpower.

We have all heard how obesity is killing us, and are all tired of it. But it's true. There are so many negative health factors that stem from obesity from high blood pressure to diabetes etc. that can be curbed if people just maintained some control and ate right as well as exercised properly. Obesity is an epidemic and if a doctor doesn't scare people into a proper lifestyle than maybe hitting them in the wallet will.

Why should society suffer for those that can't maintain control? It's not only the problem of obesity, it's also happened to our financial credit system. For all those people who defaulted on their credit cards and loans, the people who haven't must pay more for the people who have. But the difference here is that the credit card companies are mostly to blame for pushing credit down the throats of people who shouldn't have the credit in the first place! For all those fast food companies pushing high calorie foods down our throat, the jig is up. There are now regulations in place for companies to list the caloric content as well as ingredients in their food. About time, wouldn't you say?

In summary, since obesity is a national health crisis, and it's a crisis make no mistake about it, something needs to be done fast. In fact, a bunch of "somethings" need to be done, and financially penalizing obese people makes sense. Not only for our economic well-being, but also for the "fat" people's health. While we're at it, let's penalize those companies that are grossly loading up their food products with an extreme amount of unhealthy substances.

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