Overweight? United Airlines may charge you extra

Geoff Williams
Updated

We all know that you can't take heavy luggage on a plane anymore without being charged. But United Airlines, in an attempt to rain on the parade of the "you can have your cake and eat it, too," crowd, has just announced that people packing extra pounds may pay more for their ticket as well.

They have three new rules, as they mention on their web site. You will pay for an extra ticket or be forced to upgrade where you'll have more room (or be exited off the plane if you refuse) if:

  • you're unable to fit into a single seat in the ticketed cabin.

  • you're unable to properly buckle the seat belt using a single seat belt extender

  • you're unable to put the seat's arm rests down when seated.


It'll be interesting to see what the public thinks of this, but as for me, I'll weigh in on the issue by reluctantly admitting that I think it's the right thing to do. And I say that as a fairly beefy guy who could benefit from dropping 30 (and probably) 50 pounds.

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