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RyanAir Makes Predictable Contribution To The Ongoing 'Passengers Of Size' Debate

Whether it's because customer complaints finally reached critical mass or because they're desperate for new revenue, more and more airlines are forcing overweight passengers to buy multiple seats.

As a formal matter in their Contracts of Carriage, almost all airlines have stipulations that passengers have to pay for what they occupy. But most carriers never really enforced those policies. Sometimes it was because airport employees didn't want to embarrass overweight passengers. Often it was because it's easier to get those passengers on the plane and make it somebody else's problem, where that "somebody else" was the unlucky soul in the next seat.

In any case, corporations like US Air routinely acknowledged the policy but never really stuck to it. In 2002 Virgin Atlantic had to pay a huge settlement to a passenger who was permanently crippled by an obese rowmate who physically crushed her over the course of a Trans-Atlantic flight.

Until recently, in fact, only Southwest consistently forced customers above a certain weight to buy a second seat.