Airlines Flight Service Policy : Obese Travelers and Airlines Seat Service for Air Travel

Airlines in Canada are now asking doctors to write notes for obese travelers who would need to book two seats on an airplane. The two Canadian airlines who have started asking doctors to do this are Air Canada and West Jet Airlines.

This new policy that the two airlines have implemented has upset people in the medical community. Doctors do not want to assess their patients and determine who is excessively overweight and should have an extra seat on an airplane.

The airlines now have a policy that states that obese passengers can get two airlines tickets for the price of one only if they first obtain a note from a doctor saying that they are excessively overweight. The airlines had to implement this policy because the Supreme Court of Canada ordered them to do it. The Supreme Court’s ruling will take effect on January 10, 2009. The extra seat may also be used for an attendant if the obese or disabled person needs one.

Doctors do not feel like it is their business to have to make this determination. They have busy schedules and many patients to see on a daily basis. This policy will make their daily schedules much harder. Now, their patients who are disabled or obese will need to see them and obtain a note from them every time that they want to take a flight somewhere. This is aggravating to passengers who need an extra seat on an airplane because they will have to visit their doctors and it can take a while to schedule an appointment. If they do not have the doctor’s note that is required then they will have to change their flight plans. The passengers will also need to have approval by a medical doctor saying that they are healthy enough to travel.

This policy is bad for doctors and passengers. It is a huge inconvenience for them. The doctors should not be burdened with this type of responsibility. There are no guidelines for determining who is too obese to fit into one airline seat. How are the doctors supposed to make this determination? Every doctor has their own opinion of what would classify as being too obese to take up one airline seat. There should be a particular body mass index that is necessary to determine whether or not a passenger is too obese for just one airline seat. This would allow the doctors to make an easy determination as to who they will write a note for.

The airlines do not want to have to give out free seats to obese and disabled passengers because they will lose money. They will have to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling but they will try to find ways to get around it. They could also try and make it harder for obese passengers to actually get the seats that they are promised. Hopefully, the doctors and the airlines can come to some type of middle ground so that doctors and passengers are not so inconvenienced by this policy.

United States Airports See Fewer Travelers Taking Flights This Holiday Season

It now seems that air travel over the holiday season will fall by 2.5 percent when compared to last year. The Air Transport Association of America said that it expects 41 million passengers to fly on United States airlines over a 21 day period from December 17th to January 6th. The busiest travel days are expected to be Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday after Christmas on December 26th through the 28th.

The president of the Air Transport Association, James C. May, said the lighter traffic over the holidays would continue a trend that has been seen throughout 2009. This is all due to the weak economy taking a toll on travel demand.

However, the group did note that the planes are still going to be full. Due to low travel demand, many airlines have cut flights, meaning planes that are flying will be packed. Airlines have already been losing money this year as traffic has declined during this economic slowdown. Airlines have raised fees and tacked on surcharges to flights to try and make up the difference.

Over the past week, officials with the nation’s three largest airlines, which would be United, American and Delta, said that they are seeing some improvement in demand. Delta said it’s selling more corporate tickets, and American Airlines said that demand is improving for leisure and premium travel. It is expected that United is showing signs of recovery as well.

For any holiday travelers, the Air Transport Association of America suggests that people check the status of flights before heading to the airport. Gifts should remain unwrapped, because they will have to be inspected by federal security officials at the airport.

Airlines in the Asia-Pacific Delayed Flight to Europe and UK

Several airlines in the Asia-Pacific delayed flight to Europe because of volcanic ash clouds in the area of Iceland. Flight delays caused by several international airports in the UK and Northern Europe are closed. Qantas Airways, Singapore Airlines and around 10 airlines have canceled flights.

Qantas, which has more than 1,000 passengers holding at Asian stopovers, cancelled four services today and is unlikely to resume Europe flights before April 18, spokesman David Epstein told reporters. Singapore Air axed eight flights while Air China Ltd. and All Nippon Airways Co. also scrapped services.

The National Air Traffic Services Ltd. extended its U.K. airspace restrictions until 7 p.m. local time tonight on concern that airborne debris from the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjöll volcano could damage engines or parts such as speed sensors. Airports in the U.K., Norway and Sweden halted flights yesterday after the 5,500-foot, ice-covered volcano erupted and winds carried dust across a swath of northern Europe.

“It’s simple flight safety 101 — you don’t fly into the ash,” said Tim Mavin, a former commercial pilot who heads the aviation program at Griffith University in Australia’s Queensland state. “The ash is an abrasive material affecting vision in the cockpit and it will stick to the turbine blades and seize up the engine.”

Air New Zealand Ltd. yesterday cancelled two flights out of London, while today’s Europe-bound planes may be held at their stopovers. Air China will scrap today’s Beijing to Frankfurt service and ANA will cancel six flights connecting London, Paris and Germany. Japan Airlines Corp. will also cancel flights.

Korean Air Lines Co. will delay a Madrid flight while Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Hong Kong’s biggest carrier, said it will delay flights to the continent. Malaysian Airline System Bhd. has rescheduled flights until the weekend and China Southern Airlines Co., the nation’s largest carrier, is delaying two passenger and two cargo services.

The plume covered most of Norway and Scotland, as well as parts of England, Ireland, Sweden, Finland and Russia, according to data by the U.K. Met Office’s volcanic-ash advisory service.

“This one is like right in the middle of an eight-lane freeway,” said Hans Weber, president of San Diego-based aviation consultancy Tecop International.

Eruption-related disruptions may last for a further 48 hours, Kyla Evans, a spokeswoman for Eurocontrol, the body overseeing the region’s flight paths, said yesterday.

Delta Air Lines Inc. and UAL Corp.’s United Airlines led U.S. carriers in canceling at least 216 flights, almost two- thirds of the total.

Ryanair Holdings Plc and EasyJet Plc, Europe’s two biggest discount airlines, have warned of disruptions while British Airways Plc said can’t be sure when services will resume.

Income Of China’s Aviation Industry Sector Increased To Reach $ 896.7 Million

China’s aviation industry reported revenue during the first nine months of this year, recorded a net income of $ 896.7 million. Revenue was higher than years ago. Airline revenue decline in China due to fuel prices and economic recovery. Total operating revenues dipped 2.2% to CNY 153 billion, while operating costs fell 3.8% to CNY 153.9 billion.

CAAC credited “economic recovery” and “lower fuel prices” for the positive result. Total operating revenue dipped 2.2% to CNY153 billion while operating expenses fell 3.8% to CNY153.9 billion.

Passenger boardings climbed 20% to 170 million and load factor increased 1.7 points to 75.9%. Cargo traffic rose 0.4% to 3.1 million tones, the first positive growth reported this year, which CAAC said was mainly attributable to rapid growth in the domestic airfreight market.

For the month of September, Chinese airlines posted collective net income of CNY160 million, a turnaround from a CNY2.96 billion loss in the year-ago month. Operating revenue lifted 1.4% to CNY18.7 billion.

September passenger boardings jumped 17.3% to 19.3 million with domestic passengers carried growing 17.5% and international increasing 14.1%. Load factor was 74.2%, down 1.3 points. Cargo volume climbed 24.7% to 456,500 tonnes. Chinese carriers operated a combined fleet of 1,373 aircraft as of Sept. 30, up 24 compared to Aug. 31.

Southwest Airlines Looking at Flying Larger Planes

The low-cost carrier confirmed Friday that it is kicking the tires of Boeing Co.’s 737-800 planes, which are larger and can carry more passengers than the series -700, -500 and -300 Boeing 737s that Southwest currently flies.

More seats on each plane would give Southwest flexibility to have fewer daily flights out of cities where slot controls limit the airline’s ability to add more individual flights, such as New York’s LaGuardia Airport. Bigger planes also would lower the carrier’s cost per seat flown on long-haul flights where profits are thin.

“Since the decision to add the -800 has not been finalized, any details regarding configuration, timing and quantity of deliveries are still to be determined,” Mike VanDeVen, Southwest’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, wrote on the carrier’s blog Friday.

Southwest’s -700 and -300 series planes seat 137 in its all-coach configuration. Boeing says the -800 series would seat up to 189 passengers in a single-class configuration, but the model would hold 175 passengers the way Southwest would configure it.

While Boeing seems willing to let Southwest substitute the bigger models for current orders of -700 series planes, Southwest will need to reach agreements with its pilots’ and flight attendants’ unions before making the order.

A spokesman for the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association said the union’s current contract lets the parties reopen it to discuss rates of pay for flying new types of aircraft. The Transport Workers Union, which represents flight attendants, plans to start immediate negotiations, president Thom McDaniel said in a message to members Friday.

The carrier said it needs to have its new labor deals in place and decide to buy the planes by Dec. 1 in order to take delivery of the planes in 2012. If it can’t meet that deadline, it wouldn’t rule out a purchase with later deliveries, said spokeswoman Katie Coldwell.

“Response from our employees has been very positive” regarding the prospect of flying larger planes, she said.

A bigger plane might take longer to load and unload than Southwest’s current fleet, but schedule planners have built more flexibility into the airline’s schedule to allow for longer “turn times” – the time it takes to get a plane in and out of a gate.

The list price for the bigger plane ranges from $72.5 million to $81 million, Boeing’s website says. That compares to the range of $58.5 million to $69.5 million for the -700 model. Southwest, which buys all its planes from Boeing, receives significant discounts from those list prices.