Chinese Eastern Airlines Forced to Expand Seating for Fat Passengers
With affluence comes expansion – usually around the hips for the fairer sex and the midsection for the dumber. China is no different.
It is estimated that more than 20 million Chinese are overweight and that 30% of Chinese in large cities are overweight. And…its the Chinese in large cities that are generally the ones who can afford air travel.
Consequently – China Eastern Airlines said it will reduce by 20 the number of seats on the new Airbus 321 that it imports from the WEST to enlarge seating space. First class seats will also be expanded – the number of that is.
Chinese rationalize that there are always empty seats on Chinese planes, so why not make more space. The airlines, of course, want to fill up those seats – all of them, not each.
A China Southern Airlines aircraft had to delay a flight for two hourse earlier this year because two passengers fought over seating space.
In the west, that kind of fighting doesn’t happen. The fat guy wins.
On a recent flight my wife and I took on Alaska airlines, thy guy in front of us had to borrow a seat belt extension in order to buckle up. The plane was not booked to capacity so he got three seats to himself.
It won’t be long before Chinese midsections catch up with the west, too.
What do you think?
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