Air France frets over how to seat Obese
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World Air France Frets Over How to Seat the
Obese Coming Soon: New Commenting
Experience
NICE (Jan. 21) - Air France this week
was embroiled in a public relations
debacle that proved what a delicate issue
obesity is becoming even for the once
proudly svelte French.
The airline was forced to deny reports
that it would penalize overweight
passengers by making them buy two
seats after a barrage of stories accusing
the airline of treating fat people unfairly.
Stan Honda, AFP / Getty Images
Like several American airlines, Air France
is grappling over the touchy issue of how
much obese passengers should pay to
fly.
Dozens of newspapers quoted an Air
France spokeswoman saying that as of
April 1, passengers who appear too
heavy would be obliged to buy a second
seat at a 25 percent discount. Some
French organizations representing obese
people accused the airline of
discrimination.
But on Thursday the airline released a
statement explaining that the only
departure from a policy in place since
2005 was that overweight passengers
could get a full refund for their purchase
of a second seat if their flight turns out not
to be full.
The airline says it does not force heavier
passengers to buy a second ticket but are
“suggesting” the option for their own
comfort.
Air France spokesman Nicolas Petteau
was clearly uncomfortable talking Friday
about what has turned into a PR
nightmare for the venerable airline, long a
proud symbol of France.
In appearing to join the ranks of some
American airlines - such as United
Airlines and Southwest - which
sometimes require overweight
passengers to buy a second seat, Air
France has dealt another blow to the
prized image of French people as thin
and elegant, in contrast to their
supposedly obese, junk-food-eating
American cousins.
In fact, the changes at Air France are
believed to stem from the $11,000 it was
forced to pay a 352-pound Frenchman,
Jean-Jacques Jauffret, who sued the
airline after saying he was humiliated by
http://www.sphere.com/world/article/air-france-frets-over-how-to-seat-the-obese/19325951
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having his stomach measured in public as
he tried to board a flight from New Delhi
to Paris in 2005.
That is not the only indication that the
airline’s adjustment to a more corpulent
passenger base has been fraught with
difficulty.
“It is a situation we tend to encounter
every day now,” Petteau said. “It can be
very awkward. It’s a much bigger story
than what is happening at Air France. We
wanted to start offering a solution.”
It’s a bigger story, literally. The most
recent World Health Organization figures
show that 16.9 percent of French adults
meet its definition of obesity, compared to
35.1 percent of Americans. But Anne-
Sophie Joly, president of the National
Collective of Associations for the Obese
(CNAO) in France, said obesity in France
is increasing at about 6 percent annually
among adults and 17 percent among
children. At that rate, she says, the
French could be as fat as Americans in
2020.
But is Air France’s plan a good “solution,”
as Petteau says, or just the start of the
further oppression of fat people in
France?
“This is nothing but pure discrimination,”
Joly said. ” It’s a bad idea, and they saw
what a negative reaction they got this
week. This is just the first step, and then
in two months we’ll be paying for two
tickets.”
Nadine Morano, the secretary of state for
family, also disapproved of the new Air
France plan when she heard the initial
media reports, calling it “fairly shocking.”
Even Lesleigh Owen, a spokeswoman for
the U.S.-based National Association to
Advance Fat Acceptance, weighed in.
“Given all I’ve heard about personal and
human rights in France,” she said, “I’m
surprised and disappointed that Air
France has begun to adopt some
American airlines’ discriminatory policies.”
In November, Joly told Le Monde that a
“medical catastrophe” is looming in onceskinny
France because the country is illequipped
for the new corpulence. She
cited everything from too-small hospital
operating tables to a lack of sexy
undergarments for larger women.
“The French are getting fatter every day,”
said Andi Ipaktchi, an American illustrator
who has lived in Paris for 20 years. “The
other day I saw a group of really chunky
teen-age girls, and of course I thought
they were American. I got closer and it
was clear they were all French.”
Ipaktchi said she’s seen a huge difference
since she arrived in Paris.
“Mealtimes used to be very precise,” she
said. “And lunch was sacred. Everyone
went home for a full meal at lunch. Now
you see people walking down the street
eating a sandwich. That was unheard of.
And everyone has soft drinks. It used to
be if you ordered a Coke with your steak,
the waiter would practically yell at you.
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Now it’s acceptable.”
Despite the contention of some popular
diet books, French women do get fat,
Ipaktchi added.
“The drugstores here are filled with
products to help you lose weight,” she
said. “French woman are just as
obsessed as American women with being
thin. But it doesn’t come as naturally to
them as everyone thinks. Diet pills are
everywhere.”
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