Single Father, Author, Screenwriter, Award-Winning Journalist, NPR Moderator, Lecturer and College Professor. Habitual Line-Stepper

About The Hardline

One man's opinion on very nearly everything. It's hard but it's fair.

CAN'T GET ENOUGH?

Get The Hardline RSS Feed

THE BLOG FAMILY

In-your-face observations of art, entertainment and the world at large from someone who cares. Can you handle the truth?

NOVEMBER 30 | NBC Heroes Employee Says There's Too Much Diversity in Hollywood

NOVEMBER 29 | Black Conservative Doesn't Want Oprah to Interview Obama on Christmas

NOVEMBER 28 | Peru Apologizes for Mistreatment of Afro-Peruvians

One man's opinion on very nearly everything. It's hard but it's fair.

DECEMBER 2 | Ten Things You Could Learn from Tiger Woods

DECEMBER 2 | Aunt Jemima and Politics in Darktown

NOVEMBER 24 | Meet The Parents

Manners and mores in modern life? It's about way more than where the fork goes.

DECEMBER 3 | Desiree Rogers' Teachable Moment

NOVEMBER 28 | The Tipping Factor

NOVEMBER 24 | The Turkey Is The Least of It

From finance to foreclosures, layoffs and lack of opportunity, a daily journal of the economic crisis and its effect on black professionals.

NOVEMBER 27 | Making The Most With Less This Christmas

NOVEMBER 25 | Young, Black, and Out of Work

NOVEMBER 24 | Have Blacks Been Shafted By The Stimulus?

Smart, up to the minute takes on politics--from the state house to the White House. Pull up a chair.

FEBRUARY 23 | Social Networks and Saddam Hussein: A Private Matter?

JANUARY 21 | Hillary Clinton Stands Up For Internet Diplomacy

JANUARY 20 | SATISFACTION, PRIDE OR DELIRIUM?

Engaging commentary, interviews, and reviews that delve into and beyond the world of books. Get read.

NOVEMBER 25 | Conversation for the Dinner Table

NOVEMBER 19 | Reading List: The Poetry Edition

NOVEMBER 12 | Publishing with the Stars

A daily conversation on hot topic culture items. From Zora to Zane, True Blood to Tiny & Toya, TEWW covers high art, low-brow culture and everything in between.

MARCH 2 | The Best Gabourey Sidibe Interview So Far

FEBRUARY 17 | Would You Let Serena Williams Do Your Nails?

FEBRUARY 12 | John Mayer's Stupid Mouth

One woman's journey to shed 100 pounds in one year.

MARCH 17 | An Inbox Full of Eating Triggers

MARCH 16 | A Rather Inelegant Entree into the World of Zumba

MARCH 15 | Final Analysis: I’m Allergic to Exercise

JIMI'S BLOG ROLL

Flying While Fat

April 20, 2009 at 8:53 AM

United Airlines is instituting a “flying while fat” policy and it concerns me for a few reasons.

While I don’t think anyone would describe me as “fat,” I am certainly wide in the shoulders. I am about the same size and girth as a heavy-weight boxer –will I get bumped from a plane for being too big? Who is going to be the one deciding who’s fat and who’s just big boned, and what are the criteria going to be? I wouldn’t want to be the person with that gig. You think the airport is hellish now, wait until you witness the first time some sista is pulled aside or bumped from a flight because she’s too big. There’s gonna be hell to tell the captain, for sure.

I don’t know if I get down with the Canadians, who think fat people should get two seats for the price of one. I guess it would make too much sense to make the seats bigger --- let’s just go ahead and make it uncomfortable for fat people to fly. On the upside, it could open up a whole new market, like Chubby Skies or FatLine Airways. I have some travel horror stories, but none of them relate to fat people or being kind of a large-ish person myself. Have any of you been bumped off a flight for being big, or know anyone who has?

Tags: