Tall People Flying: Edmonton Man Argues Air Canada Discriminates Against Tall People

Airplane

The Huffington Post Canada   First Posted: 01/12/12 04:02 PM ET Updated: 01/12/12 04:02 PM ET

It’s no secret that “airline seats” and “spacious” generally don’t go together. But that’s an understatement for 6-foot-7 Malcolm Johnson. The Edmonton architect wants Air Canada to stop charging tall passengers additional fees for seats with more legroom.

“In order to sit comfortably and not inconvenience those around me, I have to take one of those seats, as do other tall people,” Johnson told The Edmonton Journal, adding that he thinks airlines offering international flights should attend to the needs of passengers with special needs.

Johnson told the newspaper he took his story to the Canadian Transportation Agency about a year ago. But the agency dismissed his application, claiming that Johnson failed to prove that his height is a disability.

In 2008, a Supreme Court of Canada decision made it mandatory for two of Canada’s largest airlines, WestJet and Air Canada, to provide an extra seat to obese passengers and disabled travelers who require more room, without any extra charge.

Johnson told The Edmonton Journal that he thinks a similar policy should apply to tall people and that airlines could reserve seats for passengers who need extra space.

The Edmonton native typically shells out an extra $200 to book an exit-row seat (which generally has extra legroom), according to The Toronto Star.

“To say that a seat with extra legroom is available but you have to pay extra for it, while someone else gets it at a regular price . . . I think a lot of people have a problem with this,” he told the newspaper.

Air Canada didn’t respond to The Star’s request for comment.

Incidents involving tall passengers aren’t exclusive to Canada: last year, the stepdaughter of a 6' 9" man shared with The Consumerist the letter her stepfather wrote to Horizon Air after he was asked to leave a plane. The airline apologized to the passenger after learning about the incident.

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It’s no secret that “airline seats” and “spacious” generally don’t go together. But that’s an understatement for 6-foot-7 Malcolm Johnson. The Edmonton architect wants Air Canada to stop...
It’s no secret that “airline seats” and “spacious” generally don’t go together. But that’s an understatement for 6-foot-7 Malcolm Johnson. The Edmonton architect wants Air Canada to stop...
 
 
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01:01 PM on 03/30/2013
i'll jump on this class action. its not like i have any choice in seating and i am only 6' (longish of leg mind). no idea how 6'7" would manage.
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MFlick
11:34 PM on 01/13/2012
It always irritates me when i walk only a full flight and see that all of the bulkhead and exit row seats have been occupied my the citizens of Munchkin City and the Lollypop Guild while I get stuck in the middle seat in between two overweight people overflowing their seats into my own tiny space.
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Skookum1
truth can't be bought, but lies sure can be sold..
01:11 PM on 01/13/2012
On one Cathay Pacific flight, I had a regular seat but there was no leg room to start with and the guy in front or me got irate because he couldn't recline his seat; heard some nasty comments about the tai gwailo to the stewardess - who promptly took me up to the business class and gave me a seat suited to my frame. He was enraged - HE should have been taken to business class, not me. When I came back to my seat for my meal (couldn't eat in business class), my water bottle had been opened and the seat was soaked.......

Smaller people treat bigger people with resentment; and when it comes to design issues the nostrum about designing for someone of normal size means that "tall people are just gonna have to deal with it". Applies to seating as much as to things like gym equipment and cupboards, doorways etc.....

I have a saying - "the world was designed by short people, and is run by morning people...."
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MFlick
11:31 PM on 01/13/2012
Shorter people always deride me for thinking that there should be some small accommodation (if at all possible) for tall people telling me that they would kill to have my problems. I am with you whole heartedly. Yours in arms, 6'8" Matt.
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Skookum1
truth can't be bought, but lies sure can be sold..
08:54 AM on 01/14/2012
After a week of banging their heads on doorways and things sticking out, or having to hunch down to hear someone or because they said "don't stand so tall!", or walking down the street with people giving you fearful glances because the media/Hollywood have trained people to think tall people are scary/dangerous etc..., or saying stupid things like "you think you're big, don't you" (i.e. short-man syndrome type comments),. or even just the annoyingly regular questions "do you play basketball" or "how tall are you anyway" or "how's the weather up there" and so on.......

Do you find in crowds that much-shorter people treat you like you're not there and push around and past you like you're an inanimate object? Have you ever heard, when someone bumps into you "I didn't see you"? - which is a really ridiculous thing to say when you're 6'5" 265 huh? I call it the "stepping in front of a bus" syndrome....little people expect US to get out of THEIR way, even though there's more of us to move and, in my case, it's often when my limp is hurting and/or I'm carrying groceries etc.....then there's the types that get a CHARGE out of trying to get you to move out of their way, proving their short-person seniority.
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Skookum1
truth can't be bought, but lies sure can be sold..
08:54 AM on 01/14/2012
Not sure about in the US, but if you're aggressed on in Canada and you're tall/big, the Criminal Code requires that you withhold your strength and not defend yourself fully, or you'll be liable for any damages and could also be charged with assault, even though it's you that was attacked.....
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Skookum1
truth can't be bought, but lies sure can be sold..
01:09 PM on 01/13/2012
It's not just airlines - it's public transit, theatre seating, and lots more; whether on buses or metro/trains, there's often much LESS leg room than necessary, meaning forward-facing seats for example are completely unusable; and there are often poles and pole-endings if you're standing etc.....

I've never had to pay extra for my exit row seats, but I suppose it varies with the airline. Some airlines have business-class type seating areas with economy service which "club" frequent flyer members can use. Probably not on short-haul flights I guess, unless an extension of an intercontinental one. On one JAL flight many years ago, I was impressed when the stewardesses went around the plane on my behalf asking people with exit row seats to give theirs up for me; formally getting down on their hands and knees and touching their heads to the carpet to ask. It amazed me the disdain which some holding exit row seats treated the question, even though they were short. Then, upon being seated in one, the smaller person next to me complained I was too large and insisted on being given a better seat away from the Western barbarian etc...
photo
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Warren Yuill
Jesus Built My Hot-Rod
07:09 PM on 01/12/2012
I'm about 6'4"
Every time I fly, when the person sitting in front of me tries to recline they are stopped by my knees.
Sometimes they complain to the flight attendant
WTF am I supposed to do.....shrink?
06:51 PM on 01/12/2012
If the rule is that obese people and the disabled get a free extra seat, it makes sense that tall people should not have to pay extra for an exit-row seat. There are probably additional risks for blood clots to happen during the flight if you are put into a seat that is too small.
photo
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Leanne McKenzie
You can't make this sh*t up.
06:17 PM on 01/12/2012
My husband who is 6'4" and I booked and requested the exit seat, but once we were at the counter, we were told, no that isn't possible.

When we did get on the flight, there were airline staff on their flight home after a shift sitting in those seats. None of them were taller than average and my husband sat immobile for the 4 hours we were on the plane. They could have taken any empty seats on the plane, but it seems they booked it, even if they weren't paying for it.