Travelers taking up more than their own seat should pay higher prices

For many who choose to travel by air this holiday season, there is always a chance that the person sitting next to you may take up more than their own seat of within that row.  Often, because America has such a lasting issue with obesity, one will notice that there is an extremely overweight person overflowing into the seats beside them on an airplane, leaving the adjacent passengers with barely any room to stretch or even move. 

In the midst of the holiday season, the airlines are busier than any other time of the year.  Many people fly home to see family and friends, as well as go on vacations.  Wherever the destination, people should receive what they pay for, which is one full seat on the airplane from the beginning of the flight to the end of the flight. 

So, it would only be fair if someone who takes up more than one seat on a plane should pay for more than one seat. How is it fair for one person taking up more than one seat to pay the exact amount as someone that does not even get to enjoy the full seat they have paid for?

Although this is a very sensitive issue for many, it is not in the best interest of the airlines, nor the other passengers to have extremely obese people occupying spaces that have not been included in their ticket price.  While implementing a new price requirement for obese people does sound harsh and insensitive, if every business set their prices around what would hurt people's feelings rather than what is practical, then they would probably not be successful.

Airlines charge extra to check a bag that weighs over a certain weight, so it would only make sense for the airlines to charge extra for those individuals who are taking up more space. 

When looking at the actual costs of a functioning airline, one of the major costs is fuel.  The heavier the plane is the more fuel it takes to reach its destination.  Keep in mind that when speaking about these customers that add weight, I am not speaking simply about overweight people, but obese people with several extra hundred pounds on them.  With a staggering 33.8% of adults that are obese in the United States according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this is a problem that can occur all too often, especially around the holidays when the airlines are at their busiest.  

It just is not fair to those who do not occupy more than one seat to have to pay for the space that someone who is extremely large is taking up.  The airlines should conspire to implement a system wherein all passengers enter their weight, a weight that is to be verified upon check-in at the airport, to determine whether or not an extra charge should be added.