A victory at the Court of Appeals for British Airways and Thomas Cook has paved the way for a fat tax on obese airline passengers. The ruling means that customers will no longer be able to sue carriers if they feel that their feelings have been hurt while travelling with them.
The court had been hearing how Tony Hook, from Leicester and Christopher Stott, from London, who are both disabled, suffered embarrassment after not being allowed to sit with their carers by airline staff. Mr Stott said he had been tipped out of his wheelchair in full view of his fellow passengers.
Although the court said it could sympathise with their situations it added that it could not grant entitlement to compensation because the embarrassment caused had ruined the holiday they were embarking on. The judges also said that the case would not be allowed in front of the Supreme Court.
The three judges employed the Montreal Convention in the case. This is a coda of rules pertaining to aviation which goes above international law. The judges said that they were siding with the airlines in order to avoid numerous similar cases making it to court in the future.
Now that passengers no longer have recourse to the courts if they feel their feelings have been hurt while travelling with an airline, carriers could find ways of using the new legislation to introduce charges for larger people. Air France said two years ago that passengers should expect to pay more if they cannot fit into one seat.
