United aligns obesity policy with others

If you've been asleep or in a cave the last 24 hours, you may have missed this crucial story about United Airlines. But if you watch cable TV, it's just their kind of vital news of the day and you probably already know it. United is going to charge obese passengers for two seats on crowded flights. Other major carriers, and most minor ones, too, we suspect, already do the same.

This policy makes sense to me. Too often, some of you have told me, you've spent hours trapped next to someone whose size invaded your space on a flight. You couldn't work and could barely breathe. The airlines have us right where they want us on this one: You want cheap fares? Then you have to accept that coach seats are rarely more than 17 inches wide with 31 inches of legroom.

The airlines aren't going to change the size of airplane chairs as long as most of us fit well enough in what they've got. Unless you pay more, you can't avoid a tight squeeze. To try to keep the cramping to a minimum, check out Web sites such as www.seatguru.com, which has seating charts of all aircraft operated by airlines worldwide and identifies the best ones.