Traveller letters: Overweight plane passengers and excess carry on are not the same thing

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This was published 6 years ago

Traveller letters: Overweight plane passengers and excess carry on are not the same thing

Your overweight carry on luggage could be dangerous.

Your overweight carry on luggage could be dangerous.Credit: Getty Images

SCALES OF INJUSTICE

Rob May, in his "Weighty Matters" letter (Traveller, May 27), can't seriously believe that airlines police carry-on luggage weight limits to raise revenue?

I don't care how slender or trim he and his wife are relative to other passengers. I don't want a piece of luggage heavier than seven kilograms flying through the cabin or falling out of an overhead locker on to my head in turbulence. If people put their excessively heavy luggage in overhead lockers which are not designed to carry those weights, they put others (and themselves) at risk of serious injury. He thinks it's discriminatory to penalise people for excessive carry-on when fatter people are not penalised for their bodyweight? I call on airlines to actively discriminate against people who are too thick and self-centred to consider the safety of others.

Frustrating: Securing a 10-year renewal of an adult Australian passport is not cheap.

Frustrating: Securing a 10-year renewal of an adult Australian passport is not cheap.

Carolyn Altan, Burwood, VIC

I was rather surprised, then disappointed, then rather angry with Traveller to read Rob May's letter in which he complains that airlines, despite policing carry-on weight regulations, are letting obese people on the plane with no penalties for being fat.

He even has the effrontery to suggest that it is unfair that these fat people can weigh 30 kilos more than him, while admitting that his own carry-on luggage was over the limit.

In publishing a letter which is blatantly an example of "fat shaming", is Traveller supporting this unethical behaviour? By awarding it your Letter of the Week, I suggest that, yes, you are supporting discrimination against fat people.

Kim White, Mirboo North VIC

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There is another point of view to Rob May's letter. There was a time when aircraft cabins were for people to sit while flying A to B. Then an airline allowed hard-shell mini-suitcases to be hauled into the cabin and stuffed into the overhead bin. All airlines followed suit and cabins are now also baggage holds.

Even flying the cheapest economy ticket, many international flights allow generous baggage allowance of 22 kilograms or more. There hardly seems a reason to haul a seven-kilogram hard-shell suitcase into the cabin. These things are difficult to handle for many passengers, help slow down boarding and exiting and could be a real hazard in a crash.

I dare say manufacturers reinforce and test the overhead bins but it's not hard to imagine a bin unlatching and a few dozen seven-kilogram projectiles snapping necks.

Actually, that can happen in a simple hard landing. You think latches never fail? No argument from me if the airlines halve the bin size and ban hard-shell suitcases. I take a backpack on board, about three kilograms, and it goes under the seat in front.

Richard Dowling, Blackburn, VIC

LETTER OF THE WEEK: PASSPORT CONTROLS

It costs a mammoth $277 and can involve a three-week delay to hopefully secure a 10-year renewal of an adult Australian passport. It conceivably could cost less if my current passport document number with its fixed demographic details such as birthplace and birthday were re-used.

However, the Australian Passport Office insists on the additional cost and higher risk of fraud incurred in a new serial number to be imprinted on a renewed passport for the same person.

I found out that the same document number would have allowed my travel agent to book my hotels in India and Sri Lanka. Instead our travel plans over Christmas and New Year are now on hold.

Another tip is that the unsmiling mugshots with head held steady, no eyewear and teeth hidden behind a glum facade, to ensure the photo is acceptable to the Passport Office, are best done at an Australia Post office where your application can also be lodged.

Joseph Ting, Carina, QLD

SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE

Once airlines offered a separate section for smokers and non-smokers. Perhaps they could do the same, on booking, for seats that may be reclined and seats that are to remain upright.

For couples where one partner likes to recline his seat and the other doesn't, it would be preferable to arrange this on separate sides of the plane so that they could sit together on either side of an aisle.

This may solve this perennial and annoying problem once and for all. Airlines would be able to gauge the demand from patrons' preferences and plan accordingly.

Julie Trethowan, Ormond, VIC

RIGHT POLICY

Five days out from departing to Europe and the UK, my wife had an accident and ended up in hospital, with concussion and some bleeding on the brain. Everything had to be cancelled.

Even though our combined age is 154 years, we had obtained insurance with Australian Seniors Insurance Agency, underwritten by Chubb Insurance.

A claim was lodged and received by Chubb on May 5 and on May 25 we received an email advising that the full claim had been approved and we would receive their cheque in settlement within three to five working days. The whole process was not just prompt and efficient but there was no fuss or drama.

Brian and Sue Holley, Yamba, NSW

HIGH ANXIETY

I'm not good with heights. Cable cars, scenic lookouts, mountain walks ... I dread the lot. Some of that is due to advancing age and a sense of my own mortality and some due to a knee reconstruction and a loss of faith in it doing what I want it to do.

I would love to visit Machu Picchu but would hate to get there and not get out of the bus. I guess the question is: is it as scary as the photos make out? Perhaps you could run an article on places people like me should not go, or perhaps bear it in mind when writing articles on places to visit ?

Bill Goldie, Goonellabah, NSW


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Letters may be edited for space, legal or other reasons. Preference will be given to letters of 50-100 words or less. Email us at travellerletters@fairfaxmedia.com.au and, importantly, include your name, address and phone number.

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