Samoa Air Adds Larger Seats to Planes as Part of XL Class For Heavy Passengers

Samoan airline Samoa Air has brought in extra large seats for people over 280 pounds as part of its new "XL class" for overweight passengers that will be introduced this week. The Pacific airline is also the first in the world to charge people by their weight.

Samoa Air is going to modify some of its seating just for overweight passengers. Samoa had many heavy people, like many Pacific islands, because of genetics and the large number of root vegetables that they eat. The country is often cited for its obesity statistics as more than 80 percet of the country over the age of 15 is overweight, the Daily Mail reports.

To accommodate passengers, the airline's propeller Britten Norman and Cessna aircrafts are getting a special XL row that has increased by up to 14 inches to provide more stomach and leg room. It also provides more space between seats.

According to Samoa Air chief executive Chris Langton, the airline also added a special ramp on planes to make it easier for large passengers to board and leave.

"Once you're up and around that sort of weight, a traditional seat on any airline is going to be uncomfortable," Langton said according to the Daily Mail.
"Quite often the access is difficult and even the space between the seats is enough that even when you've squeezed into the seats there's no room for your legs, Landton added. "We don't have a large fleet of aeroplanes, but we wanted to do something that recognised that we are thinking about this."

Langton made a point that there is extra large clothing, so why shouldn't there be extra large seats for passengers.

"The airline industry is going to have to do that - we're going to have to provide a range of seats categorised in terms of weight and maybe some other indexes like height," Langton said. "So when people travel they can give us those indicators and we can allocate them to an appropriate seat."

Earlier this year, the airline became the first to introduce a pay by weight system. Passengers must enter their weight when booking a flight and their fares are calculated by the number.