Virgin won't change obese passenger policy after settlement LONDON (Reuters) =97 Virgin Atlantic Airways said on Tuesday it would not=20 change its policy for overweight passengers, despite paying $20,100 to a=20 woman squashed by an obese woman on a transatlantic flight. Virgin said=20 nearly all portly passengers already booked more spacious seats in the=20 front of the cabin or two economy seats but in rare cases when an obese=20 passenger had not booked extra room, it would charge them for an extra seat= =20 or an upgrade. "Our seats are designed to cater well into the high 90% of=20 the population," a Virgin spokeswoman said. "Those passengers in the still= =20 very rare cases who need more space generally flag that up when they book=20 with the airline." But Virgin recently paid compensation to Barbara Hewson= =20 in an out-of-court settlement after she sustained injuries during a flight= =20 from London to Los Angeles in January 2001, when an oversized woman sitting= =20 next to her spilled over into her seat. There were no spare seats on the=20 plane. "She was on a flight sitting next to an oversized lady who basically= =20 caused her some injury during the flight," a Virgin spokeswoman said. "The= =20 lady sitting next to Hewson was too big for her seat and overspilled on top= =20 of Hewson." The airline, in which Richard Branson's Virgin Group owns 51% and Singapore= =20 Airlines owns 49%, said the reason for the long wait for compensation was=20 that Hewson had to provide medical evidence of the injuries. Virgin said=20 there would be no policy changes resulting from the "unprecedented case"=20 but it would continue to advise large passengers to upgrade to bigger seats= =20 or purchase two seats. "We haven't had a case like this and we don't=20 receive very many complaints of this order, so it's something that doesn't= =20 need to result in a policy change," the spokeswoman said. U.S. no-frills=20 carrier Southwest Airlines earlier this year angered the National=20 Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, with its decision to require=20 passengers too large to fit into one seat to purchase tickets for two=20 seats. "This is the de facto policy of nearly all airlines," said an=20 executive from a European airline, who asked not to be named. The Virgin=20 spokesman said: "At the end of the day if a passenger needs two seats then= =20 they need two seats and we haven't got any choice but to charge them for=20 that and we think our other passengers would rather we did." The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (I95.5FM) http://www.i955fm.com (Radio Station I95.5FM) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************