For Immediate Release
April 17, 2009

Oakland, CA - NAAFA, a civil rights organization working to end discrimination
against people of size strongly urges United Airlines to reconsider their new
discriminatory policy of charging passengers of size for two seats.

United Airlines has stated that they have implemented this policy as a result of
receiving 700 complaints last year, which is equal to 1/1000th of 1% of the
passengers traveling on their airline. (63,000,000 passengers traveled United in
the same period) A significant policy change based on such a minute percentage
is more obviously a new attempt at getting more money out of the consumer's
pocket than any concern for their well-being.

Tall, short, thin or fat, broad shoulders, wide hips or longer legs…people come
in all sizes and it is rare for any coach seat to provide a comfortable and
pleasant travel experience. The responsibility of serving customers of all
sizes is the cost of doing business in today's modern world and that cost should
not come at the expense of any one group of individuals.

NAAFA believes United's policy change will add yet another way to discriminate
against already marginalized fat people and be counter productive to United's
and the airline industry's economic future.

Should United insist on enforcing this policy, NAAFA recommends that people of
size seek out and travel airlines that do not have such discriminatory policies.

Founded in 1969, NAAFA is a non-profit civil rights organization dedicated to
improving the quality of life for fat people. NAAFA works to eliminate
discrimination based on body size and provide fat people with the tools for
self-empowerment through public education, advocacy, and member support.

On the web: http://www.naafa.org

For more information contact:
Peggy Howell, Public Relations Director, NAAFA
email: naafa_pr@...