Traveling While Obese: Airlines Contend with the Ever-Expanding Passenger

Tours.com’s Travel-Intel looks at the rise of obesity in the U.S. and how air travelers, large and small, are coping with it


SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 11, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Flying while fat is more than a meme on the Internet. It is a real problem of discomforts, challenges and expenses these days as one in three Americans is considered obese, according to guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

For airlines, it means a host of customer management nightmares, from larger seat designs, to longer safety belts to higher fares for the efficiencies that must be put into place to accommodate the increases in passenger sizes and weights. The latest issue of Tours.com’s Travel-Intel dives into these issues from all sides to see what solutions are in the air.

The story in Travel-Intel adds to a roster of hard-hitting pieces on travel and the travel industry. The publication, which is sent to 120,000 travel agent subscribers in North America through Tours.com, also targets travel consumers with noteworthy articles that can assist in better travel decisions. One of those articles could translate into hundreds of dollars for air travelers who have been delayed and hampered by cancelled flights and chaotic airline management. The article looks at AirHelp, a new technology company with sophisticated methods for handling passenger complaints and making airlines pay up. A recent survey from AirHelp shows that US travelers were owed more than $413 million in compensation from airlines last year due to flight delays and cancellations. Some 92 percent of US citizens do not know their air passenger rights when flying globally, missing out on $6 billion a year in compensation from flight delays, cancellations and denied boarding.

As winter roars and Americans brace for some tough travel times ahead this holiday, one survey discovered a new kind of “travel PTSD” emerging through the turmoil of travel: the travel curse.

A new study looking at the recent travel experiences of some 2,000 Americans determined that 14 percent seem to experience so much bad luck when they travel that they believe themselves to be truly cursed. The study, conducted by OnePoll and UpgradedPoints.com, further determined that the average American experiences 240 stressful travel moments in a lifetime.

Possibly a way through the travel tunnel is the light at the end of it, and that might mean a refreshing week out west at the Lodge & Spa at Brush Creek Ranch in Wyoming. The lodge offers a number of expansive and private luxury accommodation options, along with wellness amenities and 30,000 rustic and riveting acres of chaparral for guests to recharge in this winter. The Lodge is part of the exclusive collection of luxury hotels, resorts and destination specialists represented by HiddenDoorwaysTravel.com.

Finally, Travel-Intel looks at the back office of travel management and shows some cutting-edge solutions for industry businesses looking to scale and finance, whether travel agency, tour company or travel consultant. A focus on ConnexPay, a newly emerging fintech solution, takes care of cash flow and fraud protection from all sides of the booking transaction. As “wave season” or the hectic winter buying months approach for those involved with selling travel, Travel-Intel posts some sage advice from successful sellers to help travel advisors optimize and profit from the busy season ahead.

Travel-Intel is written by travel industry journalists and focuses on changing trends in travel. Stories come from a variety of places and perspectives, including inside track information from travel industry conferences and expos, technology conferences, one on one interviews with key players, and first-person experiences at popular hotels, exotic resorts, cruise ships and ports, and destinations near and far. Current issues and archives can be viewed at travel-intel.com.

“The world of travel, be it transportation, business, luxury, even road trips, is in hyper-expansion mode these days. The more today’s travelers and travel advisors know about navigating this fast-changing landscape, the easier the going will be,” says Lark Gould, founder and editor of Travel-Intel. “Travel-Intel stays ahead of the curve and remains a top resource for consumers and agents alike.”

As a veteran travel journalist who has been covering the travel industry for more than 30 years, Lark Gould puts her incisive perspective into the weekly publication, with features and news updates, and also “packages” issues that present great travel deals to be found at hotels and resort locations worldwide. Travel-Intel can be viewed as a stand-alone publication on Tours.com. Gould syndicates a Travel2020 column and regularly publishes travel stories in Business Traveler USA, as well as eTravel.news and various inflights. 

About Tours.com Tours.com is the only worldwide directory of tours and vacations. As the most comprehensive tour and travel directory out there Tours.com is celebrating its 23rd  anniversary as an authority website, launched 1995.  It features a deep and searchable database of tours and tour companies according to destination, activity and/or company name.  It is also a one-stop resource for travel agents certified with in-depth knowledge in their chosen areas. For local sightseeing information in cities and towns around the world, companion site, Sightseeing.com is the resource.  For more information visit  http://www.tours.com/travel-intel

Contact: Maria Polk, President & CEO maria@tours.com Phone:  415-786-9108