NICE (Jan. 21) — Air France this week was embroiled in a public relations debacle that proved what a delicate issue obesity is becoming even for the once proudly svelte French. 

The airline was forced to deny reports that it would penalize overweight passengers by making them buy two seats after a barrage of stories accusing the airline of treating fat people unfairly.

Dozens of newspapers quoted an Air France spokeswoman saying that as of April 1, passengers who appear too heavy would be obliged to buy a second seat at a 25 percent discount. Some French organizations representing obese people accused the airline of discrimination.

But on Thursday the airline released a statement explaining that the only departure from a policy in place since 2005 was that overweight passengers could get a full refund for their purchase of a second seat if their flight turns out not to be full.

The airline says it does not force heavier passengers to buy a second ticket but are “suggesting” the option for their own comfort.

Air France spokesman Nicolas Petteau was clearly uncomfortable talking Friday about what has turned into a PR nightmare for the venerable airline, long a proud symbol of France.

In appearing to join the ranks of some American airlines — such as United Airlines and Southwest — which sometimes require overweight passengers to buy a second seat, Air France has dealt another blow to the prized image of French people as thin and elegant, in contrast to their supposedly obese, junk-food-eating American cousins.

In fact, the changes at Air France are believed to stem from the $11,000 it was forced to pay a 352-pound Frenchman, Jean-Jacques Jauffret, who sued the airline after saying he was humiliated by having his stomach measured in public as he tried to board a flight from New Delhi to Paris in 2005.

That is not the only indication that the airline’s adjustment to a more corpulent passenger base has been fraught with difficulty.

“It is a situation we tend to encounter every day now,” Petteau said. “It can be very awkward. It’s a much bigger story than what is happening at Air France. We wanted to start offering a solution.”

It’s a bigger story, literally. The most recent World Health Organization figures show that 16.9 percent of French adults meet its definition of obesity, compared to 35.1 percent of Americans. But Anne-Sophie Joly, president of the National Collective of Associations for the Obese (CNAO) in France, said obesity in France is increasing at about 6 percent annually among adults and 17 percent among children. At that rate, she says, the French could be as fat as Americans in 2020.

But is Air France’s plan a good “solution,” as Petteau says, or just the start of the further oppression of fat people in France?

“This is nothing but pure discrimination,” Joly said. ” It’s a bad idea, and they saw what a negative reaction they got this week. This is just the first step, and then in two months we’ll be paying for two tickets.”

Nadine Morano, the secretary of state for family, also disapproved of the new Air France plan when she heard the initial media reports, calling it “fairly shocking.”

Even Lesleigh Owen, a spokeswoman for the U.S.-based National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, weighed in. “Given all I’ve heard about personal and human rights in France,” she said, “I’m surprised and disappointed that Air France has begun to adopt some American airlines’ discriminatory policies.”

In November, Joly told Le Monde that a “medical catastrophe” is looming in once-skinny France because the country is ill-equipped for the new corpulence. She cited everything from too-small hospital operating tables to a lack of sexy undergarments for larger women.

“The French are getting fatter every day,” said Andi Ipaktchi, an American illustrator who has lived in Paris for 20 years. “The other day I saw a group of really chunky teen-age girls, and of course I thought they were American. I got closer and it was clear they were all French.”

Ipaktchi said she’s seen a huge difference since she arrived in Paris.

“Mealtimes used to be very precise,” she said. “And lunch was sacred. Everyone went home for a full meal at lunch. Now you see people walking down the street eating a sandwich. That was unheard of. And everyone has soft drinks. It used to be if you ordered a Coke with your steak, the waiter would practically yell at you. Now it’s acceptable.”

Despite the contention of some popular diet books, French women do get fat, Ipaktchi added.

“The drugstores here are filled with products to help you lose weight,” she said. “French woman are just as obsessed as American women with being thin. But it doesn’t come as naturally to them as everyone thinks. Diet pills are everywhere.”

via Air France Frets Over How to Seat the Obese – AOL News.