YOU'RE in luck if you need extra room on a Canadian airline because you're obese. Federal regulations require airlines to treat such passengers as disabled and provide a second seat at no additional charge. But you're out of luck if you're too tall, as Malcolm Johnson from Edmonton has discovered. The Canadian Transportation Agency recently dismissed Mr Johnson's complaint that Air Canada was discriminating against him in forcing him to pay extra for a seat that could accommodate his 201cm (6'7) frame. The reason: Mr Johnson did not prove that his height was a disability. Though his doctor wrote a note supporting his case, pointing out that Mr Johnson was at risk of developing deep vein thrombosis if forced to sit in an economy-class seat, the agency decided that “a risk of developing a medical condition does not equate with having a condition.”

Fees for preferred seating vary by airline, length of flight, type of fare purchased and frequent-flyer status. Mr Johnson says they add up to an extra $200 when he travels from Edmonton to Paris twice a year. An Air Canada spokesperson pointed out that the fees start at $16 per one-way trip, though this is of dubious relevance because that price applies to flights under 350 miles within Canada and the US.

Mr Johnson's troubles are akin to those experienced by Brooks Anderson on a Spirit Airlines flight from Chicago to Fort Myers, Florida, in 2010. In that case, Mr Anderson, also 201cm tall, spent most of the flight standing up, “dodging people going to and from the bathroom.”

One fellow tall person said in support of Mr Johnson: “Perhaps us tall guys should all stand and be counted.” Just don't do it on take-off.