Airfare depending on passenger weight?

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chiskop

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Los Angeles - Imagine two scales at the airline ticket counter, one for your bags and one for you. The price of the ticket depends on the weight of both. That may not be so far-fetched. Business Report​

An excellent idea, IMO.
 
lol, all the american people that are overweight, lol :D :D :D no more mc donalds kids, we are going to fly in three months...
 
Obese people would throw a conniption fit if something like this was implemented. But, it's a very sensible idea from the point of view of equality. I mean, nobody likes to sit next to someone that has rolls flowing over the armrests :eek: . In essence, if someone is grossly overweight, they are decreasing the comfort of people sitting next to them immensely. The people sitting next to them should in fact, be charged less, and perhaps be compensated as well (with the extra money from the overweight person's ticket)?

But, since they're openly price discriminating based on traveller's physical attributes, I would also tend to wonder, what else could they implement? They should also charge more for parents that bring babies as well. I think that babies still get onto flights for free? Or have things changed?

What if the baby is well behaved and doesn't cry? What if it does? The airliner's can't tell these things beforehand. They can't tell your weight either, if you book and pay online. And surely they can't ask you to enter your weight, and then verify it when you fly.

It's very tricky waters for the airlines. They could risk a lot of negative publicity by following through with such plans. I wonder if anyone will implement this? I'd say, maybe in extreme circumstances, yes, if someone is really overweight, charge them for 2 seats (Like Southwest does). Otherwise, is it really worth hassling each customer by weighing them. I mean, women don't even want to tell people their age, and now you want them to be publicly weighed :D !?!

From the point of view of petrol consumption, each additional person has a negligible effect on petrol consumption (yes I know petrol is going up, but in relation to the each fare charged, it's negligible). They need to weigh up the cost vs. benefit of weighing their customers before doing something like this.
 
Ratwiz said:
They can't tell your weight either, if you book and pay online. And surely they can't ask you to enter your weight, and then verify it when you fly.
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They wouldn't need to. All they would have to do is to say that each passenger has a weight allowance of (avg person's weight) + (current baggage allowance).
When you check in, you'd stand on a scale and they just check that you're within that allowance, and charge you excess over that. They wouldn't even need to know your weight.

If I'm charged excess when my luggage is overweight (I weigh slightly less than a wet Moederloos, btw), why should fatty not be charged for his excess bodyweight?
 
I agree. This is an excellent idea!

bwana said:
News flash - South Africans arent exactly slim and trim themselves. ;) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3964693.stm
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Although this is true, have you read the comments at the bottom of the page? The reason for obesity is completely different! In Africa, it's considered a good thing to be obese. In the States, it's just because they're lazy and eat too much junk food.
 
I agree with this.

They should definitely implement this sort of thing. Many a time I've been stuck sitting next to some fat ass. They should be forced to reserve two seats. Not our fault you can't put the fork (fry box) down!
 
I have an aunt who is overweight .... due to a thyroid (or some actual medical thing) .... I'll be sure and let her know what caring fsckers you lot are. Ah .... you gotta love the smell of discrimination in the morning :mad:
 
Mephisto_Helix said:
I have an aunt who is overweight .... due to a thyroid (or some actual medical thing) .... I'll be sure and let her know what caring fsckers you lot are. Ah .... you gotta love the smell of discrimination in the morning :mad:
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With respect - it does not change anything.
What about people with growth problems that never get bigger than 3foot? They are not allowed on rides where you must be ->this<- tall, either.
And blind people may not drive. And so on.

While it sucks for the afflicted person, it still makes sense.
 
Why? If I'm charged for excess baggage, is that a question of discrimination?

I'm taller than most - yet I have to fit in to an airline seat that is made for average height people. I'm not complaining about that or crying that I'm being discriminated against - I'm just saying that sometimes a person who is outside of the average has to put up with some discomfort/extra charge. That's life.

Face it, we're charged excess for baggage because of the cost of flying that extra weight from A -> B. It should be the same with your personal weight. It is not a prejudice, despite some of my snarky comments, against people with weight issues, no matter what the reason for it.

It is simply fairness.
 
chiskop said:
An excellent idea, IMO.
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While we're at it please include halotosis breath and snorers in there as well. So after your weighed your breath is checked to be below paint stripping quality and you have to sleep for a minute to determine decibel level of your snore. We can then give you a sign and people like me can avoid facing you directly and have my shades melted. Especially on the red-eye express. Hmmm while we're at it why dont we put all these black people at the back of the plane because we know their noisy fskers.

Been there done that.

All jokes aside though.
This relates to total carry weight of a plane. The airlines have been squeezing the seats for profit, compare business class today to business class of yesteryear.

When they calculate the total weight of the plane they use a no of passengers * average weight per person+baggage calculation. When you pass through check-in and your 10 kg over your weight on your baggage. You get charged a penalty which you happily pay as long as your not required to leave something behind. If every other passenger does exactly the same you potentially have an additional 2 tonnes (for example) on the plane. The pilot calculates the weight of the plane using an average of person/luggage. Net effect one crashed plane.

The airlines have squeezed the number of seats per plane to the point where it hovers on the edge and any additional unexpected weight causes a dangerous situation. So the airline's solution is to charge extra for overweight people. Then the opposite must always hold true. I with my skinny frame must pay less every time I fly irrespective of how full the plane is. Not likely to happen.
 
I caught the tail end of a 702 report yesterday on airlines.
I did not hear what major airline it was, but they revised their profit from $4billion to a "conservative" loss of $2.3billion - because of fuel.
They also said that each $1 in oil price equates to $1billion in fuel costs. Not sure how they got that, but there it is for what it is worth.

So, if a large person needs to pay more, so be it (and we are not just talking fatties here - body builders would also need to pay more).
 
Not a good idea... remember, if you're fit (All muscle), you're also going to be penelized, you might have a 32" waist, and weight 100kg. I think it should go the width of your waist, and luggage weight :)
 
This is hillarious! you pay to fly, thats it. it don't matter who you are, what color, or how much you weigh.

Listen: If ANY airline implements this, they will lose!!
1 - Fat people won't fly with them
2 - and thin people will effectively pay less (Right?) which means the airline will lose money, due to only thin people flying their airline.

PS: this makes me think of some sort of leon schuster gag involving "weighing of people" in public.... :D
 
Keeper said:
This is hillarious! you pay to fly, thats it. it don't matter who you are, what color, or how much you weigh.
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Its not hillarious, you've obviously never been put next to an obese person on a long-haul flight. They take up half of your seat... I don't get why I must pay the same as that person, and share half my seat with them. They should be forced to pay for two seats, considering they need two. Its not fair to me, and I have refused to set next to them before.

The airline seats are small enough already.

If it meant fat people won't fly, I'd happily pay per kg.
 
xrapidx said:
Its not hillarious, you've obviously never been put next to an obese person on a long-haul flight. They take up half of your seat... I don't get why I must pay the same as that person, and share half my seat with them. They should be forced to pay for two seats, considering they need two. Its not fair to me, and I have refused to set next to them before.

The airline seats are small enough already.

If it meant fat people won't fly, I'd happily pay per kg.
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did you read my post?

i'm sure YOU would "happily pay per kg", but the airline that does this will crash and burn (excuse the pun)

What they should do is just roll all fat people into the cargo area as well. (oh crap, gonna make some enemies here:eek:)
 
Nocturnity said:
Although this is true, have you read the comments at the bottom of the page? The reason for obesity is completely different! In Africa, it's considered a good thing to be obese. In the States, it's just because they're lazy and eat too much junk food.
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Does the reasoning behind it make any difference? :confused:
thedutchman said:
but that was in 2004 :p
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and I'm sure the nation has slimmed down since then ;)
 
I would love it if airlines would implement this.

I do happily fit into an economy class seat due to a slight build.

But if an monster sits next to a smaller person, he/she/it sort of demands/assumes he/she/it has the right to occupy the spare space in your seat as well.

Can't wait for the day the airlines start charging for excess personal weight.
 
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