Posted on 03/24/2013 6:09:12 PM PDT by markomalley
Charging overweight fliers more would help carriers recoup the cost of the extra fuel required to carry them.
The idea has been floated in the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management publication, by Bharat P Bhatta, an academic in Norway.
He suggests three methods of implementing the scheme. A straightforward price per kilogram, a fixed low fare with heavier passengers paying a surcharge and lighter passengers being offered a discount.
The third option would see passengers divided into three bands – heavy, normal and light and being charged accordingly.
“I think the simplest way to implement this would be for passengers to declare their weight when buying a plane ticket,” Dr Bhatta Sogn og Fjordane University College told The Daily Telegraph. “This would save time and eliminate expense.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
It will never directly affect me, I’d have to be a flier for it to do so. I haven’t flown a whole lot in my life time, since I got out of the service, I’ve not flown at all.
With TSA procedures being what they are, I never will. Their practices are the kind of nonsense, up with which, I will not put.
> So who do you think should mandate how the airline structures their pricing?
No one. Let the free markets and the owners / principals of the airline make that decision. A mandate is government regulation; it’s not needed in this situation.
Great, but that seems at odds with your earlier comment.
no you pay your own freight -— it’s the conservative way. Theoretically I have no problem with fat people paying more if they are costing more. I just do not see a way to carry it out. They are going to weigh people? Assinine. In the real world it will never happen.
Pay according to how much you weigh might be a good policy for buffet type restaurants too. It wouldn’t work well for my 13 year old son though, slim and trim, he could probably eat his weight in food.
If they are going to charge us 6-2 guys more money..then we should get a bigger seat for the money..it goes both ways.
Based on this logic, shouldn’t homosexuals pay more for medical insurance?
Isn't that called the 1st class section?
We can send men to the moon and we can't make a 3000 mile long extension cord?
A lot of liberals and conservatives define their respective ideologies in ways that *coincidentally* favor them. This is how liberals in NYC come up with zoning strategies in NYC that raise housing costs into the stratosphere, thereby keeping out most of the riff raff.
especially the middle aged black women who the CDC finds are the fattest of the Fatties.
And Hispanics after them.
You forgot lesbians. There's some recent CDC studies on their weight too.
Not so long ago, to say,"they are going to search people before they get aboard" would have sounded equally ridiculous.
No. The REAL liberal way would be to prohibit an overweight person from flying until they reduce their weight to a government approved level.
> Great, but that seems at odds with your earlier comment.
It’s not. An “academic” made that suggestion not the airline. Big difference.
I don't disagree with that. I haven't flown in years but don't they make morbidly obese people buy two seats now?
I don't quite understand how you taking up more room in an upward direction would make any difference at all.
Never mind, I remember now that your tallness affects how much you weigh too. I don't have any answers but I know that gov interference is never the correct answer.
I'm 6'0" and weigh 190, I can see that a person who was 5'0" and weighs 190 might need a wider seat. but again, I don't fly.
We should be able to discriminate against anything that’s a choice: entering the country illegally, being gay, following Islam or getting fat. If I own a plane and don’t want to let on any gays, illegals or Muslims, that’s my choice. Same if I want to charge fatties for taking up more space and using extra fuel.
What’s the difference between natural ‘overweight’ and fat lazy socialist lazy pigs calorie enriched on food stamps, gummint fortified playing video games 24/7?
Going with the free market on this one.
The last time that I checked, while fuel costs does cost a lot for an airline, the marginal cost of the extra fuel to carry a heavy person is quite small...so if they are going to charge, the difference shouldn’t be much, unless they’re scamming their customers (as has been shown for other surcharges).
Only if they smoke.
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