Posted on 06/04/2008 9:04:55 AM PDT by mngran2
Basing Airfare On Passenger's Weight Possible Given Surging Fuel Costs
Setting passenger airfares the same way air freight charges are calculated -- by weight -- may not be so far-fetched as the airline industry grapples with surging fuel costs.
Bloomberg.com reports an Air Transport Association official says airline CEOs are considering everything in efforts to cut costs and increase revenue.
That's because airline fuel costs have nearly tripled since 2000. U.S. airlines had combined first-quarter losses of one-point-seven-billion-dollars and could end up with losses totalling six-point-one-billion-dollars in 2008.
(Excerpt) Read more at tristatehomepage.com ...
I’m 6’2”, 220 lbs. I already have to pay more for clothing, I can’t fit into many cheaper cars, I’m too big to be an astronaut, and now you want me to to pay more on a public conveyance? Down with your discrimination based on genetics and healthy diets!!!!
We'll just call it a tax. That seems to nail it with few problems.The argument can be that the calorically challeged might need help with healthcare and such, so after the tax is collected it can be spent on gay parades and art centers.
It's humming right along for the anti-tobacco crowd...
Being a small woman, this works in my favor. Unfortunately, I’ll have to stop feeding my 12 and 15 year old sons and husband . . .
It can't be a tax.
They are just being asked to pay their fare share.
You can't have the benefits without paying for the drawbacks.
In today's environment ANY policy is...no matter how silly the claim.
Jack Kirkpatrick: "Shanna, they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em crash."
Just so. I had to fly to at least one conference a year for about twenty years. What a pleasure it has been when I no longer had to fly. I won’t even get into the sad stories of delayed and cancelled flights, missed connections, lost luggage, shoe inspections, and the rest of it.
Except for infants. Right now a child up to 2 can be held on a lap. Under this policy, families would now be paying for the baby (born and unborn - pregnant women would be charged more too).
I don’t think it ought to be a “get on the scale and we’ll charge you by the pound” type of thing - if you are larger than the average seat, then they ought to have the passengers who are larger pay to sit up in the wide first class-type section or pay for 2 seats before boarding. It should NOT have to do with tall or short. It’s a matter of whether someone is comfortable in the seats sitting next to one another. If someone purchases a regular ticket and the check-in agent sees that they aren’t going to fit by looking at that person, they charge them then for the upgrade or for 2 seats and there or don’t allow them on the plane.
I called the airline talked to an American got the addition done in about 2 minutes on the phone. Six months later, same deal, still United, called and was transferred to a call center in India. It took literally 25 minute on the phone and they still screwed it up. They added the baby on for only two of the three legs.
You are not obese, if you were 6’2” and weighed 450 THEN you would fit into what I am talking about. We ALL pay the price of the Morbidly Obese. Think thats ok?
Thanks, but no thanks.
The man already get dinged every time he drives his car. light people get better gas mileage than heavy people.
For an example I’ll use the fairly popular 737-400. According to http://portal.aircraft-info.net/article20.html the maximum seat configuration is 188 seats The empty weight of the aircraft is 76,200 lb and max weight (presumably with people, luggage, and full fuel tanks) is 138,500 lb.
Assuming a plane full of adults at the maximum 188 seat configuration, and an average weight of 210lb per person (170 for the adult human, 40 for luggage), the people weight is 39,480 lbs. Passenger and luggage weight is only about 29% of total loaded plane weight.
Is it really practical to spend all that time checking and weighing in and performing transactions to extract the premium for a few people who are overweight?
they save time and could profile.
I have hundreds of thousands of frequent flier miles stored up and I avoid using them because air travel and the airline are so terrible already. The airline industry is digging a deeper hole as time goes on.
My wife weighs just under 90 pounds....tiny little thing. Too bad there’s no reason for either of us to travel anywhere by air.
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