Should fatties pay more to fly?

StevieJ

This Norwegian professor thinks so, after all you pay more to transport heavier goods items, even your letters, and just think of the extra motivation for getting in shape for your hols not to mention the health benefits and savings for the NHS. I myself would not be quite so draconian, preference would be for the link to be BMI .

Airlines should make heavier passengers pay more for their plane tickets and lighter ones less, it has been suggested.
The controversial pay-as-you-weigh pricing scheme has been mooted by a Norwegian professor who argues that weight and space should be taken into account by airlines pricing their tickets.

Dr Ian Yeoman, editor of the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, threw his weight behind the suggestion.
"For airlines, every extra kilogram means more expensive jet fuel must be burned, which leads to CO2 emissions and financial cost," he said.
"As the airline industry is fraught with financial difficulties, marginally profitable and has seen exponential growth in the last decade, maybe they should be looking to introduce scales at the check-in."

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/airlines-charge-fat-passengers-more-014228443.html#xn2B8gH

marathonic

Yes. People will argue that it's discrimination but it's not - it's taking into account the extra costs of tranporting the extra weight. This can be in the form of fuel costs or, as I've encountered in the US whilst on a flight from Virginia to Philadelphia, the requirement to ask for volunteers to disembark the plane as the total weight of all passengers was in excess of the allowance.

ILW

The ones that take up two seats on a bus should have to pay double fare.

chucknorris

I wish they would allow (larger) dogs to fly in the cabin. I'm sure they could make money out of doing so by taking a couple of back rows out and creating a kennel space. I would certainly pay at least the same rate as a human for my dog, and I'm sure they could get more dogs into the same space as people beacuse they could have small meduim dog crates on a higher level.

I wouldn't risk him in the hold, I have heard some awful stories about dogs going missing or dying.

Percy1983

I do remember at the airport when my bag got weighed thye made a comment it was just within the weight restrictions, I remember thinking "I bet the guy behind me is heavier than me and my bag combined".

Maybe it should be the way forward, each passenger is allowed so much weight, be it luggage or fat.

kabayiri

But, but...aren't most people just "big boned"?

PaulF81

for every extra 30 kgs, a typical airliner will burn about 1 kg extra of aviation fuel PER HOUR.

So, some disgusting fat body weighing in at 110 Kgs over an 8 hour flight will cost the airline around 8-9 quid more in aviation fuel than it otherwise would have done (compared to someone weighing 70kgs). And lets not forget we are all having to pay extra for the extra seat width regulatory requirements coming in because of mr and mrs american bubble butt like one too many cream pies.

wotsthat

I'd prefer they didn't fly at all.

I hate playing 'fatty lottery'. That's the game where you spot the fatty in the boarding queue and pray that it won't be your seat they'll be overflowing into.

mcfisco

http://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/extra-seat/index-pol.html

N1AK

Nutty_Prof wrote:

The controversial pay-as-you-weigh pricing scheme has been mooted by a Norwegian professor who argues that weight and space should be taken into account by airlines pricing their tickets.

How do people who manage to get this well qualified manage to be completely out of touch with reality. Obviously there is a rational reason why it makes sense to charge more for heavier passengers etc but it's incredibly naive to think airlines could just start doing it. The complexity of recording/tracking weights, people trying to abuse it, the bad press etc would more than negate any nominal benefit they'd receive.

ILW

Business Idea!

No fatties and no children airline. Could do pretty well I believe.