Should the overweight pay more for airfare?

[Jonluw]

No they shouldn't.
Why?
Because it's a bad business decision. The overweight will take their business elsewhere.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Yes. Especially when you are a thin person that gets charged for going over the luggage weight by a small amount. An some guy who is twice your size isnt charged. The kind of guy that need seat belt extension and "over flows" onto your seat. (Loverly image there).

Price for total weight of person and luggage seems fair.

 

[geK0]

While it's nice to recover costs, customer satisfaction is very important in the modern market; If one company starts doing this, people will just bring their business elsewhere, the money they recover from additional costs is outweighed by lost customers. It's better to charge a flat rate for all customers with all of these extra costs built into the price.

 

[MuzzleFlash]

They should, and unlike the OP and the original article I am qualified to talk about this subject.

While training to be a commercial airline pilot we discussed this in detail, with everything boiling down to this.

1) Airlines charge extra for overweight luggage because it costs them more (fuel burnt and space taken up) to carry the extra weight.

2) The one ticket price for all became standard practice in the early years (50s early 60s) when the variation between passenger weights was low and to simplify the process.

3) Today both the average weight and the variation have increased to such an extant that Airlines are getting worried about their plane being literally being "overloaded by fat people" (I'll try to find the article, but I think it was in a flight mag I no longer have access to.)

4) Weighing passengers is already standard practice in light aircraft so their weight tolerances are not exceeded.

5) Given half a chance the Airlines WOULD weigh everyone if only to collect new data to calculate airfares.

So in all its a good idea to at least weigh your passengers if only for safety purposes. admittedly the possibility of a modern turbo-fan falling out of the sky is minimal, but good aviation is all about minimizing the the potential risk.

I'm studying Aerospace Engineering and would like to agree with everything this fine fellow has just said.

The things they could do if they didn't have to pander to consumer preference.

 

[Deathmageddon]

I do think that people that are so fat that they cannot fit in one seat should be forced to buy a second seat.

But honestly I do not think everyone should be weighted in before flying.. seems a bit to personal.

My thoughts exactly. If you take up two seats, why should the airline lose revenue for the second seat? Pretty soon, they're asking Congress for another bailout because they can't make a profit off our fat asses. Everybody loses.

 

[Sangreal Gothcraft]

They should factor in Height as well and overall fitness.....I mean a person can be 5'8...200 pounds...but have little fat...all almost all muscles.....I mean muscles weighs..a lot..

 

[Arrogancy]

If McDonald's and other crappy fast food restaurants were smart they'd charge their customers based on body fat percentage. You'd have a scale in the line in front of the cashier with a big digital readout so everyone can see and it'd also show body fat percentage.(Don't ask how. It's super-science.)THEN you could determine price based on that number. Really high body fat? You get to increase the price of the meal by a set amount because you KNOW the fatties will shell out the big bucks for all that greasy, cheesy garbage. They'd rake in even BILLIONS more! Capitalism at its finest!

Look up 'The Heart-Attack Grill.' You'd probably be interested in it.

 

[Marxaeus]

Hmm, I guess there's neither a right or wrong answer for something like this. I disagree that obese people should pay more since if that's the case then you'll start seeing it for other people, just so airlines can see how much shit they can get away with.

However I just know people will think if something like this happened airlines would instantly branded as racists against obese people. Are you serious? Obese people made a lifestyle choice, granted it's a hard one to break out of once you're in it, but it was still their choice. So screw it, if they feel entitled to be heavier than a small whale, I feel entitled that they should be charged more for their seats.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Okay the seat inset valued in terms of weight... but the point is, they're allowed to fly with more weight that I can, for the same bloody price. What if I wore big baggy clothes and shoved loads of my stuff in side them (So that I was a similar weight to them), then after getting my checking my hold baggage and getting my hand baggage weighed, transferred all the weight that was previously on my person in to my hand baggage, that would be wrong right? That would be cheating the system, and yet all I'm doing is taking weight that was once on my person and putting it in my bag. If I wanted to carry 10 stone of fat in my baggage then I'd be over the limit, yet they can carry that fat on their person? WTF? That's not fair, that's not just. A set weight for everyone is the only fair system. I weight 8st 4lbs, so I don't see why I should't be allowed a couple of extra kg of luggage, especially when there are people getting on the plane in excess of 20st.

This is about more than whether or not you fit in 1 seat as I already said I think that if you buy two seats then you should be allowed twice the weight (You've paid for it after all) but more about why are these people (Who have made a lifestyle choice) allowed to bring so much more weight on to the aircraft with them than everyone else? I've paid the same price, so I should be allowed to bring the same amount of weight on board with me... it doesn't make a difference to the plane whether that weight is in the cabin or in the hold, so why are we letting obese people bring extra weight on board for free?

It is fair. They fit into the seats they paid for therefore they fit into the weight limit the seats allowed. If you don't hit the luggage limit then you can't just transfer that over into your carry ons or to a friends limit. These people hit the limit for their seat and their luggage, you hit the limit for your seat and not your luggage and are pissed of because of it.

You think these people are getting extra weight privileges and you aren't when in actual fact you are. If you wanted to be the weight of these people then you could and as long as you fit into the seats you paid for then there isn't a problem. Just like the luggage; they get the same limit as you. If they choose to fall under that limit then that's their choice.

If they're too big then they buy an extra seat. If your luggage is too heavy then you buy extra space.

 

[Ashadowpie]

depending on how fat they are. if they need a seat for each ass cheek, disgusting as that is to image i think they should need to pay more. humans dont get to that size but sitting on their ass all the time, its eating garbage your entire life. so make them pay.

 

[DJ_DEnM]

I just asked my teacher. He said yes.


But seriously, I think no, but not be allow to carry as much weight luggage wise.

 

[Jamash]

[/quote]

You'd get people starving and dehydrating themselves for the weigh-in check-in, then rehydrating and over eating during the flight, so not only will they put on weight whist on the plane and defeat the purpose of the surcharge, but you could also have a plane full of seriously ill passengers without proper medical care available.

While the rest of your post makes sense, I'd like to revisit the point I've bolded -- if the food and water they're consuming are already on the plane, they're not adding weight. First law of thermodynamics, there.

Believe it or not, that principle and law of thermodynamics did cross my mind as I was writing that, but I think I deemed it mostly irrelevant to the point I was trying to make (although I probably should have made that clearer).

My point was [small](these figures and weights are pulled out of my arse and are purely for example)[/small] it would be unfair if someone cut weight and boarded the plane at 190lbs, then disembarked the plane at their destination weighing close to their normal 220lb despite only having paid for a 190lbs ticket, irrespective if the extra water and food weight they took on was transferred from another part of the plane.

 

[The Human Torch]

Does it also apply to bodybuilders? I know some 250 pound guys in my gym that have barely any fat on them.

 

[Private Custard]

The airplane has seats. If you can fit into a seat, that seat has been made for you, regardless of your weight.

The luggage compartment does not have seats. It has a certain amount of space. And to prevent people from saying "oh I've got just the one bag, it's this grand piano right here", it's measured in weight.

So long answer: don't be stupid
Short answer: no

Take it you don't know much about planes then? Or how they organise the passengers to equalise weight?

I think it's a good idea. First off, it's rational. Maybe a little invasive, though. But...I suppose if you only weigh people who are obviously outside the optimal range, it should be okay. Fat people aren't exactly ignorant of their own weight, and they'd be prepared for it.

At the very least, it'll make an unhealthy lifestyle expensive, which would encourage a healthier population.

In theory.

If a plane is filled with fat people, will it go down? Cause if not, you need to read my post again, as your response has nothing to do with what I've said.

Let's use a Boeing 737-800 as an example here. It's a very widely used aircraft.

Passenger capacity (Ryanair) - 189.

189 x 70kg (11st....my healthy weight) = 13230kg

Now a 'fat flight'. I'll be kind and put half as healthy and half at 17st (108kg)

95 x 108kg = 10260kg
94 x 70kg = 6850kg

Fat flight total = 17110kg.

That's a difference of 3880kg, on one single flight, which is 3.88 metric tonnes! Ryanair alone operate 275 737-800's. That's a lot of extra weight to be ferrying around for nothing.

I'm all for higher charges for overweight people. But only if it makes my ticket cheaper, otherwise it's just another money making scheme

 

[MuzzleFlash]

EASA's CR-25 and the FAA's FAR-25 dictate allowance for 175lb per passenger, plus 30/40lb of luggage for short/long haul flights respectively. These are the regulations the engineers design to.

I imagine that value is an average so it's probably not necessary to charge them extra.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Hard to say. While I do agree that it's annoying when they take an extra seat and adding more weight more than it needed HOWEVER do you really think this will encourage them to loose weight?
Ok yes some will try to loose weight but for some it is really difficult to loose any weight at all.

 

[Space Spoons]

If they take up more space on the plane, I don't see why not. It doesn't seem unreasonable to me for a person who cannot comfortably fit in one seat to have to pay for two.