Airlines ticket based on your weight

[kratz]

Airline fees have been in the headlines all summer with all their additional fees and changes to existing services. The next idea, being explored by an American airline is charging customers based on their weight. There have been discussions on motivating people to become healthier, but would an additional fee based on weight restrict freedom of movement?

 

[Strike]

Airline fees have been in the headlines all summer with all their additional fees and changes to existing services. The next idea, being explored by an American airline is charging customers based on their weight. There have been discussions on motivating people to become healthier, but would an additional fee based on weight restrict freedom of movement?

That would be along the same lines as charging obese people the price of 2 seats, which is now no longer allowed.

 

[StirlingDyer]

I fully support the Airlines in charging people based on weight.  It does cost an airline more to transport overweight people. Why should I be charged a higher ticket price just to cover off for those that don't stay in shape?

 

[aesop081]

Why should I be charged a higher ticket price just to cover off for those that don't stay in shape?

You just described the Canadian Healthcare system  ;D

 

[Fishbone Jones]

I fully support the Airlines in charging people based on weight.  It does cost an airline more to transport overweight people. Why should I be charged a higher ticket price just to cover off for those that don't stay in shape?

I don't think a fit 6'4" business man should have to pay more than a 5'1" mother and her screaming 1 year old combined.

 

[StirlingDyer]

I don't think a fit 6'4" business man should have to pay more than a 5'1" mother and her screaming 1 year old combined.

In general, I have to disagree.  While it may not be percieved as fair, it does cost the Airline more to transport that 6'4" person.  Being that height isn't something they can control, but it doesn't change the fact that it factors into fuel costs.  I think the concern is really about massively overweight people though.  Should the airlines go with a system factoring in weight for tickets, I'd guess they would factor in more than just pound for pound.

You just described the Canadian Healthcare system  ;D

Unfortunately spot on

 

[BinRat55]

In general, I have to disagree.  While it may not be percieved as fair, it does cost the Airline more to transport that 6'4" person.  Being that height isn't something they can control, but it doesn't change the fact that it factors into fuel costs.  I think the concern is really about massively overweight people though.  Should the airlines go with a system factoring in weight for tickets, I'd guess they would factor in more than just pound for pound.

The only cost incurred by an airline would be a few hundred liters more of jet fuel. Would an extra thousand bucks compensate for the torrential onslaught of discrimination lawsuits? I wouldn't think so...

That being said, I agree that more would have to be factored in -- I have a friend whose BMI is in the high 30's (grotesquely obese). He weighs approx 300 lbs. The problem is that he is 6' tall and has been a body builder for 15 years. He's fricken' massive!! What about people who have medical issues? Should they be assessed a higher fee because they are "not in shape"?

I think it would be a logistical nightmare to embark on an endeavour such as this. Humiliating people is not the right way to make money.

 

[StirlingDyer]

True, there will be a lot of people calling it discrimination.

While it may not function in todays society, I still would support the move.  Someone who does enough bodybuilding to reach 300lbs has made a choice in their weight, the same as someone who doesnt exercise at all and is the same weight in fat.  Thats a choice that can have drawbacks in both cases, in this case higher fuel surcharge for air flights.

Medical issues would always be a drawback.  Any system implemented would have to take that into account.  If someone has a medical issue that causes their weight, they shouldn't be charged.  Only in cases where the persons lifestyle choices have caused the weight should the issue rear its head.

Would society as a whole approve?  Probably not.  Would the logistics of making the system function be worth it?  Probably not again.  But on paper, I believe it makes sense.

 

[aesop081]

  If someone has a medical issue that causes their weight, they shouldn't be charged. 

Havent you heard, theres an epidemic of thyroiid problems  ;D

 

[Lance Wiebe]

Any freight shipped by air is paid primarily based on its weight, and secondly on its volume.  Having two or three different weight "classes" that ticket fees are based would make some sense.  Currently a 60 pound kid pays the same as an obese adult, and that is certainly not fair.

 

[stegner]

Tickets based on weight would violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms , specifically Section 15.   

 

[kratz]

I do not agree with the idea that flights should be charged based on weight. With the last couple posts mentioning that people's wieght is + or - a few kilos, I have to sadly remind you that Jazz just decided to remove the (un)inflatable life vests in their jets to save 25kilos per flight. So weight is a real issue with modern flight now a days. The question is not so much about freight as it is about weighing a person traveling.

 

[Kat Stevens]

Any freight shipped by air is paid primarily based on its weight, and secondly on its volume.  Having two or three different weight "classes" that ticket fees are based would make some sense.  Currently a 60 pound kid pays the same as an obese adult, and that is certainly not fair.

Why stop there?  A sliding scale for taxis, buses, cruise ships, richshaws, trains, chairlifts, you name it.  Oh, lets make elevators coin operated based on a scale in the floor.  The potential to bone people is limitless.

 

[aesop081]

So weight is a real issue with modern flight now a days.

Weight is always, and has always been, a critical factor in flight. Some airlines are now moving away from using standards weights for passengers and have scales at the counter to ensure a more accurate weight-and-ballance for the aircraft.

 

[SupersonicMax]

Why stop there?  A sliding scale for taxis, buses, cruise ships, richshaws, trains, chairlifts, you name it.  Oh, lets make elevators coin operated based on a scale in the floor.  The potential to bone people is limitless.

Kat, yes you could.  However, weight doesn't influence fuel consumption nearly as much a plane than trains/ships/cars/busses

EDIT:  rephrased to make sense.

 

[kratz]

Kat, yes you could.  However, weight doesn't influence fuel consumption nearly as much as train/ships/car/bus

I do not have the charts at home, but call a Log O and tell one of them that weight does not affect a ship as much as it does a plane vice consumption. After a statement like that, you will learn more than you need for a term paper. 

 

[Strike]

Some links on the subject...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/aviation/20080806/tr_aviation/howairlinesdealwithcustomersofsize

http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/speakout/DEBATE-39Fat-tax39-for-overweight.3473794.jp

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/travel/2008/0705/1215181683920.html

This is a good one...

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/laborprof_blog/2006/02/overweight_airl.html

 

[SupersonicMax]

I do not have the charts at home, but call a Log O and tell one of them that weight does not affect a ship as much as it does a plane vice consumption. After a statement like that, you will learn more than you need for a term paper. 

kratz, sorry, I meant the opposite.  Replace AS for THAN. Will edit my post.

 

[Celticgirl]

Get rid of the moving sidewalks and make people walk the whole way to their gates.

Seriously though, what I don't think is "fair" is paying for a seat and having someone beside me take up 1/3 of it. So while charging obese people for two seats seems discriminatory, charging thin people for a 'whole' seat that is being partially occupied by the person(s) beside them is not right either.

 

[kratz]

And a "whole seat" is currently defined by the airline and buddy who is 50 K over that limit tucks into your space.

This is why the topic is opens for discussion. Where does the weighing start? To what standard? and who monitors it?