Pay for What You Weigh
If they have the technology at the airport to look through my pants and blow bomb residue from my clothes, they can install a few industrial size scales and treat us like the traveling cattle we are. The way I see it, extra baggage is extra baggage, whether you are dragging it in a Louis Vuitton bag, or hiding it under a Kenny Chesney t-shirt. If I have to pay $40 extra dollars because my Samsonite is 3 pounds over the weight limit, someone above the average weight limit should have to pay extra for the additional amount of fuel their body requires for suspension in the air.
You can call it discrimination based on size if you want, but the fact of the matter is, if you are incredibly heavy it means the aircraft will have to burn more fuel to move you, and that costs more money. It’s a principle otherwise known as physics. Since when it is ok for people to not be responsible for their consumption? If I ship goods by air, I’m paying for mass. Regardless of lifestyle, there should be rate scale based on total mass of you+your luggage. I really think this can be a fair system, albeit a circus-like one once all of the necessary equipment is in place.
Now that I have said my piece, rip me apart if you will;) Have a better solution? I would love to hear it!
I totally agree. We have to pay more towards healthcare because they’re fat, lazy and unhealthy. If people are going to be irresponsible and not take care of themselves, they should have to pay more. However, I think they need to factor in height. If someone is normal weight for their height, I don’t think they should have to pay more.
Chad has a good point here… with height.
My boyfriends roomates (3 brothers) are heights 6″8, 6″7, 6″10…
The two that are 6″8 and 6″7 are definitely overweight (even for their respective gigantasaurus heights).
The third, who is 6″10, use to weigh 300 pounds (well over what he should have weighed)… he recently started running, eating right and lifting… now he’s down to around 200 last I heard…
He was actually the one that first told me about this possible new airplane policy…
He said that if the policy takes effect then he would agree to pay only because he does not fly often… but that he doesn’t think the policy is fair to people like him and his brothers… people that even at their healthy weights would still be “fined” to fly.
He didn’t mention anything about his feelings… but my personal opinion is that it’s got to make you feel like crap if you are really tall, did work really hard to lose weight and are at a good/healthy size for your frame… but still get charged along with all the people who are lazy and not trying.
Maybe they could base the fee on BMI (body mass index calculation) rather than weight? If a person is at the correct weight range for their BMI then they can fly with no hassles?
People aren’t necessarily lazy or fat just because they weigh more or are taller but it’s a plain fact that increased weight and size do cause higher operating costs for airlines – and always have. Women subsidized men, Asians subsidized Scandinavians (the one tending to be quite a bit larger than the other) and those with modest luggage subsidized those who wanted to bring all their own furniture to the next reunion.
Perhaps we need to discuss the entire idea of how airlines charge.