'Pay as you weigh' debate

Ever sit on a long plane ride next to someone that is half in your seat.. ya they should maybe pay more. I understand it sucks, but hey don't like it fly another airline.

Weight is the factor that determines fuel usage, so for airlines, I believe that is the only factor they're considering.

Ever sit on a long plane ride next to someone that is half in your seat.. ya they should maybe pay more. I understand it sucks, but hey don't like it fly another airline.

They can also choose to drive, take a train, or take a ship where seating space is not that limited.

I'm all for airline passenger width measurement. if you're much wider than the tiny seats, then you gotta pay more. I'm quite certain that if you're that wide, you're that much heavier as well.

Too many unspecified variables to form a real opinion, but I suppose it could make sense for obese people to pay more. And this is coming from an obese person. I wouldn't take any more offense to it than I do having to pay 2 dollars more for jeans because they have to use more fabric. However, there really isn't a well defined way to figure out how it would be done. Too many factors like muscle, height, etc.

It's an idea but it doesn't make sense in too many ways. ...Consider a tall person (6'7") vs a short person (5'1"), the system would NEVER be equal. What about two men, both 6'5" tall and weighing 275#? One is "average build" (though obese by BMI standards) and the is other ripped and solid muscle. How do you quantify that? I understand what they are getting at but the system as proposed doesn't seem to work in my eyes.

...additionally, this opens the door for all other transport industries to do the same busses, cabs, boats, and trains all use fuel too, now what?

But planes specifically rely on weight. Buses and other modes of transportation go the same route every day and a little more weight or a little less doesn't make a huge difference.

Weight plays a different roll in airplanes. Airplanes factor weight into how much fuel they need, how much runway they need to take off, how much the plane will weight at landing etc. I don't know how big of a difference it makes in fuel consumption.

And this weight fee also includes baggage and anything else you carry on the plane.

I talked about this with my husband who is a big guy last night. We would be happy to pay the rates Samoan airlines is asking.
It would still be cheaper for us even though I am not light and he is a bigger guy.

Well that's one way to discourage obesity.

They need to also go by the weight of peoples carry-ons too.

Yup, it's all about weight. If you're muscular and weigh as much as a fat person, you should pay the same as the fat person, because the criteria is the weight you bring on the plane. If you want extra leg room because you're tall, many airlines offer seats with more leg room for an additional price.

I don't have a problem with airlines charging based on weight because:

The four forces on an airplane are thrust, drag, lift and weight. If you increase the weight of a plane, you have to increase the lift. The only way to increase lift is to increase thrust if you want to maintain the same speed, which also increases drag if the aerodynamics of the wings need to change (with more flaps, etc). So an increase in weight on an airplane is a HUGE problem.

Secondly, airlines sell additional space and weight to cargo companies (UPS, FedEx, Yellow, etc) to save money. An extra 100 pounds on a person is an extra 100 pounds of cargo the pane has to leave behind, and thus is lost revenue.

So, would it suck? Yeah. But it's a reasonable proposition as long as EVERYONE is charged based on weight.

(I also don't have a problem with size limitations requiring people who can't physically fit in a seat to purchase an adjoining seat)

When airtravel first started that's exactly how people were charged...by their weight. They had to step on a scale in the airport.

I have no issue with it today except that the airlines would have to go back to the larger seats that they started out with on airplanes. It's a matter of comfort....for everyone.

Weight is the factor that determines fuel usage, so for airlines, I believe that is the only factor they're considering.

Right but to penalize one person becasue they are tall or muscular (heavy) and reward another because they are short or petite (light) isn't too far from racism (black/white/asian/etc.) is it?

I'm not saying what they're doing is right. I'm just saying that was my understanding of their viewpoint. They could do it the way the clothing manufacturers do it - charge the same cost for everything and make more profit on the smaller sizes. At least that way, everyone is paying the same amount for the same distance travelled despite it using more fuel for one person compared to another (or more fabric, as the case may be).

Given the weight of the plane, fuel, cargo (they move a lot of cargo on commercial planes), etc., the variable weight of the passengers is pretty insignificant. If it were significant, they'd be weighing passengers as they get on and doing fuel calculations on the fly.

Now, if a person is taking more than one seat, either making his/her neighbor uncomfortable, or possibly pushing another paying customer off of the flight, that would be another story. I would expect to have paid more for that when I was obese, and I was very tall so I never really spilled over.

The airline doing it is a smaller airline the operates smaller planes where the variances of people's weight is much more significant. And they are planning to include all baggage a person takes with them. In essence, they are treating people simply as cargo, just like the addition cargo they move on commercial airlines.

It isn't about seat size or space you take up.

ETA- there is nothing subjective about it. It is about weight and weight alone. Not size.

Doesn't this promote anerxia? I mean, if you want to pay a small amount, people who love to travel will continue bad eating habits just to pay a lower fee. Maybe I overthink things... XD

I am all for width measurements. If you take up more than the width of your seat, you should have to pay for another seat. Make EVERYONE sit in a chair at the counter to determine if they will fit. That way, everyone is subject to the same measuring.

I agree with this 100%. Not so much "pay as you weigh" but probably more "pay for how many seats you're taking up" .

^ This. If you take up two seats, you should pay for two seats. I paid for my seat, I want my whole seat and not half.

I sat next to a normal looking dude with his legs spread wide apart on a red-eye flight! This was when I was too meek to speak out, but he took his whole seat and half of mine. It was uncomfortable 5+ hour flight. I was cramped on one side. I think he should have paid me back for half of my seat!

Another time, I sat next to a mom that had 2 adult kids with her. Her constant moving around to cater to her 20-something years old kids and husband and all her stuff in the middle seat made me dizzy. I have no problems with people moving around, but she was like, "oh, you want fruit, gets fruit from bag overhead. oh you want sandwich, gets up again and goes to the bin above our heads, etc."

Ahh..I digress.

As for whether someone should pay extra on airline based on weight, too much variable.

MY OPINION is that If you can fit into one of those seats and not take up someone else's seat, I say no extra charge, but if you take the other seat, even if you are normal weight, you need to pay.

That's not the idea behind this. The idea is you pay for all of your weight, you, your luggage, your carryon, your purse, everything you take on the plane. Its not about how much room you take up, its about how much weight you add to the plane as fuel costs for flying depend on weight.

There are no variables, everyone gets weighed with everything they are bringing and pay a set fee per lb.