Check-in becomes weigh-in

Thanks to OBOW reader Kate for the heads-up on this story. I had heard a rumor of this a few weeks ago - weighing and charging for not just luggage but those who lug it as well:

THEY’RE actually talking about ‘fat levies’. Somewhere in North America, airline executives are mulling over the concept of weighing both passengers and their bags, and charging a combined ‘levy’ for both.

The musings come as carriers search desperately for a cushion against the unprecedented oil prices that threaten global airline losses of $6.1bn this year.

Airlines have already rolled out an exhaustive list of more conventional levies, covering everything from food to fuel to check-in. So when executives gathered around the brainstorming table this time round, more exotic measures were forced into focus, or so say industry insiders Stateside.  - Irish Indepedent

So be sure to pack your plate on the light side as well. 

Comments

[k-em]

Penalizing a person for their height and associated weight is a sibling to racism. A 6'4" man could easily weigh 200 pounds and a 5'2' woman only 100 pounds. Should the tall man have to pay extra for his DNA?

[go figure]

I actually like the idea of weighing a passenger and his bags. Why should a 300lb passenger with a 30lb carry on pay less than a 150lb passenger with a 25lb checked bag? If the idea is that more weight means more fuel-- shouldn't a fuel charge be based on the weight of the passenger and his or her bags-- regardless of whether the bag is in the hold or in the bin?

[Brad]

If they're weighing people anyway it would make sense to use the data to determine seat assignments - like maybe no 300-pounders in the center seat of the middle aisle in economy on a 777?

[Brian]

This came up over at Gadling and the small/light people are all for it (d'uh) and people like me are against it. I'm 6'4", 240lbs and have just about 210lbs of LEAN MASS (you know, muscles, bones, organs, essential stuff)... Starving myself to an unhealthy weight, I could get to about 220lbs and Maybe have enough energy to walk onto an airplane. If the airline wants to charge me more because of my genes, they better damn will PROVIDE more, in the way of a larger seat and/or more leg room.

Anything shy of that will be met with a big ole law suit for discrimination based on weight (not from me, but you just know that someone will do this, I mean, it's America after all.)

My wife and I are not making any more plans that include flying. We have 1 trip planned (booked 01/2008), and anything after that will be a different kind of trip (especially if this kind of crap goes through), focus on using the airlines as LITTLE as possible and much longer trips to make dealing with the airlines a little more bearable.