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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Airline Tickets based on Passenger's weight?
2008-06-03
June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Imagine two scales at the airline ticket counter, one for your bags and one for you. The price of a ticket depends upon the weight of both.

That may not be so far-fetched.

``You listen to the airline CEOs, and nothing is beyond their imagination,'' said David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group. ``They have already begun to think exotically. Nothing is not under the microscope.'' He declined to discuss what any individual airline might be contemplating, including charging passengers based on weight.

With fuel costs almost tripling since 2000, now accounting for as much as 40 percent of operating expenses at some carriers, according to the ATA, airlines are cutting costs and raising revenue in ways that once were unthinkable. U.S. Airways Group Inc. has eliminated snacks. Delta Air Lines Inc. is charging $25 for telephone reservations. AMR Corp.'s American Airlines last month became the first U.S. company to charge $15 for one checked bag.
Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC

#27  Make some planes half passengers and half cargo. Make the seats larger or at least better spaced as they used to be. The combination would (a) allow quicker boarding because of less seats (b) greater control over weight because of the cargo (c) require less planes in the cargo fleet.

Cut the number of flight attendants. Ditch the soda cart nonsense that blocks the aisle and annoys the passengers. Instead run a snackbar that passengers can come to.

They also need a much more efficient way of handling luggage. At least at the end of the flight. There is no reason the luggage should take longer than it takes to get the last passenger off.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2008-06-03 22:19  

#26  I've been an advocate for pre-boarding body cages for years. Similar to the one sometimes used to check overhead carry-on's, if the passenger can't fit through it then he or she buys a business class ticket or two coach tickets.
Posted by: Besoeker   2008-06-03 20:10  

#25  I recommend a cage similar to the one that is sometimes used to check the size of carry-on's for the overhead. The cage could be rigged with sensors that sound an alarm should the fit be too snug. If the ticket agent asks a passenger to step through the cage and he or she cannot, then the passenger buys a first class ticket or two coach tickets.
Posted by: Besoeker   2008-06-03 20:07  

#24  I recommend a cage similar to the one that is sometimes used to check the size of carry-on's for the overhead. The cage could be rigged with sensors that sound an alarm should the fit be too snug. If the ticket agent asks a passenger to step through the cage and he or she cannot, then the passenger buys a first class ticket or two coach tickets.
Posted by: Besoeker   2008-06-03 20:05  

#23  The aspiring singer Aaliyah paid the full fare when they overloaded her return trip from the Bahamas with all the posse and hangers on from a video shoot.

"Further investigations determined the plane was over its total gross weight by several hundred pounds. Eddie Golson, president of Pro Freight Cargo Services at Opa-locka Airport, said workers carted "a pickup truck of freight" from the crash site. Two of the passengers weighed in the region of 300 pounds and sat in the rear of the plane, where the baggage was also stored."
Posted by: Procopius2k   2008-06-03 20:00  

#22  I couldn't resist "weighing in" on this topic. I hate the airlines so damned badly I'd gladly never even see a passenger plane again. Unfortunately, as an expat, I've got to fly occasionally. That said, I do it as little as possible. The treatment is so rude and condescending, from both the TSA and the airlines, that I invariably come off the plane thinking I'd gladly personally execute every one of those terrorist bastards locked up at Gitmo for having started this crap.

I've written numerous letters of complaint to both the TSA and my Congresscritters. I received answers from all, every time, and the responses were so general that I'm absolutely certain they've heard from literally millions of people about these issues. Both the airlines (at least the U.S. ones) and TSA KNOW the flying public hates them--and they couldn't care less.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707   2008-06-03 18:41  

#21  "what about people who are over the limit? Are they going to strip in public in order to meet the limit?"

Some people should be paid not to strip.
Posted by: Frozen Al   2008-06-03 17:10  

#20  I just did a trip from Chicago to Toronto and back. I drove.

Driving time each way, including clearing customs: almost exactly 8 hours on a 525 mile trip.

Flying time each way: 1.5 hr to the airport (O'Hare), wait 2.0 hr (international flight regulation), 1.5 hr in the air, 0.75 hr to clear customs and collect luggage, 0.75 hr for a taxi to the hotel. That's 6.5 hr to fly, assuming the airlines don't run late (heh), versus an 8 hr drive.

No contest. I drove.
Posted by: Steve White   2008-06-03 17:00  

#19  I don't fly, it's too damn much hasle, if I go anywhere it's by (Very economical) Car, Bus, or train.
A month ago I planned to go from Mobile To Columbus Georgia, there is NO train, and Columbus is a huge military base, makes no sense.

I didn't go, had a change of plans, but even so "NO TRAIN"?
(Didn't even consider GreyWays, or is it "Trailhound" now?)
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2008-06-03 16:57  

#18  I support anything that aligns costs and prices. I don't want to force other passengers to subsidise me or vice-versa.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2008-06-03 16:43  

#17  True - the same airlines that mismanage their business and then want the gubberment to bail them out. By the time I drive to the airport get there 2 hrs early get hassled going through all the lines, get ripped off on airport food, and God willing the flight is on time I'm almost better off for the same or lesser amount of money spending 12 hrs driving somewhere.
Posted by: Broadhead6   2008-06-03 16:35  

#16  In bush flights, we get asked our weight all the time, for weight and balance purposes. You do not want to be outside your CG envelope, especially aft of limits when sh*t hits the fan, so to speak.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2008-06-03 16:32  

#15  Waddayamean? I ain't over weight; I'm just too short.
I remember checking in at Rhine Main in 1957 and being assigned seats on a Lockheed "Super Connie" based on my and my wife's combined weight. We stayed in the military hotel until the AF got the right weight balance among the waiting passengers.
Posted by: GK   2008-06-03 14:39  

#14  at 6'4" their seating is already to damn'ed small. I vote to stuff airline execs into sardine cans and drop them into the ocean for storage.
Posted by: 3dc   2008-06-03 14:12  

#13  What about people who have 'tyroid problems'?

I can see this running smack into the Americans with disabilities act.

Posted by: CrazyFool   2008-06-03 14:05  

#12  As far as I can tell Airlines are run by morons who know little about customer service and then freak out when the customers stop flying.

If they don't think this would cause discrimination lawsuits they are idiots.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2008-06-03 14:00  

#11  I'm sure they'd come up w/some DOD style ht/wt standard so as not to discriminate against ht/wt proportion tall folks vs us runts.

Being serious now - how would the elderly fit into this? Some elderly folks can't help but be 10-15 lbs over a normal wt max due to their slower lifestyle, medical conditions and metabolism.
Posted by: Broadhead6   2008-06-03 13:42  

#10  Fatties? What about a 6'1" 220 pound male versus a 5'1" 220 pound female?

Big is just big sometimes. Not necessarily fat.
Posted by: OldSpook   2008-06-03 13:12  

#9  Well, it certainly would cut down on overcrowding. Many people would not travel if they were forced to stand publicly on a scale for all to see.
And what about people who are over some limit by only 1 or 2 pounds? Are they going to strip in public in order to meet the limit?
Posted by: Rambler in California   2008-06-03 13:06  

#8  This is well overdue. I have been forced to sit near hogs many times whose blubber oozes across into your seat. The fat asses should go by air freighter or by ship. Walking would also be very beneficial. Since fuel burn is directly related to weight, this should have been done long ago. After all, the Post Office and UPS have been functioning this way for years and years.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700   2008-06-03 12:24  

#7  Missed it by that much.
Posted by: Knuckles Greck3535   2008-06-03 12:17  

#6  I'll wager the malignancy won't be too bad. Professional courtesy don't ya know.
Posted by: Knuckles Greck3535   2008-06-03 12:16  

#5  In-flight liposuction for overweight passengers, with the fat fed into the engines.
Posted by: ed   2008-06-03 11:28  

#4  let cheap-seat fatties trail outside the Passenger Cabins on tethers so they can learn themselves up to glide...

preview is my buddy, especially when pulling off my kind of "writing"?
/excuse the expression, 'pulling off'! >:)
Posted by: RD   2008-06-03 11:15  

#3  let cheap-seat fatties can ride outside the Passenger Jets on tethers so they can learn themselves to glide...
Posted by: RD   2008-06-03 11:09  

#2  Take out the seats. Hang passengers from meat hooks. Is that out of the box enough?
Posted by: ed   2008-06-03 10:46  

#1  I would save money!
Posted by: DarthVader   2008-06-03 10:41  

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