When I go to the store and buy wild salmon, the fishmonger
weighs the salmon and affixes a price tag based on how much I buy. The same per pound system goes for apples, potatoes and nuts from the bulk bins. I’m not thrilled about
it but when traveling, our ginormous black wedding registry (pre bags on
scales) bags get weighed as well and this often results in a surcharge. However, if I
want salmon and produce and travel, the scale is a prerequisite. Samoa Airlines is taking this one step further. What’s used for Tumi and tangerines is also
used for people of all sizes; they’ve started charging based on weight.
Passengers weight + baggage weight = price.
There’s a silver lining if you look for one. Kids would be
less. Instead of a 2 year old being charged the same as a 200-pound adult male,
they would benefit from being smaller and lighter (as long as they don’t charge
based on noise level or decibels). And hey, if you’re dropping weight for a
beach vacation, you now have a financial incentive. Weigh less pay less? I’m
not sure if this would impact initial efforts to lose weight just for the sake
of airfare.
In Samoa’s defense, Samoans are large- often the largest
people on earth and this airline, to date, flies small planes. Cargo weight
does matter. Military planes take weight into consideration. But most people
aren’t Samoan, soldiers or excited for public weighing. Not that we’re happy about
whipping out the credit card because you happen to have heavy ski boots (or
more likely too many shoes with you). I don’t like removing my shoes for the
security like but I do it, but that’s for “security” is getting on the scale
the same?
This may work for a small airline. I get their stance that
planes fly based on “cargo” weight not based on seats. I get that people are
getting larger. But what happens when someone gets to the airport and cannot
afford their ticket based on their size? Would companies pick smaller employees to do more travel if
it saves them money? Would people be willing to do this hopping on the scale pre-flight?
Lots of questions and for now mostly hypothetical but interesting.
It doesn’t seem right nor does the person seated in front of me reclining in my lap or breaching
their armrest boarder. On our recent trip, a child in front of us was using an
ipad. The parents hadn’t contemplated the mute button or headphones. I politely
asked them to lower it. You know what happened? The kid freaked out. I’m not
sure telling a person “politely” to pay triple for their ticket would have a
better outcome.
What do you think? Is
this, as the head of Samoan airlines said “the future”? Can you see this
working? What are the advantages or disadvantages?
I read this yesterday and don't really know what I think about it. Actually, I remember reading about this a long time ago, as an idea one of our major airlines was considering, but clearly that fell through. I dunno, I mean....it sounds awful, but I guess if a company needs to make more money or balance their numbers somehow, then "balancing the scales" might be important, and I suppose they have to do what they have to do!
ReplyDeleteIt's one of those things that's hard to wrap your head around. Can it work? seems complicated but it's really same as baggage. One person pointed out, if you are light and bags heavy should you have to pay surcharge for bags...hmn.
ReplyDeleteAnytime I've been on a small plane and they ask my weight, I always add 15 lbs. I assume most people are lie and say they are lighter - I'm trying to keep things balanced. Not sure how I'd feel about hopping on a scale before boarding.
ReplyDeleteI heard about this also, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. The engineer in me says that it's sensible that we should all pay what we weight (ourselves plus our baggage). After all, it does directly affect how much fuel is used, etc. But then, what we pack is something we can easily change but our weight is not necessarily so. Someone who is overweight may or may not be able to lose weight with a reasonable amount of effort, but what about someone who is tall but relatively thin? Someone who is 6'6" would weigh a lot more than a person of the same build who is only 5'.
ReplyDeleteAs a relatively thin person, I would appreciate the idea of a very overweight person not being crammed into the seat next to me, as this makes both of us uncomfortable. But it's hard to put a number on where to draw this line. And, maybe I would feel differently about it if I were overweight. Ultimately I don't think it's going to work for "mainstream" airlines - too much push-back from the public!
Agreed Jen, changing your weight is more involved than going blow dryer-free. However, some things are size-based. My kids weren't big enough to do some of the zip lines while away, you have to be a certain height to go on theme park rides, maybe weight on planes is one of those "size" questions. I'm with you though, can't see this "flying" in the US.
ReplyDeleteFascinating. For purely selfish (and not totally serious) reasons, being 4'11" and small-boned, I can't say I'd be opposed...
ReplyDeleteThis is very unlikely to take effect outside of Samoan Airlines....people were in an uproar when airlines forced larger people to buy two seats. I can't imagine this would ever be widely accepted.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice to pay less for Maya though....
I don't know, do I think this will take effect? Not any time soon that I know of. However, this isn't a fat tax or directly it's not about larger people. It's about all of us.
ReplyDeleteyou can only imagine how large men feel...
ReplyDeleteExtremely heavy people have to pay for two seats on heavily booked flights on some airlines. There was indeed an uproar, but the majority of the flying public was in favor.
ReplyDeleteVery tall people are forced to pay extra. A friend is extremely tall- at just under 6'7 she can't put her feet on the floor in economy and has to get seats with more legroom. On one roundtrip this came to an extra $200, but there was no choice even though it strikes me (and her!) as very unfair.
I can see this coming to economy airlines were the goal is to fill the airplane and nickel and dime passengers. What if they allowed someone under - say 120 pounds to get a discount and made those over 200 pay extra. It would have the effect of attracting a lighter group of passengers and save money. They could even go to a somewhat smaller seat pitch and fit in more or perhaps some would be attracted to a flight knowing the person next to them would not be huge.
There are some very nasty elements to this, but I could see it working for some of the carriers.
I wonder what's worse: a kid behind you kicking your seat every few minutes, or an overweight person next to you overlapping on your seat.... I hate air planes, especially overseas flights that never end. I am glad to be tiny at least I have more room. Wish they could make airplanes fly faster.
ReplyDeleteI do understand that your total weight on the plane (you+luggage) matters and they should consider it. People who have to buy bigger cars just so they can seat comfortably are willing to pay more for their comfort (car + extra gas) .The same should go for all transportation, including bigger seats for bigger persons at a higher price, and smaller seats for kids at kids' price in another section of the train/subway/plane... Could we make everyone happy?
My first response to this, is that it doesn't seem right or fair to charge someone more based on their weight-where do you draw the line on what's an acceptable weight before you start charging more? The kid freaking out about the I pad seems crazy to me. I hope the parents didn't freak out too!
ReplyDelete