remember the days when the price of your ticket also included food, luggage handling, earphones, and a blanket? these days you have to pay extra for everything! the airlines tell us it's cause the price of gasoline has gone up and so they charge us extra for our bags too, because it's heavy and that costs extra fuel or something. (not really or something, i'm sure it does cost extra, yet i'm damn sure it doesn't cost an extra $25 in fuel to fly my 25lb bag from lax to jfk). they tell us this is also one of the reasons they no longer provide food and blankets. it's too heavy.
if it's the weight the airlines are so concerned about, i've got a solution. it won't make everyone happy, but it certainly is more fair and rational.
let's say each passenger is allotted a total of 400lbs (person+belongings) and 65 inches of luggage space (total length+width+height). (for comparison, delta allows 62")
when checking in, you and all your stuff get on a scale. if the total is under 400lbs then we'll make sure none of your luggage is oversize. if, however, your total weight is over 400lbs then you have to pay extra, maybe a $10 per additional 10lbs. of course, if you yourself weigh close to 400lbs then you're allowed very little "free" luggage. but if you're someone like me (about 100lbs) you can bring a ton of extra crap!
to make the situation more fair you can cap the luggage weight at 100lbs. that way even skinny people like me lose out.
and if the airline wanted to be nice about it, they could allow customers to sell back some of their unused weight. let's say i'm an average american male. i weigh 191lbs. let's also say that i have my max luggage. we total 291lbs. the airline could pay me (or credit my account for a future flight) with $5 per extra 10lbs. (i know, the airline is charging my heftier buddy $10 for his extra 10lbs, but hey, it's never going to be completely fair)
so yes, very obese people will need to pay extra. but if you set the weight maximum at something extremely high (like 500lbs) and also have a luggage max at 100lbs very few people will actually be paying extra. and honestly, the whole price hike thing is about extra weight anyway.
i'm not trying to discriminate against very large people, but i'm tired of always having to pay extra when i don't weigh very much. i have to pay extra for my flight and taxes and my insurance and at every buffet. and i ALWAYS pay extra for my clothes and shoes. i wear an xs, and yet that xl leather jacket costs just as much as mine!
why can't airfare be a little more fair?
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