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Heavier people should pay more to fly

theage.com.au

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Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#21

Post by Lewisham »

corin_ wrote: post #3

Ultimately while the principle is good - and, as an overweight person, I'd have no problem paying more if it was done fairly - no airline would ever introduce this fairly. Once they've raised the price for fatter people, why, as a business, would they lower the price for thinner people to balance it out? Why not just take more profit? Think back to when smoking was banned on most airlines, the airlines didn't think "…

I had a conversation in an airport holding lounge once with some random guy, as I was annoyed that I had personally lost weight, but paid extra because my bags were a kilo too much. He told me that in one of the Indonesian countries, you simply stand on a scale with your bag, and that's how they calculated your weight allowance, and if you were over or not.

I don't know the truth of it, but I see no reason to not simply add onto the bag allowance and put in a scale as described.

Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#22

Post by its_so_on »

below, I make a nuanced economic argument, sorry I don't have time to clean it up, believe me it's all economic.

Actually, from the point of view of the business, heavier people should pay more to fly if they also happen to have more cash and leftover demand when given cheaper tickets. Everyone should pay the very greatest dollar amount they are willing to, and if this function corresponds well with weight (why not, they can afford to eat more, and more of them are middle-aged professional than starving students, maybe?) - great.

Except for anyone whose point of greatest demand is actually still a loss, go ahead and charge everyone the most they'd pay. hell, make it fair, keep up the illusion that it's about weight, and if you don't have seats to fill, fill 'em at a loss with skinny people.

but maybe a better way to find a price discrimination curve woudl be to weigh wallets though for security reasons, or charge an extra fee for each (potentially-terrorist) credit card that a person flies with.

Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#24

Post by curtisholmes »

corin_ wrote: post #3

Ultimately while the principle is good - and, as an overweight person, I'd have no problem paying more if it was done fairly - no airline would ever introduce this fairly. Once they've raised the price for fatter people, why, as a business, would they lower the price for thinner people to balance it out? Why not just take more profit? Think back to when smoking was banned on most airlines, the airlines didn't think "…

> Once they've raised the price for fatter people, why, as a business, would they lower the price for thinner people to balance it out? Why not just take more profit?

You can't assume that raising prices will cause your profit to go up. Higher prices (for heavier people) means that they are less likely to buy plane tickets, which could potentially mean less profit. So, you have to counteract this by incentivizing less heaver people to fly, by lowering the price for them, or by lowering the base ticket price slightly. Having heavier people pay more wouldn't necessarily get more money out of people, it would achieve having less weight on the plane so that fuel costs are lower.

Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#25

Post by grecy »

jcizzle wrote: post #8

I've been saying this for awhile, not because of fuel prices but because of comfort. It is rude for an overweight person to spill into adjacent seats. Just like it is rude for overweight people to drive up the cost of health care because they refuse to take care of their own bodies. It's a touchy subject, but I think we have a lot to gain as a society by telling people it's not OK to be lazy and fat, instead of silen…

I always think back to the discussion in supersizeme when they're talking about how it's now socially acceptable to heckle smokers in public, and wonder when it will be the same for obese people.

Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#26

Post by ShabbyDoo »

corin_ wrote: post #3

Ultimately while the principle is good - and, as an overweight person, I'd have no problem paying more if it was done fairly - no airline would ever introduce this fairly. Once they've raised the price for fatter people, why, as a business, would they lower the price for thinner people to balance it out? Why not just take more profit? Think back to when smoking was banned on most airlines, the airlines didn't think "…

>Why not just take more profit?

Why do businesses not just raise prices on everything? Unless they are colluding and very good at limiting competition/alternatives, a competitor will happily undercut them.

I'm happy that airlines are beginning to decouple the service offerings of a seat, food, and baggage handling. This means that I can choose a flight which maximizes my happiness at a particular price point. Is United offering cheap fares but charging for baggage? Maybe I'll choose them when making an overnight trip. No food service? My local gourmet grocery sells very good take-out lunch boxes, so I'll just bring one of those onboard.

So, charging by weight is just another means of pricing innovation. What are some other ways the airlines could achieve price discrimination? The days of charging extra without a Saturday night stay seem all but gone thanks to Southwest and other innovative airlines.

Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#27

Post by coolestuk »

It's not just about the relative costs of transporting overweight people. I am 180cm tall, and 70kgs in weight. On a non-stop flight between SF and London, I was sandwiched between two massively overweight men. I could not even eat a meal, and struggled to turn the pages of a book, since these two took up at least 30% of the space that should have been mine. I asked the stewardess to move me because it was so uncomfortable, but she claimed there were no free seats.

It's obvious that there need to be over-sized seats for over-sized people. I don't particularly care if they pay more or I pay less. Flying cattle-class is painful enough without being sandwiched between people who are much, much wider than the average person. It can't be comfortable for those fat people either to be crammed into a small seat. But at least they book flights knowing what they will endure (and they could book the more appropriately sized seats in business class). The rest of us don't have any determination in these events.

As for it being unenforceable, people get removed from planes for many reasons. I was recently on a plane where a man was removed from a 5 hour flight; he stank so badly that no-one could sit within 3 rows of him.

Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#28

Post by GiraffeNecktie »

This would be pretty much impossible for an existing airline to implement but what a great disruptive concept for a new discount airline startup. Your ticket is based on your total weight (body plus baggage) which means it would be totally attractive to anyone who is skinny and travels light (plus you're less likely to be squeezed in between two oversized seatmates). Sure you give up the heavy clientele but you gain a lock on an attractive slice of the market.

Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#29

Post by Drbble »

jcizzle wrote: post #8

I've been saying this for awhile, not because of fuel prices but because of comfort. It is rude for an overweight person to spill into adjacent seats. Just like it is rude for overweight people to drive up the cost of health care because they refuse to take care of their own bodies. It's a touchy subject, but I think we have a lot to gain as a society by telling people it's not OK to be lazy and fat, instead of silen…

Do you have any evidence for the extraordinary claim that one fat American causes increased health care costs for a skinny American. Take into account overall life expectancy, variable insurance rates, and fit people that fall off mountains and get hurt playing sports.

Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#30

Post by rdouble »

corin_ wrote: post #3

Ultimately while the principle is good - and, as an overweight person, I'd have no problem paying more if it was done fairly - no airline would ever introduce this fairly. Once they've raised the price for fatter people, why, as a business, would they lower the price for thinner people to balance it out? Why not just take more profit? Think back to when smoking was banned on most airlines, the airlines didn't think "…

would they lower the price for thinner people to balance it out?

The author of the article does mention a "petite discount:"

Conversely, a female weighing just 50 kilos would get a "petite" discount of $14.50 each way.

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