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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

#31

Post by raganwald »

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…

No one is buying that the 33.8% of obese Americans fall into that category - it's a choice for them

I buy that many or most or nearly all obese Americans have made lifestyle choices you find repugnant, but I don’t buy that they all do. And for that reason, I do not go around making blanket statements 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.” Some--maybe many--overweight people make choices about their bodies, but some do not.

Furthermore, I know many overweight people who make dietary choices I disagree with but who are also very hard-working in their chosen fields. Your suggestion that overweight people are “lazy and fat” is unsupported. Some are sedentary, some are not.

Overall, I find that your arguments are unsound. But that being said, I don’t think you’re trying to be cogent here, your use of terms like “rude” and “refuse to take care of their own bodies” and “lazy” sets a tone that depicts every obese American as being at odds with you.

To pe perfectly candid, the conversation we are having reminds me strongly of many conversations around discrimination, stereotyping, and bias. Which is unfortunate.

Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#32

Post by tomp »

ShabbyDoo wrote: post #26
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 Unit…

Can you bring food to airplanes in the USA? I don't think that's allowed in most of Europe any more...

Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#33

Post by corin_ »

rdouble wrote: post #30
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.

The author mentioning it in no way means airlines would do it.

Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#34

Post by lutorm »

Lewisham wrote: post #21
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 sim…

This is what I've been saying for a long time. It makes no difference if the weight is in the bag or in the seat (and as a small guy with generally large bags, this is obviously a self-serving argument.)

Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#35

Post by pwthornton »

tomp wrote: post #32
ShabbyDoo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 Unit…

Can you bring food to airplanes in the USA? I don't think that's allowed in most of Europe any more...

Yes, you can bring food and drinks onto planes. There may be limits to what you can bring before security, but anything after the security line is fair game.

Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#36

Post by corin_ »

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'm very overweight, but not so much that I spill over on a plane seat - yeah, it annoys me when sat next to someone like that.

As to health care, as a smoker in the UK I already contribute much more to the NHS through tobacco taxes than an average smoker will cost in extra health care issues - and I would fully support unhealthy foods being taxed much more heavily.

That said, where do you draw the line? It's not OK to ride a motorbike because it's more dangerous than driving a car or using public transport? It's not OK to play football?

Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#37

Post by lutorm »

There's no reason to have a bunch of different prices. You just have a total weight allocation for each customer, and instead of just weighing your bags, they weigh you and your bags. If the combination is overweight, you pay excess just like you do now. (Ideally on a somewhat proportionate scale as opposed to the "oh you are 1lb over, that'll be $100" approach many airlines seem to use now.)

Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#38

Post by GFischer »

pwthornton wrote: post #4

While the idea may make sense on paper, would this really save money? To do this, airlines would have to weigh passengers before they fly and then charge them a surcharge based on what they weigh (say that everything up to 120 there is a flat fee and then you pay for every pound over). Think about how much man power that would take. It would greatly slow down flying even more, unless of course airports got much bigge…

Lewisham just mentioned a way it is already done, by weighing both passenger and bags together.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3562617

Doesn't seem like it would take more staff, and I'm pretty sure there are technical solutions to automate that.

Also, there are fees for extra weight in the baggage already, so it's not a new feature.

Re: Heavier people should pay more to fly

#39

Post by lutorm »

pwthornton wrote: post #4

While the idea may make sense on paper, would this really save money? To do this, airlines would have to weigh passengers before they fly and then charge them a surcharge based on what they weigh (say that everything up to 120 there is a flat fee and then you pay for every pound over). Think about how much man power that would take. It would greatly slow down flying even more, unless of course airports got much bigge…

They already weigh your bags when you check them. Just step up on the scale along with your bags. It doesn't really have to be more complicated.
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