Weighty question?

[DeadShotDerek]

Ok, so this is an old story

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...o-tickets.html

But another article I was reading linked me to it and it got me thinking.

1 United may well have a good point here.
2 They could go further.

Maybe instead of Airlines charging us for our seats and giving us a baggage allowance, what they should do is combine each passengers weight and that of their luggage and then set a total allowable limit. An excess baggage charge could be levied in much the same way as it is now. Sounds fair to me, after all it's the total weight of the contents inside an Aircraft fuselage that determine the fuel burnt per sortie not just the baggage. Now if you then combined this with United's idea of making the more generously proportioned customer purchase an extra seat, (if they are unable to contain themselves within their own without encroaching on fellow passengers,) would not the cost and service be fairer to all?

After all there are issues of passenger safety at stake. Would you be pleased if you were unable to reach the emergency exit because one of your fellow passengers was unable to extract themselves from their seat?

I feel safe posting this not because of the anonymity of the internet, but for the fact that those most likely to take offence would be unlikely to catch me as I run away.

 

[Killer Queen]

It is a sensible idea it could even be extended to trains .....may it is just too sensible. However some soft pink and fluffy group will disagree and claim the discrimination card.

 

[Tashy_Man]

All well and good but you just know that the airlines would use an improbably low figure and everyone would be forking out extra cash to supplement the el cheapo 2.99 flight to australia.

I am no slim jim but don't touch both arm rests (well not before a few beers at least !!) but think this is yet another money making scheme for the airlines........then again I never pay for my tickets so carry on !!

Crack on..................DT_Xtremez_09:

 

[PingDit]

I totally agree; combined weight should be charged. How they have the nerve to charge me excess baggage when I weigh 9st soaking wet, and another person with an ar5e the size of a small country and weighing 26st gets away with nothing is beyond me. It annoys me enormously!

DT_Xtremez_25:

 

[Shugster]

All well and good but you just know that the airlines would use an improbably low figure and everyone would be forking out extra cash to supplement the el cheapo 2.99 flight to australia.

I am no slim jim but don't touch both arm rests (well not before a few beers at least !!) but think this is yet another money making scheme for the airlines........then again I never pay for my tickets so carry on !!

Crack on..................DT_Xtremez_09:

Agree there old bean. I flew to China twice on KLM some years ago and flew out with no problems. On the way back I was stung for excess baggage, first time I threw the company credit card at them and said OK, second time I kicked up a fuss and got it reduced to half.

Watch out for this trick if you're flying anywhere. DT_Xtremez_32:

 

[grumpyoldb]

Just starve the wife so your joint weight is reduced and save money that way.
I'll have another pie, please! DT_Xtremez_14:

 

[Tashy_Man]

Agree there old bean. I flew to China twice on KLM some years ago and flew out with no problems. On the way back I was stung for excess baggage, first time I threw the company credit card at them and said OK, second time I kicked up a fuss and got it reduced to half.

Watch out for this trick if you're flying anywhere. DT_Xtremez_32:

Thats one thing with a "seamans" ticket....they are cheaper as they can be transfered at a moments notice but they also allow you to carry extra luggage if required.

Crack on....................DT_Xtremez_09:

 

[Tashy_Man]

Just starve the wife so your joint weight is reduced and save money that way.
I'll have another pie, please! DT_Xtremez_14:

Wife...fcuk that...don't fly with her...send her by ferry !!!

Crack on.....................DT_Xtremez_09:

 

[metimmee]

Great, my kids can fly on the cheap then DT_Xtremez_30:

 

[Tedlooney]

I agree with a combined weight allowance even though I'm a big fat bugger. I think it would be even more fair if the airlines gave discounts for those who were under a combined weight allowance but somehow I can't see them doing that.

 

[Reiver]

Who in their right mind would want to fly? I've seen the state of some of these techies!

 

[propersplitbrainme]

Slightly Off Topic

The weight of individual passengers came to the fore when an Air Midwest Beechcraft 1900 crashed on takeoff from Charlotte N Carolina in 2003.
The primary cause of the crash was found to be incorrectly adjusted elevator controls, however a contributing factor was deemed to be the fact that Air Midwest, like many other carriers, had been assuming an average passenger weight that had not altered since 1936. A sneaky experiment was done where weighing pads were placed under check-in desk mats and it was found that the decades old average was 20lbs lighter than today's average. On a larger aircraft such as a Boeing 737 this difference can virtually be ignored, but on a smaller aircraft the weight difference can be significant enough to cause a CofG shift; this is what was believed to have happened to the Beech 1900.
Nowadays and average weight of 200lbs is assumed although I believe a plan to weigh individual passengers was shelved on the basis it would 'embarrass' the larger girthed passenger!

 

[Shugster]

Slightly Off Topic

The weight of individual passengers came to the fore when an Air Midwest Beechcraft 1900 crashed on takeoff from Charlotte N Carolina in 2003.
The primary cause of the crash was found to be incorrectly adjusted elevator controls, however a contributing factor was deemed to be the fact that Air Midwest, like many other carriers, had been assuming an average passenger weight that had not altered since 1936. A sneaky experiment was done where weighing pads were placed under check-in desk mats and it was found that the decades old average was 20lbs lighter than today's average. On a larger aircraft such as a Boeing 737 this difference can virtually be ignored, but on a smaller aircraft the weight difference can be significant enough to cause a CofG shift; this is what was believed to have happened to the Beech 1900.
Nowadays and average weight of 200lbs is assumed although I believe a plan to weigh individual passengers was shelved on the basis it would 'embarrass' the larger girthed passenger!

I remember reading somewhere that 12 people were about a ton, that includes a skinny bloke, a fat bloke, and everywhere in between. Only a decade or so earlier it was 13 people.

We're getting fatter!

 

[The Masked Geek]

Nowadays and average weight of 200lbs is assumed although I believe a plan to weigh individual passengers was shelved on the basis it would 'embarrass' the larger girthed passenger!

They should be used to the embarrassment; fat useless cnuts. Mind you, they've now discovered that fat ba5tards have smaller brains. Well feck me, tell me something I didn't know.