I've put my tin hat on and am hunkered down in my bunker, so do what you will to me. I was stood in-line at the airport check-in. One of our bags was overweight, but the goods inside were important so we didn't ditch them. We paid the excess baggage charge. £360 (that's over $700 dontchaknow). What annoyed me is that I weigh 11st (70kg) and my lady weighs just over 6st (40kg). There was a family of 5 immediately behind us, the lightest of which must have been 18st (114kg). Can an aircraft differentiate between bodily and baggage weight? Should we not be required to stand on the scale and our overall weight (person + baggage) be deemed the criteria for any excess costs? Annoyed and £360 the lighter in pocket, I am (said in a Yoda stylee).
I tend to agree. Since the airlines seem to be trending toward fees based on pound-miles rather than seat-miles, ostensibly to offset rising fuel costs, it only seems reasonable that your total mass (body + baggage) should be used as the fee basis.
The fare basis codes used in the airline industry are already completely screwed up and unfairly calculated; I don't think a totally mass-based fare would be equitable, but I'm not sure what would level the playing field. I know it would certainly make travelling more pleasant, though, if they left the first checked bag free, and charged a fee for a carry-on bag.
Fat people should just pay more, period. I'm tired of sitting next to fat men and women who spill over into my seat. They should pay for a second, or sometimes third, seat. I mean, they're lazy and they caused their fatness and should have to pay for it. If they had enough money to buy and eat a dozen Krispy Kreme's every day to get that way, they should be able to afford to pay more to fly their fat asses on a jet.
