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Airfare by weight - coming soon?
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Photo source: zeldadaily.com
Want to save cash on airfares? Better put down that donut. Airline industry analysts say they predict the time coming very soon when your cost of flying will depend on your weight.
Why? The more you weigh, the more fuel is needed to get to your destination. Most airlines began charging hefty fees for checked bags, removing extra weight from planes in the form of extra drinks and magazines, and even requiring overweight passengers to purchase an extra seat (though we have yet to hear of this one actually being enforced).
NY consultant Robert Mann says he sees passengers being charged by bag and body weight, like cargo.
"It's the way cargo flies; if something is twice the weight, you pay twice as much," Mann said. "It might be widely pooh-poohed, but if fuel goes back to being as expensive as it was, there will be some more of these public articulations."
Another analyst, Zeke Adkins, sees it happening sooner rather than later.
"I don't know (that) it will happen in the next four or five months, but in the next year or 18 months, airlines will have to start taking this into account," Adkins said. "Remember, two years ago, charging for a bag seemed pretty far out there."
But advocates for the overweight fear this could stigmatize heavy customers.
"If some kind of increased fee is going to be inevitable, they need to find ways to charge those fees without humiliating people," said Rebecca Puhl of Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. "I just don't see how all this can be implemented in a way that is effective and fair."
Just in case - if you want that cheap flight next year, better start hitting the gym now.
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