Should fat people pay more to fly?

Should fat people pay more to fly?

A former airline executive is suggesting that overweight passengers should pay more to get on flights.

This was a suggestion made by Qantas airline's former chief economist Tony Webber.

In a recent column in an Australian paper, Webber wrote that overweight passengers will increase airplane fuel costs as planes have to burn more fuel to cope with the extra weight.

In light of ever-soaring fuel costs, airlines should therefore implement surcharges based on the weight of passengers.

He suggested that passengers could be weighed together with their luggage according to a set guideline.

Passengers will have to pay surcharges if they exceed allowable weight limits.

For example, if the combined weight exceeds a limit of 100kg, the passenger will have to pay an additionally fuel surcharge.

This way, overweight passengers will pay more while slim passengers will enjoy a discount.

Furthermore, Webber feels that if movie tickets and train fares can be categorised according to the customer's age, airlines should also be able to categorise customers by weight.

On Webber's idea, the Australian media surveyed 2,500 members of the public and found that 70% were against the suggestion.

Many slam the idea for being discriminatory against overweight people and threatened to boycott any airline that implements such a policy.

Qantas airline has clarified that it is not considering this suggestion.

~News courtesy of Omy~