To think travellers should be weighed WITH their luggage when travelling.

[Bakergram]

I'm prepared for backlash.

I was charged excess for my hand luggage as it was over a certain weight- that's absolutely fine. The combined total weight for myself and my cabin baggage was approx 69 kg. My friend wasn't charged because their luggage wasn't overweight yet the combined total for them and their luggage was over 90kg. My friend joked about how unfair it was.

Surely it would be fairer to use the combined weigh of traveller and cabin luggage to determine and excess fees due?

Men tend to weigh more than women. Our last former male Prime Minister a case in point.

As men would have to pay on more occasions, no chance it would happen.

'Your friend’ aye, right.

My thoughts exactly.

@BigChesterDraws - Good point - I once had a case fall out on my head ( not mine ) from an overhead locker - no harm done but a bit irritating and uncomfortable at the time.

COMPLETELY agree OP. Tall people should be charged extra, pregnant people should have to reduce the amount of luggage they carry unless they want to pay more and amputees should receive a discount for carrying less body weight. Perhaps airports could start up a weight pooling service for luggage whereby a 6 ft man could put his luggage into your dainty little suitcase to reduce his overall weight? Ready to be flamed for my unpopular opinion!

These kind of system would cost them millions for what ? Doubt they’d make much money apart for it to be a discrimination

also what when would you pay for your weight ? When you choose the flights ? What would happen if I’ve put on weight since I bought the tickets ? Will I be penalised when boarding and if I’ve lost weight will I get a refund ? The system is too complicated for the airlines to make money

I think we should all be charged in accordance with the actual fuel we'll use on the plane.

Even if you are a real lightweight you might be disappointed at the cost savings to be had by doing that TBH, especially on a typical short haul sector.

I'll tell you what annoys me - people who travel hand luggage only and fill the overhead spaces with mini suitcases. That actually affects me more than the body weight of my fellow travellers.

I'm not fussed about personal weight. I only take my backpack when I fly long haul it would be nice to get some kind of discount for not using the whole allowance

Can you imagine the tears at the airport check in as people are made to stand on a set of scales with their bags.

People don't sit in the overhead locker?

I bought flights with KLM and they had a far for hand luggage only. I did check prices wirh BA and virgin and it was the same.

This is discrimination you know that don't you? Regarding weight MN have a warped mentality when it comes to food and I suspect even some posters on here have eating disorders themselves so are advocating for this utter shameful idea.

Whilst this is true if everyone applied the same logic and the captain's manifest had an inaccurate TOW, this could adversely impact the safety of the flight as they calculate fuel requirements based on take off mass. On a standard long haul for example if each passenger smuggled an additional 10Kg on board that's 4-5 tonnes of additional mass on board. The difference is massive when it comes to fuel consumption and both take off and cruise which will ultimately affect range.

I think smaller-sized clothes should be cheaper too, as they use less fabric

Now this I absolutely agree with.

They do/did in some places! Passengers were weighed holding their luggage on a domestic flight I took in Indonesia a few years ago.

Samoa Air charged passengers by their weight 2013 - 2015. It went out of business in 2015 (for unrelated reasons). Pacific Islanders are some of the most overweight people in the world and the airline thought this was the only fair way of charging.

www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/02/samoa-air-pay-what-you-weigh

My DD probably weighs less than your suitcase but has to pay the same price as you despite being a small child. So let’s start from the position that her travel costs should only be the same as your suitcase. And since you’re so teeny tiny and want the people side of the plane to be calculated the same way as the luggage, I hope you enjoy having a third of the space of my 6’3” DP. It’s all going to work brilliantly.

Those silly fat/obese people eh Op? (like me).

This intrigued me - and you're right!

I took a look and the average cost of fuel for a passenger plane to carry 300 passengers from London to New York is about $30,000.

That's $100 person.

If the average weight is around 10 stone/63kg, that's $2.7 per kg.

Considering extra cost should go hand in hand with extra seat space - that's starting to look like a bargain

So (for arguments sake) a person who weighed 80kg with a 20kg bag would be charged the same as a 50kg person with a 50kg bag? But the airline would have to carry around and load that 50kg bag - it is actually more work for them than the 80kg who is carrying around some of that weight by themselves?

What about someone in a wheelchair? Are they exempt?

Is it just the greedy people you want to be charged - so additional weight due to height/pregnancy is not charged - they get given some sort of subsidy?

There could be like 6 queues couldn't there? The greedy, the healthy. the slight, the tall, the pregnant and the people who require extra equipment. All charged different amounts, I mean that makes about as much sense as the OP.

You'd love travelling with my family we have two extra carry on luggage with medical equipment/medication plus a wheelchair I'm sure our excess would be extortionate if we had to pay for it.

As far as stealth brags go, this one is rather a poor effort.

I agree, OP. I'm a petite woman who travels light yet pays same fare as heavy person with lap child, giant pushchair, large onboard bag. It's ridiculous.

Weight is the biggest variable in the cost of operating an aircraft. Passengers should pay accordingly.

You pay per person.

What's so difficult to understand about that?

Should we start charging higher bus fares to fatties now too?

Some airlines already do it

Are you sure @GyozaGuiting ?
I know there's occasionally talk about this being introduced but hadn't realised it had already happened