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?

Its a very unpopular opinion, but I do see your point. I was once a kg over on my hand luggage. My scales obviously not too accurate. I am very slim and I did think, well bloody hell the couple behind me weigh 4 times what I do and I have to stomp up for a measly kg!

I do think perhaps people over a certain weight (excluding those with a medical reason for it), perhaps those heading into the obese category should pay extra, and also be given larger seats. I too have had to sit next to someone so fat their body was over on my seat. But apparantly we just have to put up with that, and they pay the same as me, but I'm left with half a seat. Plus I get fined for my hand luggage being 1 kg over.

Oh, and don't get me started on "small clothes should cost less". Tell me you don't know how clothes are cut and manufactured without telling me...

Costing is a complicated matter but the clothes in the size run are all cut from the same cloth, literally. It's not costed on each individual size, that's logistically almost impossible. Costs go up when you have a size break and then have to redesign the clothes again to scale it all properly and the extra costs largely come from wasted fabric...the bigger sizes mean you haven't got enough left to cut smaller ones. Companies have been resolving this in recent years, but there's a reason it took so long. It's really, really not as simple as "my clothes use less fabric so they should be cheaper than others in the same size run". Costing and sizing don't work like that. Different sizes are planned, cut and costed as a whole.

Sorry, OP, but it's not all a conspiracy against the teeny tinies. It's logistics, costing and elf 'n' safety.

the couple behind me weigh 4 times what I do and I have to stomp up for a measly kg!

The couple behind you aren't being lifted on and off the plane by baggage handlers. Your luggage was and so yes, you need to pay if you need two of them to do the job rather than one.

Just learn how to pack properly ? Most of us have it sussed after our first flight or two.

Stop being ridiculous!! Doesn’t even deserve any more explanation 🤦🏻‍♀️🙄

@notimagain - I agree with you - the cost of admin to vary a ticket or baggage allowance by weight and then a few pounds £ or $ is not worth it. The airline will have worked out what works for them overall.

I am making this up obviously , but - eg you with two stone less so your ticket is £10 cheaper so I have to weigh your luggage now - the admin charge for sorting this out this is £25. Also not sure H&S would like anyone to stand on the roller weighing things at airports in case you get taking into the hold This is somewhat joking. Most hand luggage can be done very easily .

My DH and DS weigh more than me . They are bigger. Never once have I thought I should get a cheaper ticket.

Samoan airlines actually do charge by combined weight.

Out maybe planes should be designed to fit a range of people

I do think perhaps people over a certain weight (excluding those with a medical reason for it), perhaps those heading into the obese category should pay extra, and also be given larger seats.

How do you define 'medical reason' and what evidence would you expect the passenger to produce? Upload a document from the doctor saying 'Anne is a fatso through no fault of her own' when booking? Some people are just genetically predisposed to be fat. Is that enough of a 'medical reason'?

And of course, as far as the cost of flying someone is concerned, it doesn't matter if someone weighs 100kg because they're diabetic or because they ate all the pies. Essentially you're arguing for fat people to be punished.

YABU imagine having anorexia or bulimia and needing to be weighed before getting on a plane - it’s basically saying that those with eating disorders aren’t allowed to fly as there is no way they would want to be weighed.

I would be quite happy to have a narrower seat, providing I was seated next to other slim people in the same seating.

What I don't like is being sat next to a very large person whose body overspills into my space. I've sometimes had to sit bolt upright, with my hands in my lap and feet tucked under the seat (which is very uncomfortable and gives me back pain) because either side of me are large people who are filling up both of the arm rests and half of my foot well. I know they must be uncomfortable too because the seats are too small for them.

So, maybe some rows should have the usual 3 seats and some only 2 seats? Should the pricing then be proportionate to the row, ie seats cost either one third of the row or half of the row?

People are happy to pay extra for more legroom. Perhaps they would be happy to pay more for wider seats as well?

I am an ex airline pilot and I am not sure why you think this.

So, maybe some rows should have the usual 3 seats and some only 2 seats?

Well this happens now on most even short haul flights and you can choose to pay if you choose to.

To some extent they are, I think Boeing used to accommodate to the 95 percentile (nobody can really guarantee accommodating 100% of the population).

The problem seems to be many of the aircraft now in service have cabins based on designs and data based on surveys done from several decades ago and people have grown.

runwaygirlnetwork.com/2021/08/2021-aviations-century-opportunity-reset-seat-sizes/

In the early days of mass air travel, passengers were weighed.

So would you be happier to be given a smaller seat? less food? A cap on alcohol because you can't metabolise as much?

YABU.

That’s not how loading a plane works.

Fat tax! Yeh perfect OP, nice one.

Some airlines already do it.

Do tell which.

So I can boycott them.

No what is annoying is I can't just put all our clothes for three people in one big case. That's what my mum used to do. We had a large and extra large two cases to get all our clothes into. The bigger one was great for travelling on the train.

Though heavy we only had one set of luggage. But to fly I could only half fill it. So I gave them away and got two smaller medium one's. It should be a weight allowance for each person. Not each luggage.

Larger people are punished because they're made to sit on a seat that's far too small and sometimes they have to ask for an extension to the belt which must be mortifying.

You must be a tiny person, OP, to weigh so little yet be so dense.

👏👏👏👏

This. You sound like an arse, OP.

Happily anti discrimination legislation would make that illegal now.

Op yabu. Life is a lot of things - but one thing it isn’t is fair.