Airlines to Charge Passengers by the Pound
Timothy McGettigan | Apr 06, 2012 | Comments 1
On the heels of Allegiant Airline’s plan to charge up to $35 per carry-on bag, other major airlines have begun considering plans to charge passengers by weight.”It’s simple math,” stated Howard Fine, a spokesperson for Universal Airlines. “Heavier passengers cost more to ship from point A to point B.” In response to questions about consumer backlash over [...]
On the heels of Allegiant Airline’s plan to charge up to $35 per carry-on bag, other major airlines have begun considering plans to charge passengers by weight.”It’s simple math,” stated Howard Fine, a spokesperson for Universal Airlines. “Heavier passengers cost more to ship from point A to point B.” In response to questions about consumer backlash over yet another scheme to increase the cost of airline travel, Fine downplayed the situation by stating, “Paying by weight is not a new idea. The post office has been charging by the ounce to ship packages for decades. We’re simply taking the same idea and applying it to airline travel.”In 2009, most major airlines began charging substantial fees for checked luggage. In some cases, up to $60-$70 per bag. Since then, many passengers have successfully avoided those costs by increasing the number and weight of carry-on items.
Howard Fine explains, “Fees for checked luggage haven’t really worked. Sure, passengers are checking in fewer bags, but now they are carrying-on a lot more luggage. It’s sort of a game of chess. Airlines make one move, and hen passengers make the next, but in the end the airlines are still carrying the same amount of weight.”
When questioned about Allegiant Air’s new plan to charge for carry-on baggage, Howard Fine commented, “Passengers aren’t going to like it, and I don’t blame them. Carry-on fees seem punitive. It’s like passengers figured out how to get around the checked luggage fee, and now they are being punished by Allegiant for being savvy consumers.”
Yet, Fine remains confident that passengers will view Universal Airline’s plan to charge by weight differently, “Carry-on fees are punitive, but charging by weight is actually beneficial.” When asked to elaborate, Fine added, “Well, it’s simple really. Passengers who weigh less will pay less.”
It remains to be seen whether passengers will react positively to Universal Airline’s plan to charge by weight. However, for his part, Howard Fine remains upbeat, “If you think about it, it’s kind of like Universal is creating an incentive for passengers to be fit and trim. In a sense, we’re creating a health plan for our passengers.”
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Filed Under: The Lightning Strike • Timothy McGettigan
About the Author: Tim McGettigan is a professor of sociology at Colorado State University – Pueblo. The Socjournal is an outstanding resource for all things sociological. Too often, the media examines social issues from a singularly economic perspective. If you really want to understand how the social world works, it's better to use a broader, clearer lens. In this column, I will discuss a variety of forces (technological, scientific, political, cultural, and, yeah okay, economic) that are currently reshaping the globe. Whether or not the world is changing for the better is an open question — and, thus, it's a question that I look forward to debating at length in this column.
The biggest issue with this (other than that whole discrimination thing) are those that have a medical condition that causes them to gain weight. Or those that are just plain taller- it is not a great way to cover their cost. It is inefficient, discriminatory, and just plain wrong. What about those in wheelchairs? Going to charge them extra for having the gall to be in a wheelchair? Charge by seat and let the market decide if you should be in business.