Turban Explorer

A former Qantas economist believes that overweight passengers should have to pay more to fly citing that they cost more in fuel to lift into the air. What do you reckon?

It seems harsh and degrading for passengers - especially as it would put a large swathe of Queensland under virtual house arrest.

Kooky.

If I have to pay a fat tax I expect a seat wide enough for my fat arse to sit in comfortably.

Bermudashorts

Unadministerable.

(not sure if that is a real word)

brissybee

I carry a bit of excess baggage and I'd be mighty pinged off to have some Flylo bimbo approach me with a set of bathroom scales and an eftpos machine.

That said, I wouldn't fly Qantas anyway.

ukecadet

That could be a new market "fatty flights"

brissybee

OMG. Marjorie Dawes as the new ceo of Flylo.

Kooky.

I'm in. Of course we'd expect edible food, and plenty of it.

DadAgain

I'd be very happy for flights pricing to be on a per kg basis.

Why should my wife be limited to 20Kg of baggage (and thus a total weight of 75Kg) when I'm entitled to carry 110Kg of total weight?

It makes absolute sense to me.

(Of course the relationship between cost and weight isnt quite linear - small people use just as much of a staffing overhead as large people, and use the same amount of airport facilities too - so perhaps there should be a VERY low ticket cost to cover these 'overheads' and then a per kg cost thereafter?)

Turban Explorer

It would be a massive demand killer surely? Who would risk the embarassment of paying extra for a few pounds. Also where would it end? Logically all types of public transport could start charging more for the per pound/fuel ratio.

The seats on Jet Star are tight for an anorexic so it seems like there already doing their job to keep the bigger Aussies off yet in the name of profit.

Dreamy

I'm in too.

I'd also want a seatbelt that could be loosened enough so that it really could be left loosely fastened

Kooky.

God yes. How embarrassing is it to sit down and battle with a seatbelt you can hardly get round your gut?

Dreamy

It was a good job I had YoungestChild with me when we went to the UK - it meant he could put a foot on my belly while Himself fastened the bugger.

Phew!

ukecadet

Maybe they could remove a few rows of seats in the middle of the plane and have an all you can eat buffet.How good would that be?

Japonica

Theoretically, sure. Logistically, a nightmare. Imagine it...check in is long enough. Then you'd have people weighing in, taking off their shoes, jewellery, jackets and all before getting on the scale. Then you'd have groups of people travelling together arguing that well, since Joe's 10kg under the weight limit, Mary can have his 10kg because she's so fat along with 5kg from each of the kids. Then you'll have the ones that argue that they brought less luggage to compensate for total weight. Yeah, that'll speed things along...

GarryP

Forget that, I want an extra supplement for screaming kids.