General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Samoa Air has become the world's first airline to implement "pay as you weigh" [View all]Hekate
(90,645 posts)In the early days of flying, they definitely accounted for it (old movie "Journey for Margaret" -- American woman taking two orphans out of Blitz-torn London to America; two passengers had to give up their luggage, obese woman weeping as she explains she can't take any luggage anyway). If you fly an ultralight, your weight is accounted for (friend of mine went up in one for her birthday).
Even now -- the only time I got a free ticket for being bumped it was because the flight attendant announced that our jet was overweight, and that either 5 passengers could volunteer to be bumped, or we could all wait an extra hour or two while cargo was offloaded. (I had my kids with me, and when the deal got sweet enough I raised my hand and said, "Here's three!"
Anyhow, when the weight of the average American ballooned, airlines had to take note of the extra fuel it was taking. Not that they expanded the size of the seats or gave us extra legroom, but they did notice the fuel issues.
Hmmmm. Wouldn't we all howl here in the US Mainland if the Samoan Solution were applied here?