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Charging more for weight is silly because the extra few hundred pounds isn't going to add up to a huge amount of money on a single flight and there is a great deal of extra cost and inconvenience to weigh people and then charge them more etc.
Also, many flight costs like the crew, depreciation on the plane etc. are fixed and do not vary based upon weight.
If you do the math a loaded 737 with 125 passengers weighing maybe 100,000lbs uses about 1325 gallons of fuel on a 2 hour flight. If you have a passenger that weighs 500lbs or roughly an extra 300lbs it uses approximately 4 gallons of additional fuel or <$20.
Now if they fill more than their own seat then yes they should have to buy 2 tickets or otherwise they are taking space that someone else has paid for.
No. You can almost always lift the armrest between seats, creating ample additional room in most cases. Only the aisle armrest can't be raised.
I had a very large person once who parked himself in the middle seat (I was in the window seat) after first raising the armrests on both sides. He knew he was going to be taking up part of my seat as well as part of the seat of the person on the aisle, and he did so without apology or the least bit of concern for the other two of us who had to share the row with him. He made sure he was comfortable, though.
Believe me, if the person is large enough (and many of them are) they are still spilling over into your lap.
I'm talking about if they've purchased 2 seats to accommodate their enormous girth. I've rarely seen a person who couldn't fit into 2 side-by-side airline seats with the armrest between them lifted. In such a case, their enormous size doesn't encroach on any other seats.
That said, it's completely miserable to fly transoceanic without buying at least a business class reclining pod seat.
human beings come in many sizes, some are short, tall, big and small, disabled and crazy and control freaks.
Maybe Shaq or every NBA player or person who is not a NBA star who is BIG should pay more according to this line of thinking.
I'm well aware of that. I'm a tall guy and air travel is miserable for me. My knees are jammed into the seat in front of me even BEFORE It's reclined and I can't sleep because my head is up too high for the head rest, the pillow things they sell don't help either. I pretty much just stay in the same crouched position until it's over.
I don't complain about it, I accept it because I realize, like you said, human beings come in many sizes.
It's just the cards I was dealt. Sometimes it has advantages, other times, not so much.
I'm not overweight but if they had to charge by the pound, I'd probably get charged more too. I don't have a problem with that.
However, I don't inconvenience or endanger anyone else.
It's once thing to accept that there are different sized people but another to realize when it inconveniences or endangers someone else.
If you PAY for an airline seat, I don't see how you should have to have someone else touching you because they are so fat, it can't be helped and I don't see why you should be trapped in your seat because they are too fat to get up easily.
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lay off the burger and fries..
