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  Some airlines are reportedly considering the idea of charging passengers for tickets based on their weight to help deal with skyrocketing fuel costs. We wanted to know what you think of the idea.

It's ridiculous. Why not start charging for looking ugly, or having glasses? Just call it a tax and it's okay? Absurd. --Denver

This is ridiculous! The luggage is weighed because someone has to handle it so baggage over 50 pounds needs to be tagged. It's a safety issue for employees. Pretty scary and judgemental comments made here. One seat, one price. I've had to sit next to some pretty undesirable, smelly people and would rather sit next to a clean larger person any day! Next thing you know, it will be illegal to be overweight. Pathetic! --Julie

If they are going to do that, then the ticket for my 30 lb 4 year old had better be a whole lot cheaper than MY ticket. --B

I have watched Americans in the last 70 years become a nation of obese freaks. Why should I pay their air fares. The whole air tariff system is based on weight. I am all for it! --Robert Lynch

Absolutely should charge. The next time someone bulges over into my seat taking up essentially two places, I have every intention of suing the airline. I am tired of people choosing to be fat and then I have to pay for their extra weight in both inconvenience and fuel expense. We truly need to begin taking responsibility for our actions, which includes a "tax" on obesity. --Amanda

discrimination plain and simple could never happen in a free country and should never happen in a free country! --Barbara

Great Idea. Let's do it. --Dave

YES! Fantastic idea, although the airlines just need to weigh everyone and base prices on that, so it would have more of a legal leg to stand on. --Lori

This is an idiotic idea. I would like to see someone do the math and figure out just how much more fuel has to be burned for a passenger who weighs, say, 100 lb over the average. My guess is that for a whole plane full of obese passengers you might notice a difference, but with a normal (bell curve) weight distribution on the plane, the couple of people at the high end won't even make a dent, so to speak. --Scrawny guy

I think it's about time, and if the passenger is going to hang over the armrest, they have to buy the seat next to them as well. In Latin America, small airlines charge for excess weight of baggage and traveller combined. It's about time we stopped worrying about hurting the "fatties" feelings and started running the airlines like a business. Everything else (air freight) that pays to go aboard pays by volume and weight. --RCH

I think it is a fair and just one unless an individual can produce medical records acknowledging a medical condition that would justify one's weight. The airlines should be allowed to write off a percentage of the sale accordingly to offset their loss. Most people are overweight by choice, not all. It is in their health's best interest, not unlike a moker, to adhere to the pressure from society to better manage their health. --Lex in Tex

Great Idea! If you are fat this just gives you another incentive to eat less. We also should place an added surcharge of fat people for Medicare as they utilize this taxpayer service more then normal people. Stop stuffing your faces and get out and exercise! --jdog

Coming at this as a retired commerical pilot I see this as the way to go. How much an aircraft can carry is all based on weight not how many butts are in a seat. If a person makes for two of the normal weight then they should have to pay for two people. --Jim

I'm curious about the weight of all the negative responses. How many times have you sat next to an overweight person on a fliht who's body encroaches upon your seat? I didn't pay to have 3/4 of a seat; I paid for a full one. Perhaps those against it should think about how selfish they are being and how much there choice of being overweight is unfair to others. Instead of seeing what you want to see, please see the reality that exists before you. --Mr. Realist

Ridiculous! Insane, idiotic and stupid! --Steve

I think its a good idea, maybe people will try to loose some weight. When I fly, I am sick and tired of sharing my seat with a fat person. Yes, fat folks should pay more. And if they can't fit on one seat, they should but 2 or 3 seats. --Sarah

I'm a big guy, and I can see how they might want to charge more for flying me to my destination. But they'd better think it over very carefully: If I pay more by weight, I expect more space. There's no way I'd pay more to continue to travel in a seat designed for someone 5'9" and 170lbs. So I say go ahead and adopt the policy, but only if they're prepared to offer a quid pro quo. --Edward

IT'S ABOUT TIME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Saving gas aside, why should I pay for a grossly over weight person. 1/2 of that person is flying for free --Carl Manzo

Hey, skinny folks!! Watch out, you will be soon targeted for higher fees from other industries, so watch how you discriminate against bigger folks! How about if restaurants charge skinny folks more if they eat less than fat folks, since big folks eat in bulk and its cheaper to feed them? How about if hospitals or doctors charge more to treat healthier folks who don't visit as often, since they get paid less from the insurance or patients pockets? Discrimination will sneak up on everyone if you let them! --LPS

I feel that this idea has merit. I for one am rather sick and tired of people who do not fit into their seat. Many times I have been next to someone and had to lean to one side or another, and getting stuck between two... I remember seeing a hefty couple getting on the plane and having a middle seat was hoping, "not me please not me". Well it seems they could not sit by each other either. The both had aisle seat across from each other. I only had to lean one way. Paying for a full seat one should get it. People who do not fit into their seats are actually sealing mine. My cost should actually be less,for I didn't get what I paid for. --Jonathan E.

Is it by the pound or beyond some limit? Will children get discounts? My only problem with LARGE fliers is that they overflow into my seat. --Mike

I like the idea of the person occupying a portion of my seat paying for its use. I'll sit elsewhere or take another flight. It seems pretty unfair though for the check-in agents who have the unenviable task of putting the policy into action. Web booking engines have no way of checking a person's girth or his or her objectivity in assessing it at the time of selecting seats and confirming the booking. So, an agent, making 10 to 15 bucks an hour, has to make the potentially inflamatory 'sale'. It is not a "fee" or even an additional charge. In practice, it is a second booking; the passenger pays for 2 seats. Two passengers can not be charged for occupying the same space, once the situation is formally acknowledged by the airline in this manner. --Grant Covington

A long, long time ago, even before they weighed baggage, airlines weighed passengers. Check it out, but you may have a hard time finding anyone from the airline still alive from that time. I'm 62 years old and my father was one of the first employees of Delta. I'm remembering from my earliest childhood. Yes, in that day employee kids grew up airports. --Hal McMillan

I think this is great idea. As exra charges for baggage had been added on to all customers to cover the obvious elephant in the room, I have felt discriminated against. I have been paying these extra charges that are really there to cover the extra weight of the passengers. Stop using the word "disease" to describe what is the result of laziness and selfishness as best said by the president of the British medical assoiciation. I've had to sit on 1 too many flights in which I am crammed in by a 300+ pound person. I couldn't use my tray table because panus was spilling into my seat. I couldn't get up to go to the bathroom without squeezing in the exit row in front of me because this person couldn't easily get up and get out of the row. Don't compare your sloppy selves to persons who are truely disabled and protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Use your anger to get up off the couch, take the stairs instead of the elevator, change your horrible eating habits, and learn something about nutrition. --Christy Cambic

Just last month an airline charged me becuase my suitcase weighed 10 lbs more than 50lbs. So the combined weight of luggage and person was about 240lbs, whereas a 300lb person with a 50lb suitcase is 30% heavier but pays less...where's the justice? --Mike Coury

I think the idea is fine. And it should be enacted as total body weight of a passenger and bags. As callus as it is, passengers are freight, the more a package weighs the more it costs to ship. Individuals that are truly overweight due to genetic issues should get a pass on it. Simple Dr's card/notice is enough to clear that. The rest of us have no excuse. I am disabled and can only monitor and regulate my weight by what I eat. And I can keep it off. Life requires us to make choices and compromises, this may be one. If you want the cheapest flight possible, then no more seconds at the buffet. And no it is not discriminatory, if it was based on race or gender/pref. it would be, you can not change those... overweight you can. --Andrew Goodwin

I think it's one of the better ideas to come along in a long time. Much like high priced gasoline is forcing US consumers to cut back on their fuel consumption, perhaps BMI-factored airfare may do something to force overconsumers to lose some weight. We are nation of unhealthy, obese people. --Stephen

First off, obesity is rarely the result of illness, rather it is usually the other way around - the cause of illnesses. Obesity is 99% of the time a result of lifestyle choices and nothing else. People need to take responsibility for their lifestyle choices. We are a lazy and irresponsible society and look to point the finger somewhere else. Discrimination, by definition, is the singling out of a person or group - if everyone is treated the same (ie everyone is weighed and charged at the same rate), there is no discrimination. In fact, those of us who are of normal body mass are in the minority, as 2/3 of the US population is overweight or obese. I travel weekly and go to great lengths to make good decisions when it comes to diet and exercise - sadly something few others do. --G. Decker

Just another way some people of arrogance have come up with to de-humanize a person. You are no longer a person, you are a fat person. McDonalds should start charging skinny people more because they don't eat enough to make it profitable to cook for them. --Joe Fish

I'm 6'1" and 250# - a big guy. I'm all for it, *IF* I get the space needed. I go out of my way to avoid flying these sardine cans. If the airlines ever want me back as a regular flyer, they will have to make more room and charge more, but Business Class fares are too much for my pocket. Perhaps they need a new "relaxed fit" class. --John N.

It's as great idea! I've been pissed when I've been caught paying the airlines exorbitant second bag fees or "over 50 lb bag" fees ($50!) and was always pissed that the 300 lb fatso spilling over some poor guys armrest got a free ride for HIS extra baggage. THAT'S DISCRIMINATION. CHARGINIG PEOPLE FOR THEIR EXTRA FAT-BAGGAGE IS NOT DESCRIMINATION, ITS SIMPLY MORE ACCURATELY INVOICING FOR SERVICES RENDERED. --Charlie W.


I would agree with the possible ticket price based on the passengers weight. I am 6'4'' and weigh 230 lbs and am so tired of ever smaller seats, especially reduced leg room on most commercial planes. It would be advantageous to have airlines provide both more leg room and space, and charge for it. Economy class on an airplane usually should be called Sardine Class. The airlines need to standardize their incredibly bizarre rate structures. On any given flight, thee are probably 8-14 fares applied to the 100-120 passengers on an average flight. best regards --V.J. Rannik

What a splendid idea! But surcharges must not be based on total weight--a guy can't help it if he's 6'5" and weighs 275. But the fatties who refuse to exercise self control, well, let them pay. Base it on a combination of height and weight to make it fair. Notice how much less fuel we're pumping into our cars at $4/gallon? Maybe they'll pump less fuel into their mouths and we'll have a healthier nation. --TBuk

I believe this is a great idea to motivate people to lose the bulge. If airlines are going to charge overweight people more, then they should also reward those who are not overweight. --Chris Salopek

I think it's a stupid idea. My husband is underweight while I am a little over so between the two of us we are two average persons. Charge for overhead lugguage because checked bags sit in the belly of the plane which balances the weight better than heavy overhead bags do. The airlines will not be keeping many passengers if they continue with their cost cutting so weight won't be a problem. --Bobbi

This to me is insane. One way to offset the rising fuel costs is to way the big wigs of the airline and what ever their weight take it from their pay. I don't think that they would like it too much. Yes everyone is being hit by the skyrocketing of gas but I think that after november it should get better. If they do what they are saying they will be flying an empty plane. It is also a way to have a lawsuit against them. --Sue Warso

I like Linda's idea to charge by the total weight of passenger and baggage. Otherwise, I suggest standard pricing with miles, or some other premium, given to only those who volunteer to be weighed and beat some predetermined weight. That makes it a strictly voluntary program and incentive-based, rather than a penalty for some. There's no discrimination in this idea. --Kathy Gilroy

I am in shock! Let us put this into perspective, if we allow an airline to charge based on a weight class what happens when they start charging based on the color of hair? How about the color of eyes? How about the size of feet? This is REALITY, it can happen, and we have to be unbiased, rather you be 100lbs, 400lbs, blonde, or brunette. --1

I think it's discriminating. The airlines will definitely lose business. --Joan

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