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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 is just business and logic. As Americans gets heavier and heavier, it costs the airlines. Are we to assume that everybody BUT ourselves should pay the price for our lifestyle choices? That's sheer irresponsibility. I am charged when I bring extra luggage beyond a fair profitable set amount. It's reasonable & fair. Let the airlines line everyone up with their bodies and luggage. Assess a fair weight for both. Then charge everyone extra when it exceeds. --Holly Sheldon

i agree. --Gil Gomez

Yes, yes, yes! I have always been imposed on by large people that are a seat and a half wide and splay out of their space into everyone elses. Sell them two seats if they can't fit into one. --Karl Heckman

If I have to pay more for being fat, I want to also see surcharges for people who don't use deodorant, have bad breath or talk too much. What rubbish. --Mr. Arbuckle

GREAT IDEA!! I've been waiting for this with bated breath! In fact, I'd like to see all the fatties charged more for health insurance too- as it is a proven fact that the obese are costing us much more money, in health care dollars, than the smokers. I'd also like to see them forced to be seperated from we "normal-sized" people, in the workplace and in restaurants. We shouldn't have to be in the same room with them, we might pick up their disgusting habit of over-eating. You reap what you sow. Shouldn't have been so eager to jump on the liberal bandwagon and ostracize the cigarette smokers just because YOU DON'T SMOKE. I didn't see the obese fighting for smokers rights, so don't expect anyone to show support for yours. I wonder which group will be targeted next? --Woodruff Smith

I'm skinny, and I think that this idea is discrimination. Do airlines wonder why their business is so hated? Air travel is down and it's no wonder. --Lewis Salem

Life's about choices and consequences. If you choose not to shove back from the table at a reasonable stopping point, fine. But don't expect that choice to be consequence-free. And don't whine when the consequences--like this--arrive. --Reagan

This is great! Treat the big 'uns like freight. --Beanpole McGee

Charging by a persons weight is downright discriminating and ridiculous. If someone is larger and needs 2 seats then of course they should be charged for the 2 seats but the average person should not be charged by their weight. How can you charge by weight when you have people of all different heights so their sizes are going to be different. Obviously a 5 foot woman is going to weigh less than myself who is almost 6 feet so I could get charged more because I'm tall! Even though I'm thin I will never weigh the same as a 5 foot woman so I'm going to get charged more? That is absolutely insane! Something needs to be done as this is getting out of control. --Elizabeth

I say it is about time. I am tired of paying the same amont for a ticket as a pearson that is allowed to "share" my seat with me. I pay the same for a ticket, and yet I am forced to have a large, as most Americans are, pearson overlapping into my seat. It is uncomfortable and rude. --Rick

This is a GREAT idea. A customer shows up, stands on a scale with all of their baggage, and is charged a per pound fee. Done. Don't like it? Don't fly. Pay more. Lose weight. Your choice. --Colman

Great Idea. Several years on a long flight, I was stuck in a middle seat between my husband and a woman who weighed at least 300 lbs. Her hips and shoulders encroached on my seat throughout the flight, while I repatedly pointed out to her that she was taking MY SPACE!!! The stewardess finally let me move to another seat. --F.W. Klock

Wonderful! --John B. Fleming

I think it's great! I'm disgusted by America's obesity. As a forty something year old who works very hard to stay trim and fit (diet and running) I'm sick of seeing fat people go to the head of the line when the airline announces "...those who need assistance can board now." Why do we reward them for their gluttony? They should be penalized for their excess body weight, just like I am if I take excess baggage! If this is seen as discriminatory than maybe airlines should increase their over all rates and then offer reward points (discounted rate) for travelers of low body weight or who bring low weight baggage. Sitting on an overseas flight next to some 300+ pound traveler who is literally spilling over into my seat makes me furious. Paying according to weight (person and baggage) is a motivator to lose weight and travel light, thus saving fuel and cost! --Fit in My Forties

If the airlines want to charge me more for being bigger, I expect to be assigned a bigger seat. --edgarallanpoe

It's about time!!! People who take up more than one seat should have to buy 2 tickets instead of squishing the poor people seated beside them. This is not discrimination, it's fact based pricing. I suspect that the people who are upset about it and are crying "discrimination" are the ones who have been getting away with squeezing into a seat that is too small for them and spilling over onto the passengers beside them. --Denise V.

No person here who cries that this idea is ridiculous and discriminatory fails to give the reason why. Small or normal-weight people subsidize big and obese people in everyday life. Why is the price for size 6 and size 12 dresses the same, although obviously it costs less to make a smaller one? Who's being discriminated here? It is well established that obesity is one of the leading causes of adult diseases, which means that normal-weight people, who are less likely to get sick, are subject to higher healthcare cost because of the obese people. Is it only fair for obese people to pay higher healthcare premium, like smokers do? You wouldn't cry "discrimination" when UPS charges more for a heavier package. What's the difference? Airline and UPS are operating under the same cost-revenue principle, with the only difference being the object being transported is human or not. I know this idea will never fly in this country, which happens to be the fattest in the world. But it is a fair and reasonable idea. --Brian

I think it should be considered. Money talks and there is a serious obesity problem in this country and this could be an incentive which could propel people to act. --Nia

Will I get a bigger seat too? If so, I may consider it. --Fat in Louisiana

I think it's a great idea. It not only helps the airlines cut costs, but it also creates an incentive for Americans to lose weight. One thing that needs to be considered is the average weights of men and women vary greatly. That difference would have to be compensated somehow. --Snow

Being fat is not cheap. Why don't we trust capitalism to regulate diet habits for people who can't regulate themselves the same way we trust capitalism to regulate the prices of the products that fat people are buying? --Jimmy

I think it is a great idea. People who eat more are charged more at resturaunts, so why shouldn't the airlines charge more. This may encourage some to shed a few pounds, but I think that most of the overweight people will look at it as a form of discrimination since they would rather blame genetics or society for there lack of self control in eating. --Dave

I think it's a great idea. I personally don't like to be stuck between two overweight people on a flight. They paid the same as me and I'm the one who's uncomfortable because they half in my seat. Maybe it will be incentive for people to lose weight. --Elvi

Suppose they just say you and your lugage stand on this large mat area, which has a scale in it, when checking in and the total must be under this amount, say 350 lbs, to be allowed without a surcharge? that would even out the 110 lb model with two 50 lb pieces of luggage a heavy purse and a 50 lb carry on and the 200 lb guy with a medium bag nicely. OK remember I said "with your luggage" so don't try to get into this whole "it's rude to ask someone there weight" thing. The more they carry the more gas they burn what part of this is a surprise to anyone? of course the whole headwind versus tailwind thing kind of trumps weight most of the time anyway but it is a commercial business and if they want to allot baggage and seating by weight or SIZE they can legally do it. If you are too large to fit into a single seat you are going to get charged for a second ticket in most cases how is this different? --Middle Weight Guy

Will the fat guy get a bigger seat that he fits in better? --Slim

It's about time they start doing this. I'm 5'6" and weigh 140 lbs. In the past my flight has been made very uncomfortable by overweight passengers. They should be forced to buy 2 seats if their waste size is too large for a normal seat. Then maybe they will join a gym and lose some weight, for the good of all. --Robert Ulmer

Well, well, well how does it feel since we smokers have been openly discriminated, over charged, and treated like pariahs now you all see what happens when you take away someones rights the next group will be yours. Fly cheap lose weight tubby --Bill Vasquez

Some are charging for a second sit, now on weight? Are they going to charge for overweight pregnant women, who will lose the weight after pregnancy is over? Bags are one thing, but people have feelings? --K. Gough

I think it is a great idea. Being overweight is about discipline, for the most part. If you don't have discipline you should pay more. Ever had to sit next to a large person on a plane? It is a nightmare. Great idea to charge more. Maybe it will encourage them to lose weight and get healthier. --Ralph

I think it is a great idea. The whole thing airlines are dealing with is weight. If you weigh 200 lbs more than me you are using more fuel. You should pay more or walk more. --Mike

Of course fat/overweight people should pay more. In the trucking industry the freight charge is by weight, as are airlines. This is where we are going with the slippery slope of smoking bans due to "health concerns". Fat? You should pay more to fly as well as pay a larger share of your health insurance. Why should I subsidize fat people who show no concern for their health? --Mark

I agree with the airlines. Weight and balance are the first things beginning pilots learn about in their aviation training, and I feel that the cost of a ticket should be directly proportional to the weight of the person wanting to fly on the airline. Makes perfect sense to me. --Jim

It's a great idea that makes perfect sense. Its not discrimination but reflects the reality that it cost them more money to move a larger person from point a to point b. why should people who are smaller subsidize the costs of larger people? --Jeff


The reason most people don't want this to happen is because most people are overweight. Look around the beach today vs 20 years ago...almost everyone has a gut now. Airlines should charge by weight, just like they charege for baggage. Why should a 150 pound person pay the same fare as a 250 or 300 pound person? The lighter people use less fuel. It takes hard work and self dicipline to remain thin, why should thin people pay the excess fuel costs for the people who have no self control and gorge themselves into a state of obesity? --Mike M.

Great idea! --Ann

They should be charged extra, nothing like sitting between two overweight people and you got the middle seat. They cost the airlines more in fuel. --Webbway

Well....it wouldn't be fair unless they weighed the person and his/her luggage all together for a total weight. Then heavy people could pack less to make the accepted weight allowance. But let's face it, the civil rights crowd will never let this idea fly. No pun intended. --Justamom

Finally! Why should someone else get to to use 10-20-30 percent of the seat I paid for simply because they don't fit in their seat. We're supposedly required to fit our carry-on luggage into a box, or pay more to check it. The airlines either need to ensure that passengers fit into their seats, or pay more for the one next to them. On my very last flight, I observed a traveling couple who intentionally sat in different aisles so they could each encroach on other people, rather than tolerate each other's excess. The airlines ought to do something and they can choose to fix it - now. --Armand

I think it's just fine for a private company to charge whatever fee they wish. If you're fat and don't want to pay the extra charge, don't fly that airline...I think very overweight people or obese people should have to pay for two seats if they extend over into another seat. It's not fun sitting next to someone like that and maybe it's one more insentive for lardo to loose some weight. Suck it up or suck it in!!!! --Dex

I'm a big guy - not obese big, but football player big. I'm 6'7" and weigh 300 lbs. I'd not have a problem paying more for my airline tickets - if I also was able to get more room. That's not going to happen, so they may as well just keep the ticket prices the same for everyone. --Stan

you are charged at the salad bar and grocery deli and at the post office by weight. This is an idea that should have been implemented LONG ago. Pilots need to know the total weight of the aircraft, including the plane itself, the fuel, the passengers and the luggage, in order to fly it safely. Airlines always estimate the weight of the passengers with an average but that average has skyrocketed lately and those figures have not really been adjusted. Yes, to charging by weight. A plane needs twice as much fuel to fly someone 200 pounds than someone 100 pounds. --Catrina

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