Why not charge airplane fares by your weight?

This may end the thread, but the reason the airlines do not charge by the pound is because very few women on this planet are willingly to step on a scale, no matter what their size!

In twenty-four hours, the airlines would lose half their income. I see millions of women with torches and chain-saws.

Uh-uh, <finger wag> wouldn’t be prudent.

Myself

I finally got around to looking some things up. A Boeing 747 has between 400 and 600 seats. Lets use 524, which is the number for the mid-sized configuration. The plane has a max takeoff weight of about 875,000 lbs. It’s weight while empty is 398,000 lbs. So each person is carrying several hundred pounds of airplane with him or her. There is also room for 57,825 gallons of fuel, which I believe weighs about 6 lbs. per gallon. So it would seem that the weight of the plane is not influenced all that much by the weights of the people. If everyone gained 50 lbs., it would make the difference of about 26,000 lbs. which is about 3% of the max takeoff weight. So the whole fuel issue is pretty stupid.

Pretty much what I thought from the word go, waterj2. Good research though: I’m sure this should settle the matter. Well, there’s still the size problem to think about, of course. But charging people by weight seems trivial indeed.

Myself – “because very few women on this planet are willingly to step on a scale, no matter what their size!”

Uh, bullshit. I have no problem with my “weight”. If you or anyone else do, that’s YOUR problem. That really isn’t, or shouldn’t be the issue. I’ll step on a scale or gladly twirl you over my head. I have no “problem” with my “weight”. I’m big. And strong. And everyone who thinks there is a “problem” with this can arm wrestle me. Guess what? There aren’t a lot of takers!

The point, I HOPE, she is trying to make, is about size. I’m sorry, but I have to agree on at least one point; if your ass is so big it takes up two seats than that is what you pay for no matter how tall or heavy you are. I think that’s fair. Really. If your butt needs two seats than that is what you need, regardless of your weight. My bitch is about weight. Its arbitrary and pointless. Weight has NOTHING to do with size. I’m, again, 200 pounds but my hips are 43 inches. That, to some, might seem huge, but, again, I fit into a regular airplane seat with room.

I don’t give a shit if you weight 200 or 400 pounds; you fit into the seat or you pay extra. That seems fair. No matter WHAT you weight.

Again, I know, I’m gonna get shit all over the board but in my mind that’s fair. I’m a big woman but again, I fit. I think it should be by SIZE, not WEIGHT. That seems a hell of a lot more fair.

I’m sure they’d have felt better had it been a thin person who had sweated on them. :rolleyes:

Me, I’d sit next in between James Coco and Dom Deluise before I’d sit next to lindsay. She’s a complete waste of skin.

Right on, Phil. Hell, I’ll sit between Dom DeLuise and Luciano Pavarotti, and have Roseanne Barr on my lap before I’d sit next to Lindsay. On a round trip London - Sydney. Headwind all the way.

Byz sez:

Lucky you!!! I’m not fat, by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m 6’4" and 260lbs. Airline seats are extremely uncomfortable to me! Sure, my hips fit between the armrests, but my legs are bruised by the ends of the armrests (thighs are muscular and large), my knees are banged by the seat in front of me (lack of legroom), and my back is convex from having to scrunch my shoulders in to stay off of the person next to me (wide shoulders, obviously).

Flying sucks for me. I wish I didn’t have to do it so often.

Ms. Byz,

So, you wanna chew the fat, eh?

If you re-read my post I think you will find the word “few” just before the word “women.” This leaves a little wiggle room for the tiny minority of females such as yourself who are, or claim to be, unconcerned about their weight.

There is nothing derogatory in what I said. I have no predjudice concerning weight; in fact, I used to live with a woman who was bigger than you say you are.

The fascination with, and the drive to be thin borders on a national mania. This should not be news to you. Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase: “One can’t be too rich or too thin.” Consider: Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Richard Simons, and many millions of dollars being spent on diet pills, exercise tapes and gym memberships every year.

How many times have you seen a Thigh-Master ad?

If you think M-O-S-T women are willing to step on a scale, especially in an airport with a hundred strangers staring at them, you are not paying attention.

So, lighten up.

Myself

Myself, I’ll step on a scale. I have no problem with that at all. I’ll even go bareass naked in front of hundreds of people if it would drop my airfare.

Hell, we could resolve this issue and have american carriers like Aeroflot ( Russian) where you stand up in the aisleway and hang on to a chunk of rope. ( Not all aeroflot’s flights are like that, but my old boss flew on one just like that. Greyhound of the airways.)

Mr. Cynical – hmm… Really? You sound… nice. Perhaps next time you fly we can sit together and share three seats between the two of us; course, I’ll be draped across your lap… ever made the Mile High club? :wink:

Myself – yep, I really should. Lighten up. I’m assuming you meant my attitude and not my weight!

So, I guess Shirley Ujest and I will run around naked at the drop of a hat! Screw the flight, where’s the bar? :wink:

[slight hijak]

Hubba hubba!! :wink:

[end slight hijak]