4 ms·

Should a petite passenger have pay more because they commonly go on flights with heavier passengers? Someone has to pay. There’s no free lunch. Why make the l

• rsj_hn 5y ago
  Because people generally don't like being nickel and dimed. Why should someone with 20 pounds of luggage pay the same amount as someone with 50 pounds of luggage? Why not charge per pound for the luggage? And the luggage is even weighed, whereas scales would need to be added to weigh passengers. And then let's talk about carry on bags, why are those free and why aren't they weighed? There are huge differences in carry on bag weight between passengers. Yet airlines don't charge per pound, they have cut offs which are pretty generous (e.g I've never been charged for extra weight on checkin luggage) and they don't even bother weighing carry on bags. Because as much as airlines will nickle and dime you, there are limits to all the little surcharges that people are willing to pay and to the complexity/inconvenience of the checkin process. But when it gets to bodyweight you have even more hurdles. Someone is in a wheelchair, should that be weighed? Well, no they have a disability. So if an obese passenger claims it's a medical condition, they will likely complain about discrimination. Yet carry on bags and checkin luggage can be weighed right now with little complaints about violating ADA. But airlines aren't willing to do even that.