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Airline launches in-flight 'couch' for hefty passengers
Samoa Air has taken the next lunge in the debate on air travel and overweight fliers with a new extra-large seat for extra-wide passengers. (edition.cnn.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Hey, if you pay more you get more. In Samoa a person that weighs 250 carries the nickname "Tiny" and we are talking about the women here.
Funny - same thing happens in Ethiopia...
Weight is everything to an airline. As people in general have increased in size, the calculations for weight & balance, fuel load and cargo load have become more challenging. Seats should be 'sized' for the passengers that will be flying, narrower seats with less pitch for smaller people and wider seats with more pitch for larger passengers. If you are bringing along a 50lb. check-in and 40lb. carry-on bags, then they get charged like the freight in the cargo hold, by the pound. The implementation of the total weight ticket by Samoa Air should be appluded as it creates a very fair system. I am not a small person by any means (6'4" @275) and would be willing to pay for my 'extra' weight if it gets me into a seat I can actually sit in.
If they ever tried that here, the seats would remain the same size, only the fees would be bigger!
The issue is also that the seats are getting smaller and smaller, it would be interesting if the U.S airlines ever adopted charging by weight(so petite people can carry 100 pounds of luggage for the price of an average person), its not perfect but not a bad idea either.
There might be some merit to your idea for charter flights which tend to be in smaller aircraft more sensitive weight and volume, however, most scheduled passenger airlines are a transportation business, not a freight business. Transportation charges by the person, freight charges by the pound (or volume in some cases.)