More Videos- Help Wanted—Please Run $4 Billion University
- Madoff—The Holiday Drink
- Drugs, Booze and Vegas
- Happy World Toilet Day
- Coffee, Tea or My Ad?
- Elvis Has Left The Building, But His Scent Remains
- I Have to Leggo My Eggo
- Wait, Texting Can Save Your Life?
- What Were The Northwest Pilots Really Doing?
- The Folly and the Ivy: Tough Times at Harvard?
MOST SHARED
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Why Amazon Rules Retail
- Wave of Debt Payments Facing US Government
- The Social Media Gaming Threat
- China Eastern to Complete Shanghai Air Buy by End '09
- Paul: Audit the Fed
- JAL Slides to Record Low on Bankruptcy Jitters
- Gold Will Collapse Like Oil Did in 2008: Charts
- Prepare For Large Decline In Stocks, Next Year?
- Lyondell Urged to Consider Reliance Takeover Offer
- Can Murdoch Help Bing Challenge Google and Shift the Content Equation?
- HP's Mark Hurd
- HP Comes in As Expected; Is It Time to Buy?
- 9 Stocks That Play Rising Water Costs: Strategists
- Weis' Deal Likely Won't Change Big Money Contracts
- Gold Prices Can Double in 3 Years: Portfolio Manager
- Nov. 23: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Help Wanted—Please Run $4 Billion University
- Apple Comes to AT&T's Rescue
- Tuesday's Heavy Dose of Data to Dictate 'Risk' Behavior
- World's Largest Share Issue Priced at Deep Discount
- Obama says Boosting US Jobs is Top Priority
- GM to Cut up to 9,500 Jobs in Europe
- Playboy to Outsource Most Magazine Operations: Report
- Why the Dollar Will Likely Stay Weak for Some Time
- Appeals Court Denies Microsoft's Alcatel Petition
- HP Comes in As Expected; Is It Time to Buy?
- Cramer: What Monday’s Housing Number Really Means
RSS FEED
Funny Business
Text Size 
 |
The only thing left to trim is you.
Despite rumors that airlines will start weighing passengers like freight--and charging them accordingly--all the major carriers tell us it's not going to happen.
Yet.
Smaller aircraft have done this for years for weight and balance issues, but not the major carriers. Airline consultant Bob Mann says they should. "If you look at the freight industry, for example," Mann says, "they sell by space and weight." He says the airlines are not charging for the product "the way the costs are incurred.".
Mann says the major carriers assume the average passenger plus bags weighs a total of 220 pounds. Seems a bit light to me. But putting people on a scale in front of other passengers raises privacy concerns--and let's not even get started on the discrimination lawsuits. Southwest [LUV
Loading...
()
] and Alaska [ALK
Loading...
()
] have long had policies requiring people who can't fit into one seat to buy two. They can make a safety claim there--if you can't sit down during takeoff it's not safe.
But being too fat to fly, or having to pay more just because you're a 6'4" guy, could mean trouble, says travel attorney Alexander Anolik. "They can't do deceptive pricing," Anolik says. "If I don't know what my ticket is when I book it, they can't do that. And that's a little hard. What am I gonna weigh...when I finally get there? What am I wearing?"
Still, he expects that if costs continue to stay high, the airlines will continue to nickel and dime as necessary to try to eke out a profit. No idea is off the table.
"My favorite (idea) is the pay toilets ," says Anolik. "I think this weight idea comes right before the pay toilets. Those are the two last."
For a good laugh, check out the new "airline": www.flyderrie-air.com. It's not real, but maybe it should be?
Questions? Comments? Funny Stories? Email
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes