Should fat people pay more?
Bernard Marr
?? Internationally Best-selling #Author?? #KeynoteSpeaker?? #Futurist?? #Business, #Tech & #Strategy Advisor
It is fact that people are getting fatter because of over-eating and too little exercise. But should they pay more for things like airline tickets? The plane company Airbus has just announced that it will reduce the width of window seats on their A320 aircrafts so it can increase the size of aisle seats to cater for the increasing amount of people that can't fit into standard aircraft seats. Is that right? Should people who are not obese get punished with smaller seats? Should people who need extra-wide seats pay extra?
Samoa Air has recently become the first airline in the world to charge passengers based on their total weight (body weight plus luggage). Your ticket price is calculated on how much you want the airline to carry, which includes the weight of your body and anything else you decide to bring. When you buy your ticket you have to declare your weight and when you check in you and your luggage will be weighed. Samoa Air CEO Chris Langton defended the policy and told CNN that he believes it will become the norm soon. He argues that when it comes to planes weight does matter and that it is fair for passengers to pay for what they use.
Are Samoa Air and Airbus just the tip of the iceberg and will other airlines follow? Do you think it's fair of airlines to charge more for heavier people or do you find it discriminatory?
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11 年In some sense it is logical to charge for the amount of weight you bring, given that the weight on a plane must be regulated in order for the plane to fly, but when you're talking about a subject that inherently causes robust human emotions you can't really go by logic alone. People pay to bring extra baggage, because it's extra weight and that has a bearing on the mechanics of flying, and most people will look at that and say it makes sense. But when you talk about extra weight that occurs in flesh instead of suitcases, most people will look at that and say "that's discriminatory," regardless of the influence it has on the mechanics of flying. Humans are sensitive to each others' feelings - though sometimes we don't believe it based on the awful comments we can find on social media - but we mostly do strive to value what is inside a person more than what is on their outside, and so we care enough to say it is discriminatory, and we care enough not to want to punish someone for their outside not living up to societal standards of beauty and acceptance. This is governed by our emotions, and emotions don't care about logic. Because it is an emotional subject, airlines will never be able to use the "charge for amount of weight" logic and come out in public favor.
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11 年I think a better solution would be to include varying seat sizes and charge according to the seat size and completely leave out any commentary whatsoever about body size of passengers. The seats with more space cost more - just like first class has comfy-er seats and more room and costs more to sit there. This leaves out the entire conversation of why someone chooses a cheaper seat with less space or a more expensive seat with more space. It could be a short, skinny person just wants more space to be comfy. This is selling comfort and convenience, and does away with social commentary on body size. Why not make an entire plane model that had fewer seats but those seats are spacious? Those would be sold at higher pricing since fewer people can fit on that flight, so the seats are more expensive. This again is selling comfort, with no mention of body size. Have another plane model with more seats that are more squished and less room. Those can be sold for cheaper since more paying passengers can fit on that flight.
Owner at Tactical Logistics Solutions
11 年They already do in terms of doctors fee and hospitalization charges