excess baggage charge

[gfurm]

I wos wondering about this for a while. All airlines charge people arm and leg for every kilo over certain limit. I always heard that it's because
they have figured out aircraft weight in advance and having more luggage makes them load more fuel in the plane. So far fair enough. But if this is
really true why they don't ask about passenger weight when selling tickets? I mean if I weigh 80kg why do I pay the same price as 120kg guy? If 5kg
excess baggage makes so much difference to plane fuel consumption that you have to pay for it half the price of your ticket doesn't 40kg make it even
worse? Just wondering.

[whiskey-zulu]

I believe a few years ago, at least in the US, people who looked over a certain weight were asked to purchase a second seat, as much for their comfort
and convenience as to that of the other passengers. The extra 5KG on baggage isn't so much for fuel in the aircraft it's for the safety of the people
who load it into the aircraft - Health and Safety guidlines on maximum lifting heights and weights and all that jazz.

[jaws1948]

Way back in 1972 when I got married, I arrived with my new wife at Kennedy airport in NY. We were going to St Thomas in the Caribbean
on our honeymoon, flying Pan Am (remember them?). Anyway, as we're checking in, our baggage goes on the scale. In those days you
were allowed 44 lbs in coach and 66 lbs in first class. At that point, they ask each of us how much we weighed. I must have flown
500,000 miles on United, PanAm, American, National, Eastern, and whatever other airlines and had never before been asked my weight.
So that was a first, and a last. We were never asked again. Strange.

[SkyAirWorld]

Easier to charge for baggage, than to be labled "descriminative" towards larger people.

[Anastasios]

jaws1948 wrote:
Way back in 1972 when I got married, I arrived with my new wife at Kennedy airport in NY. We were going to St Thomas in the Caribbean
on our honeymoon, flying Pan Am (remember them?). Anyway, as we're checking in, our baggage goes on the scale. In those days you
were allowed 44 lbs in coach and 66 lbs in first class. At that point, they ask each of us how much we weighed. I must have flown
500,000 miles on United, PanAm, American, National, Eastern, and whatever other airlines and had never before been asked my weight.
So that was a first, and a last. We were never asked again. Strange.

What kind of plane were you on? On some smaller airplanes it is possible that they weigh the passsengers because of weight and
balance of the airplane and trim set.
It was probably not for your ticket price.

You cannot charge people just because there more heavy. They might be bigger, or even just taller. You can't control that.

Anastasios.

[SkyAirWorld]

Theres a point though, you can be asked to pay for two seats in most cases these days and rightly so if your a larger individual.