Paying for two seats? Why not by the pound!

After seeing some of the recent news stories about airlines starting to charge for two seats for over weight passengers it got me thinking. Why not start charging by the pound!

I skimmed through some blogs about the subject and found one guy that warns people that the airlines are going to start treating people like cargo. Why not? What is wrong with that idea? I mean aside from tying people down and stripping the amenities from the plane, what would be wrong with changing their business model to charge a by the pound shipping rate? I think a base ticket price plus a per pound rate would accommodate everybody and discriminate no one. It would be an additional encouragement for frequent travelers to keep themselves in shape too! As I see it right now there is too much room for discrimination and lawsuits that will make every one's fair go up and the general opinions of airlines go down.

As it stands how are the decisions made on who gets charged double? Are there standards in place that are solid and unarguable? I wonder if it comes down to if the ticket agent or boarding staff are repulsed that is when they say hey you need to pay more. Or if there is a set documented list of criteria. Scrap it all and charge by the pound! The airlines already know exactly to the penny how much it costs to move 1 bag of peanuts, that is why most airlines transitioned into giving small bags of pretzels instead, they weigh less and therefore cost less to move. Half cans of soda and only loading enough fuel for the actual flight are more things airlines do to save fuel. They know how much it would cost to move a person weighing 150lbs from Logan to JFK!

A base fee would eliminate most of the complaints in this model. At the time of this writing a round trip ticket on Jet Blue for one person from Boston, MA to Ft Lauderdale, FL this summer costs $219.20. No where on their site do I see a per pound option. If they charged a $99 base fee and then $1 per lb a 120lb person could fly at basically the same rate. That same ticket would cost someone weighing 350lbs about $449. They could easily give that heavy person an additional seat at that point and the airline would not lose a dime. It would be decided by documented parameters and not by someones opinion therefore stopping any complaints. It would be a national weight-loss incentive! Bring a letter from your doctor and get .10 off per pound! Instead of frequent flier miles they could go with something more geared for pounds. Fly so many flights per year and earn .05 cents off per pound ect ect.

Now I am not an expert on the airline business so maybe there is something heavy I am missing here but I would think some one should have thought of this before. I would also think it would further stabilize earnings projections made by airlines. They know how many pounds they move on average annually, stabilize the pricing model it would then stabilize projections. The price per pound would be mitigated by the price of fuel. If fuel goes up a buck change the per pound rate accordingly.

I encourage your feedback on this. Am I way off base here or is this idea plausible? Post feedback below, you can do so anonymously if you wish or leave your name! I may update this post or reply to feed back on the same page.