Rum, Nivi and I had a great time in SoCal for a week in early August - going to Legoland, San Diego Wild Animal Park and some real cool restaurants. We had flown into John Wayne from SF. We headed back to Santa Ana after the holiday was over and were excited to be back home after a tiring but fun week. We checked in the luggage and the hefty carseat and then passed thru security to the gate. We soon found out that the flight back home was going to be on a regional jet - a Canadair/Embraer plane with a 2-2 configuration. There was some seat assignment confusion at the gate which was extended out on the ground from the main terminal. Once we got boarded we were all placed in a single row...with Nivi and Rum on one side and me on the other with an empty seat next to me. Moments before they closed the plane door, came in a plus sized person who slumped into the seat next to me. Whoosh! It felt like a tidal wave on the Carlsbad beach! This person (plus plus sized) then went on to lift the seat handle and ended up occupying 3/4th of the 2 seats. I was squeezed like Nivi's rubber ducky. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. The plane was full and the attendant couldn’t offer me another seat. I feel claustrophobic pretty quickly in these small plane fuselages and with half my seat eaten away, I felt it even more. I obviously got a lot of giggles from the other side of the aisle...

 

All along the hour long flight to SF, I was thinking about why the airlines couldn’t just charge passengers flatly on weight. What the airlines should really be charging for (besides the meager service) is for transport of a 'payload' from one point to another. This is no different than a rocket company like Ariane charging by the pound for satellite deliveries in space. I couldn’t resist putting on my PM hat and to go thru the details. A ticket bought online would entail a flat rate based on the distance between the two endpoints. Upon checking in at the airport, the passenger along with the luggage would stand on a weight machine which would calculate the total weight. The passenger would need to pay the additional amount due based on cost per weight x total weight (passenger weight, carry on items, checked-in luggage etc). The lighter the person and the luggage, the lower the overall tariff. This would be the most cost efficient method for the airline and most democratic for the passengers. If some HMOs can do this (reduced premiums for healthy people vs. higher premiums for the unhealthy), why cant airlines? The passenger who has paid a lot during check-in once can update their FF flyer preferences to get two seats automatically on their next ticket etc. The possibilities are all there and can be worked out by some careful planning. There could also be some big health benefits for the nation. Prior to taking a flight, people may end up avoiding junk food and some may end up exercising to shed some weight! This would be a win-win for the airline, the passengers and the country overall. Ah, who am I kidding? This would never work.

After some research I realized that several airlines have already considered instituting a 'fat tax' and some major carriers have already implemented policies around this. The FAA estimates that the US carriers paid 275M $ more last year due to obese passengers. Check out CNN's coverage and United Airlines policy on the same topic. Too bad, we flew AA and I don’t think they have such a policy in place.

The Embraer landed safely in SF and we were back home quickly...and back to work the next day.