Weigh before flights
Having written about a scale and weight, I remembered a talk held with a friend of mine more than a year ago.
I : Why is it that there’s a weight limit of your luggage(s) onto the airplane and not to your own (body) weight, even though it’s the same thing?
F : Umm. Why is that..
I : I feel like I’m being exploited as I’m (still) relatively below the average weight
F : LOL
I : How about take one’s own weight into account when going on board?
F : Isn’t that a bit too touchy regarding the privacy? How about reporting one’s information by him- or herself?
I : That way even men would fudge.. How about let them go onto the scale with their own luggages and take the whole weight!?
F : That’s it!
I : Doing so, airline company can have a new business model with a new fare system with “basic fare + extra fare (for weight)”. They should be having some margin on weight limit. In this method the margin could be smaller, and eventually make the flight fare cheaper than now.
My friend was talking as much as I was, but I somehow only remember what I said :-P
Of course, there would still be a limit on size of the carry-in luggage. But this total-weight flight fare doesn’t seem to be such a bad idea to me. Customer can purchase the “airplane point” beforehand and use it at the ticket counter, or pay for the ticket in the counter via credit card. It would contribute to the enclosure strategies.
Well, just an idea, before I’d forget..
But not everytime is overweight the fault of the individual itself. Many people have overweight because they have to take special medicine to cure their illnesses.
So they would be penalized for something they can’t do anything against it.
For instance, people who have to take Cortisol, can save water in their bodies much faster and gain weight through this.
So the airlines would have to check for your medical record. Several privacy and misunderstanding problems would definitely arise, I think.
> Pawel-san
You’re certainly right about that : not being fair by penalized for something not caused by themselves.
At the same time, however, current system already employs the discount by the passenger’s age (e.g., for those over 65).
I think the real problem is that there is no common framework for checking the medical record, whereas the age can easily be referred by e.g., passport. If there would be a pre-described document written by a doctor for them, if and the information (that the passenger is to be discounted for his/her weight, not the medical record itself) is stored in the airline’s database, it would have the following positive effects :
– Those passengers’ fare is likely to be cheaper than the current fare system (it depends on the amount of discount, but it can be handled by the airline companies).
– BECAUSE there is still no common framework for describing the medical record (at least not in this field), the company who does it first is likely to lead the standard. Most importantly, it is likely to have opportunity to enclose the customer (you probably would not like to go through the same process).
Hmm, true, but who would like to bear the costs to get the framework up and running?
The government? Every citizen has to pay through taxes. Companies? Will try to do profit with the data.
The framework I have in my mind is probably far simpler than the one you have in yours.
It’s fundamentally just a sheet of paper, written by a doctor, explaining this person (passenger) is qualified for a discount (or whatever you’d like to call it). It should not cost much. The passenger has to pay for this, and send the sheet to the airline company.
Once the information is reached and approved, this passenger gets certain discount. The more (s)he uses the airline, the more profit (s)he gets.
That’s a point for you :-)
Some US Airlines already do something similar with very obese people – those who don’t fit into a seat completely have to book a second seat, because their neighbors would have no chance to enjoy the flight, just too few space on their seats :-O