Concept draws attention in some quarters

With fuel costs spiraling out of control for hard-pressed airlines, a new idea for enhanced revenues is starting to emerge on the blogosphere and elsewhere. No airline has expressed an interest in it yet, but some observers say it would be a logical step: Why not charge passengers a fare based on their weight, or a surcharge or fee for excess weight, since weight and fuel burn are directly related? A recent posting on ABCNews.com quoted airline consultant Robert Mann as saying that airlines might soon start pricing passenger travel “like air freight – by the pound. We’re treated like freight anyway,” he told the web site. Michele McDonald, the editor of the industry e-newsletter Travel Technology Update, picked up on Mann’s remarks in a recent issue. “I can’t think of any better motivation to lose weight than the prospect of a public weigh-in” at the airport, she wrote. “Just think what airlines would save if we all lost an average of 10 pounds each.” And the writer of a letter to the editor of USA Today last week suggested the same thing. “I weigh 125 pounds,” she wrote. “How many passengers are in the 250-plus range? Why should I be charged for their extra weight?...Let’s recognize where the problem lies and address it accordingly.” A few years ago, a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that the average American gained 10 pounds during the 1990s – which, according to the study, required the airlines to use an extra 350 million gallons of fuel annually.