Fat Passengers Pushing Up Flight Cost

[think_too_mut]

By DANIEL YEE, Associated Press Writer

 

ATLANTA - Heavy suitcases aren't the only things weighing down airplanes and requiring them to burn more fuel, pushing up the cost of flights. A new government study reveals that airlines increasingly have to worry more about the weight of their passengers.

 

 

America's growing waistlines are hurting the bottom lines of airline companies as the extra pounds on passengers are causing a drag on planes. Heavier fliers have created heftier fuel costs, according to the government study.

 

 

Through the 1990s, the average weight of Americans increased by 10 pounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites). The extra weight caused airlines to spend $275 million to burn 350 million more gallons of fuel in 2000 just to carry the additional weight of Americans, the federal agency estimated in a recent issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

 

 

"The obesity epidemic has unexpected consequences beyond direct health effects," said Dr. Deron Burton of the CDC. "Our goal was to highlight one area that had not been looked at before."

 

 

The extra fuel burned also had an environmental impact, as an estimated 3.8 million extra tons of carbon dioxide were released into the air, according to the study.

 

 

The agency said its calculations are rough estimates, issued to highlight previously undocumented consequences of the ongoing obesity epidemic.

 

 

The estimates were calculated by determining how much fuel the 10 extra pounds of weight per passenger represented in Department of Transportation airline statistics, Burton said.

 

 

Obesity is a life-or-death struggle in the United States, the underlying cause of 400,000 deaths in 2000, a 33 percent jump from 1990. If current trends persist, it will become the nation's No. 1 cause of preventable death, the CDC said earlier this year.

 

 

More than half ? 56 percent ? of U.S. adults were overweight or obese in the early 1990s, according to a CDC survey. That rose to 65 percent in a similar survey done from 1999 to 2002.

 

 

Although the Air Transport Association of America has not yet validated the CDC data, spokesman Jack Evans said the health agency's appraisal "does not sound out of the realm of reality."

 

 

With most airlines reporting losses blamed partly on record-high fuel costs, everything on an airplane is now a weighty issue. Airlines are doing everything they can to lighten the load on all aircraft, from wide-body jets to turboprops.

 

 

Bulky magazines have gone out the door. Metal forks and spoons have been replaced with plastic. Large carry-ons are being scrutinized and even heavy materials that used to make up airplane seats are being replaced with plastic and other lightweight materials.

 

 

"We're dealing in a world of small numbers ? even though it has a very incremental impact" to reduce a 60- to 120-ton aircraft's weight by bumping off a few magazines, Evans said. "When you consider airlines are flying millions of miles, it adds up over time."

 

 

Although passenger bulk has been an issue in the past ? Dallas-based Southwest Airlines requires large people to buy a second seat for passenger safety and comfort ? Evans says it's not likely airlines will scrutinize how much passengers weigh in the future. Instead, they are trying to do a better job of estimating passenger weight in figuring out how much fuel they need for a flight.

 

 

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines now calculates the weight of children on flights, instead of using adult-weight formulas for all passengers, Evans said.

 

 

"Just like we don't control the costs of our fuel, we don't control the weights of our passengers," he said. "Passengers gain weight, but airlines are the ones that go on a diet. It's part of the conundrum we face right now."

[USVirgin]

Back in the day, I worked for an international airline that estimated 77kg (170lbs) per adult, including their cabin baggage. A quick look around the local McDonald's, in my country, will tell you that number's obviously outdated.

[MaiLuk]

>an estimated 3.8 million extra tons of carbon dioxide were released into the air<

 

jesus, fat ass americans fart alot

[Guest]

no, farts are mostly methane, and since it is lighter than air, it rises and helps keep the plane up. So fart proudly.

[Guest]

Funny...I thought it was the hideous mis-management most of the airlines suffer from that has been causing the massive hemmorage of profits.

And all this time, it has been those dammed chubby folks.

OLD HIPPIE: care to comment on this?

[TroyinEwa/Perv]

Mis-management??? Come on now......with 42 vice-presidents, there is no way my airline could be mis-managed. With that many of them, ours should be the best running airline in the world. 42 vice-presidents.....what a f*****g joke.

[torrenova]

Fat cunts should pay more. Perhaps charge at the exess baggage rate of USD 50 per kilo over XYZ kilos. Soon put the fuckers on a diet or up into business class.

[thalenoi]

TroyinEwa1 said:

Mis-management??? Come on now......with 42 vice-presidents, there is no way my airline could be mis-managed. With that many of them, ours should be the best running airline in the world. 42 vice-presidents.....what a f*****g joke.

 

Huh? what you say???

My airline instaured a new management level between the president/CEO and VP: he appointed 4 SVP's (Senior VP) and the 5 of them make up the "Daily Management Team"

Now these guys make a lot more money than their lower siblings and we really needed a new level of incompetence within the company....

 

As for the fatties, yest they should pay more and thai puying less since their average weigth is only 45kg....

[chilli13]

"As for the fatties, yest they should pay more and thai puying less since their average weigth is only 45kg."

 

So TG's basically should get away with paying child fares I guess

 

And in the end we all benefit as 'us' fat farangs are the ones footing the cute TG's tickets ::

[shygye]

But the TGs make up for it in baggage.