Random suggestion A - People Air Freight

There's an article in the news about airlines requiring planes to run with thinner fuel margins than normal - of course this is related to high fuel prices.

Rather than pike and skimp and make changes that could affect safety, why don't the airlines just start charging by weight? I think it would be pretty straightforward - you and your baggage go on a platform - what you weigh is what you pay(tm).

It's not biased because it doesn't discriminate or deny opportunity - the airlines could set the price per pound based on the price of fuel. You could maybe have a default base weight of 100 pounds for kids, pregnant women, handicapped persons with assistive equipment, etc and then pay per pound outside of that. But if you want to fly with your kettle drum collection, well, pay for it. You have 12 kids you want to fly somewhere - pay for it.

Positives I see with this include 1) helping airlines reflect true cost of travel - I know, they really don't want that "help" because it's how they charge different people on the same flight different rates; 2) aligning economic drivers with economic costs and 3) encouraging good health among the population.

Negatives I can think of would include 1) the inevitable corner cases that would arise and the heartbreaking story of the exception case of the 1 person in 50,000 who gets a raw deal out of this; 2) disruption to airline pricing models and the whole black-art pricing industry which causes your seat to cost $400 and your neighbor's seat to cost $875; 3) the perception of hostility to overweight people, or which I am one.

There would also be possible cultural effects - maybe companies would start sending only their thinnest employees on business trips, or you would have to "make weight" in order to travel Of course, that lumps in muscular people (no pun intended), so it just got more expensive to fly your NFL or college football team around but I don't think they're exactly hurting for money.

Anyway, I think it's an idea worth considering. What do you think?