Samoa Air begins charging customers by weight

[Bateluer]

http://www.dailytech.com/Samoa+Air+Now+Charging+Passengers+by+Their+Weight/article30257.htm

Customers will have to start typing in their weight when purchasing Samoa Air tickets online, and pay anywhere from about $1 to about $4.16 per kilogram (depending on whether they're traveling short domestic routes or between Samoa and American Samoa).

Article notes Samoa is on the top ten lists for obesity as well.

"This is the fairest way of travelling," said Chris Langton, chief executive of Samoa Air. "There are no extra fees in terms of excess baggage or anything – it is just a kilo is a kilo is a kilo."

 

[Juddog]

Samoans can be pretty big.

 

[Rakehellion]

If you're flying in this, you want to be aware of every pound you're carrying.

 

[Fausto]

God I would love to see Delta implement this. The Fat People Rage would be off the charts.

 

[blackdogdeek]

They have weigh-ins at the airport for verification but what if a passenger fails? Conversely, do they get a partial refund if they lost weight?

 

[Bateluer]

They have weigh-ins at the airport for verification but what if a passenger fails? Conversely, do they get a partial refund if they lost weight?

It doesn't look like a pass/fail. You get charged by your weight, if you weigh less at the gate check in, you'd get charged less. And charged more if you weighed more.

 

[brainhulk]

They need to balance the weight too. I was riding a small world at Disneyland once and saw a boat full of somoans with all the defensive lineman size guys on one side. I thought it was going to capsize

 

[blackdogdeek]

It doesn't look like a pass/fail. You get charged by your weight, if you weigh less at the gate check in, you'd get charged less. And charged more if you weighed more.

I hope there's a margin of error that they'll allow because I could see this delaying just about every flight from its original departure time.

 

[Red Storm]

I hope there's a margin of error that they'll allow because I could see this delaying just about every flight from its original departure time.

These are tiny planes so I don't think it's a big deal.

 

[Crusty]

When you fly around the Caribbean in the small planes they usually ask how much you weigh before they let you on, fatties up front!

 

[Broheim]

Samoans can be pretty big.

I don't think I've ever seen a skinny samoan guy...

 

[WelshBloke]

Sounds fair enough. The cost of the flight depends on the weight of the cargo, why not make that more transparent to the passenger?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Samoa Air! Boasting the fattest airline in the world!

 

[Slew Foot]

i really hopes this comes to America

 

[glenn1]

i really hopes this comes to America

If it does, all my future flights will need to be self-powered. And I'm not even that big of a guy.

 

[blackdogdeek]

These are tiny planes so I don't think it's a big deal.

Oops, I didn't know that. Are they just an intra-Samoa carrier?

 

[Baked]

How the fuck do they get so damn big? What the hell do they eat anyway?

 

[BillGates]

How the fuck do they get so damn big? What the hell do they eat anyway?

 

[JEDI]

Customers will have to start typing in their weight when purchasing Samoa Air tickets online, and pay anywhere from about $1 to about $4.16 per kilogram (depending on whether they're traveling short domestic routes or between Samoa and American Samoa).

wow.. faster than predicted
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2309958

 

[brainhulk]

How the fuck do they get so damn big? What the hell do they eat anyway?

Natural selection. Only the biggest somoans were able to hunt and catch poi. Their main food source

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Natural selection. Only the biggest somoans were able to hunt and catch poi. Their main food source

I think it's rice and Spam now

 

[OutHouse]

Samoans could pay anywhere from $1 to $4.16 per kilogram

ok... so if you are one kilo over weight you pay 1 buck, but if you are 10 kilos over weight you pay 3 bucks?

how do they decide how much extra one pays?

 

[zinfamous]

Samoans can be pretty big.

I do believe it is the fattest country in the world, per capita.

 

[Exterous]

Oops, I didn't know that. Are they just an intra-Samoa carrier?

I think Cook Islands is the farthest they serve their planes only carry 5-10 passengers

Edit: Looks like passenger service is only intra-Samoa and to American Samoa

 

[Exterous]

wow.. faster than predicted
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2309958

I wouldn't get too excited about this. Doing something like this for an airline the size of Samoa Airlines operating a couple of tiny planes out of a couple of tiny airports handling ones of people a day is a bit different than putting this into place for someone like Delta with its massive fleet servicing massive airports handing tens of thousands of people a day