Air Travel Debate: Should Passengers Pay Based on Their Weight?

Introduction

The holidays are in full swing and people are shopping, wrapping and packing to visit loved ones. In addition to additional fees for checked baggage and seat upgrades, some airlines are also considering pricing based on weight.

Main article

A recent study from the University of New Hampshire looked at how people felt about weighing their luggage and themselves to help reduce emissions and found that while more than half of travelers are not interested in getting on the scale, some would be open to the idea, especially if it aligns with their own interests in the environment.

“We wanted to explore how air travel could be made more sustainable, especially taking into account the weight we carry, both personal weight and the luggage that often travels from one place to another,” said Markus Schuckert, professor of hospitality management. “We wondered whether overall weight reduction could contribute to greener air travel and began to question whether passengers might accept prices that reflect this.”

In his study, recently published in the Journal of Transportation Research Part A: Policy and PracticeResearchers surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. air travelers to gauge their opinion of three potential fare policies that would offer a more sustainable flight option. The heavier the plane, the more fuel it burns and the more carbon emissions are produced, so they devised a tiered approach: a standard policy in which all passengers pay a uniform price; a threshold policy where passengers over a certain weight pay additional fees; and a body weight unit policy in which each passenger’s airfare is based on their combined body and baggage weight.

The standard policy was the most accepted approach across all demographic groups, with more than half of respondents rating it as the most ethical option. Nearly 60% of participants expressed concern about weight-based policies, citing potential equity issues and the risk of discrimination, especially around factors such as nutrition, income, and accessibility that often influence weight. bodily.

Those who were most in favor of weight-based policies tended to be younger, and those ages 18 to 35 accepted weight-based pricing nearly 20 percentage points more than travelers ages 66 and older. Additionally, travelers with higher incomes or frequent flyer status were 25% more likely to support weight-based policies than those with lower incomes or who did not travel as much.

The idea of ​​pricing based on weight addresses some key concerns for airlines: specifically, the balance between environmental impact and customer privacy. This concept can be polarizing and has yet to gain traction with most airlines due to ethical concerns.

The researchers say the study is not intended to be an endorsement of such policies, it simply makes sense from a research perspective to investigate whether the idea offers a path to reducing emissions for more sustainable air travel and whether passengers would accept these changes.

“This topic has been widely discussed for decades, but there is surprisingly little research on it,” Schuckert said. “Some airlines have tried or considered weight-based policies, but the main obstacle remains ethical concerns, which make it difficult to even discuss it. But if our goal is to make air travel more sustainable, we should have an open discussion. “That’s really the point of research, to put it all on the table for consideration.”

The researchers say future studies could look at alternative ways to incentivize lighter travel or new approaches to sustainability that avoid discrimination and support both environmental and social responsibility.

Co-authors

Co-authors include Lorenzo Masiero and Judit Zoltan, both from the University of Bologna, Italy; Denis Tolkach, James Cook University, Australia; Stephen Pratt, University of Central Florida; Matias Thuen Jørgensen, Roskilde University, Denmark; and Kaye Chon, Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Attribution/Source(s):

This peer-reviewed publication was selected for publication by the editors of Disabled World due to its important relevance to the disability community. Originally written by University of New Hampshireand published on 12/17/2024, content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity. For more details or clarifications, University of New Hampshire He can be contacted at unh.edu. NOTE: Disabled World does not provide any warranty or endorsement related to this item.

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Cite this page (APA): University of New Hampshire. (2024, December 17). Air Travel Debate: Should Passengers Pay Based on Their Weight? Disabled world. Retrieved December 19, 2024 from www.disabled-world.com/travel/airlines/passenger-weight.php

Permanent link: Air Travel Debate: Should Passengers Pay Based on Their Weight?: A study explores public perceptions of weight-based airfare pricing as a potential strategy to reduce emissions in air travel, highlighting ethical concerns and demographic variations in acceptance.

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