Comments on: More airline mishegas

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:10:01 +0000

Every extra pound on a passenger craft costs the operators 1 million dollars over the course of it’s operational lifespan.

1) Um, says the fuck WHO?

2) Extra pound on passenger craft != extra pound on passenger on craft. Passenger weight is still a tiny percentage of the aircraft weight which, oh, hey, was my point.

I realize this is going on a year late but I wanted to finally correct an oversight.

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:51:00 +0000

I won’t deny that this proposed practice is highly discriminatory. However, the math people has been putting forward is a bit flawed…

Airplanes are designed to a -much- lower margin of safety than anything except spacecraft. You can’t make an analogy to an SUV because you are not trying to propel an SUV at several hundred mph through the air without it disintegrating. Weight makes a much larger difference. How much? Every extra pound on a passenger craft costs the operators 1 million dollars over the course of it’s operational lifespan.

Just a little mathematical aside from an anal-retentive engineer… =)

By: Marileen

Marileen — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:32:16 +0000

Sweet Machine, thank you for mentioning that! You can’t tell by looking if someone has arthritis or fibromyalgia or asthma a whole host of other health issues. It’s NONE of my business why someone takes the cart or not at the airport and I’m sure as hell not going to judge someone for doing it based on how they look. Thank goodness the carts are there available to anyone who wants to pay for them without having to provide a complete medical history to prove they are deserving of the privilege!

By: Sweet Machine

Sweet Machine — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:58:35 +0000

Liza, that may be; my point was that you can’t tell just by looking at someone from a distance whether they have a disability or not. Those people cruising around the airport might have mobility or other issues that are not immediately apparent to passersby.

By: Liza

Liza — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:32:51 +0000

Oops. I meant actually, people like the woman in that story get nothing. Disabled men get mistreated too.

By: Liza

Liza — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:32:06 +0000

Not all disabilities are immediately visible, just FYI.

Uh, yeah. I know.

Considering I have people in my life, past and present, with disabilities, I am in fact aware of these things as well. Like the cousin I have with developmental disabilities caused by a doctor’s negligence at his birth. Or the friend’s brother with Down’s syndrome and a host of other issues.

But the fact is, many people who are perfectly 100% abled get driven around the airport because they can pay for it. And women like in that story get nothing.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:37:41 +0000

I was intrigued by this idea myself, because I was simply too dull to think of it myself. So I googled all the weights and measures of various airplanes, and figured out how much of a difference loading the plane with the average American vs supermodels makes on the plane’s weight.

My results came out to be something like about 4% on a Boeing 737-300 142 person plane (shorter and medium-length domestic flights and not a lot of fuel and cargo) and about 1% on an international Boeing 777-300 with 430 seats (with lots of cargo space and humongous fuel tanks).

So, you’re absolutely right. I just had to geek out and test it first.

By: slythwolf

slythwolf — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:31:25 +0000

I figured out how it would make people lose weight! Stay with me. What if there are a couple of fat people in Australia who have to travel all the time, you know, for business or something, but they can barely afford it now, and if the airline starts charging more they have to go without food to afford their tickets? Then they could just starve themselves thin! It would be awesome!

The preceding paragraph has been sarcasm. The Wolf wishes it to be understood that she does not think fat people in Australia, or anywhere else, should starve themselves, lose weight, or starve themselves to lose weight. This public service announcement brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Slytherin Wolf.

By: Meg

Meg — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:26:15 +0000

FJ–OK, that makes sense. You were using the “Polish” pronunciation of the work. The Polish accent was prevalent in the former Austro-Hungarian empire. “Meshugas” is the more Lithuanian pronunciation.

By: thegirlfrommarz

thegirlfrommarz — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:41:57 +0000

I read the article Paul linked to in his post – the comments are not safe for those following Sanity Watchers (oh god, are they not safe – what is about flying that brings out the fat-hating jerk in so many people?), but I liked the woman who (snarkily) suggested that heavily pregnant women should be charged more as it was their *choice* to be pregnant and (horrors!) they had only paid for one seat and were using it for two people…

I have to say, some industries and corporations have done a bang-up job of getting their customers to turn on each other and accuse each other of being the problem, instead of wondering why the industry is providing such a cruddy service to all its customers in the first place. The airline industry is clearly top of the pile when it comes to this kind of thing.