The whole issue of weight is more complex than just the pax. I'm really talking about the ticket costs. Airlines say they charge on extras for weight because it costs fuel and the relevant pax should pay. Hm? Wizzair are charging for carryons. How possible is it NOT to have some kind of carryon? Crazy. If they charge for 7kgs of carryon because it costs more fuel than those without, what about the 100kg male pax v 84kg male pax? Surely the heavy could be charged more. What about the 84kg male and the 65kg female? same ticket price. No extra charge allowed due sex discrimination.
There was a report last week that overall the worlds airlines charged U$25bn on extra last year versus U$8bn a fe years ago. Big bucks.
What erks me is that some airlines e.g. ez charge €80 for 20kgs golf bag but only €35 for 20kg suitcase. Where s the weight = fuel argument? Other airlines also charge €40 - 80 for golf bags with a weight spectrum 15-23kgs. It makes me mistrust the argument.
Meanwhile, as it said that people are much bigger than some years ago, I read that airlines, on such a/c as B777 & B787, are making the ecom seats narrower to squeeze an extra one in per row, and reducing the seat pitch to squeeze and extra row in the class to try and recoup more cash. Thus flying is going to become more uncomfortable.
But where is the logic? Bigger people, smaller more cramped seats, same standard weight? Perhaps less of us will travel due to it being a literal pain in the backside, and lower back.