A politically incorrect question.....

[SLF3]

I'm currently in Houston, which for the fourth year running has won a prize as the fattest city in America. My colleagues and I (who fly a lot , but down the back), have been speculating wildy on the cost to US airlines of flying blubber around the Land of the Free. So if we reckon the average US domestic flight is 2 hours, and the average flight has a cabin crew of five, what is the cost per flight of shipping 5 kilos of excess baggage immutably tied to a cabin crew member? How many flights per year does an average cabin crew member make?

If the average flight has 120 passengers (150 and a load factor of 70%), how much would be saved on a 2 hour flight if they were all 1 kilo lighter?

Would it be possible to get a major US carrier out of Chapter 11 by putting the cabin crew on a diet? Is this the secret of South Wests success?

I think we should be told!

Feel free to question the assumptions above.

[OzExpat]

That's a very brave question, no doubt about it! :} It is also likely to polarise opinion and, as one of the so-called fat majority, I decline to comment... :E

[Tarnished]

The question is incorrectly phrased as the "land of the free" has know idea what a kilo of blubber is.

However, the question has merit because IIRC there was a commuter aircraft that crashed which was attributed to overload or incorrect cg because on this particular event all the pax were on the large side of overweight.

I hate it when you are "trapped" in your seat because of an over weight and immobile person in the aisle seat. This surely constitutes a safety risk.

Un-PC I know but I have more sympathy for druggies and alchoholics than I do for over weight folk.

Back in my box

T