No it isn’t. Not in large airplanes. The typical takeoff weight of an A320 is in the neighborhood of 50-70 tons. The pilots do not give a shit if a few passengers weigh a couple 100kg more than the average, and that’s a narrow body. A couple PAX being grosly obese on a widebody, with typical takeoff weights in excess of 100 tons, is even more negligible.
Fuel calculations and weight&balance is calculated based on assumed average weights for men, women and children, generally something in the neighborhood of 85kg for men, 75 for women and 30-40 for children (includes assumed average hand luggage weight as well)
You’re using actual reasoning, while dismissing my edit of corporate greed reasoning. You better believe, especially in capitalist USA, they’d just as soon charge you $10 a fart if they could…
I mean they literally DON’T charge you for extra cabin weight, or body weight, even if they could. Most airlines don’t even put weight limits on cabin luggage, only size limits. And even those that have weight limits, in my experience, very rarely enforce them. Generally, only size is enforced for hand luggage.
And they only charge overweight people double if they’re so large they physically block more than one seat, which imo is fine. If you need more than seat, it’s perfectly fine to expect you to pay for that extra seat. It has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with either excessive greed OR mass/fuel issues.
I only lived within walking distance of two airports, one of them an international airport, and the other lightweight airport flew their planes right over our house.
So I’ll pretend I don’t know anything if that makes you happy. Those of us on the ground learn the real rules when planes start crashing in your back yard…
Edit: This comment coming from someone that actually applied to refuel airplanes at the local international airport. No they didn’t hire me, they probably figured me as a corporate risk, as I had too much experience seeing planes crash, not too far behind our house.
It’s got to do with calculating the amount of fuel for the plane. More weight requires more fuel.
Edit: I’m sure it’s also partly exaggerated capitalism, the companies want every dollar they can milk from the passengers…
No it isn’t. Not in large airplanes. The typical takeoff weight of an A320 is in the neighborhood of 50-70 tons. The pilots do not give a shit if a few passengers weigh a couple 100kg more than the average, and that’s a narrow body. A couple PAX being grosly obese on a widebody, with typical takeoff weights in excess of 100 tons, is even more negligible.
Fuel calculations and weight&balance is calculated based on assumed average weights for men, women and children, generally something in the neighborhood of 85kg for men, 75 for women and 30-40 for children (includes assumed average hand luggage weight as well)
You’re using actual reasoning, while dismissing my edit of corporate greed reasoning. You better believe, especially in capitalist USA, they’d just as soon charge you $10 a fart if they could…
I mean they literally DON’T charge you for extra cabin weight, or body weight, even if they could. Most airlines don’t even put weight limits on cabin luggage, only size limits. And even those that have weight limits, in my experience, very rarely enforce them. Generally, only size is enforced for hand luggage.
And they only charge overweight people double if they’re so large they physically block more than one seat, which imo is fine. If you need more than seat, it’s perfectly fine to expect you to pay for that extra seat. It has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with either excessive greed OR mass/fuel issues.
I won’t lie, I’ve never flown before in my life.
I only lived within walking distance of two airports, one of them an international airport, and the other lightweight airport flew their planes right over our house.
So I’ll pretend I don’t know anything if that makes you happy. Those of us on the ground learn the real rules when planes start crashing in your back yard…
Edit: This comment coming from someone that actually applied to refuel airplanes at the local international airport. No they didn’t hire me, they probably figured me as a corporate risk, as I had too much experience seeing planes crash, not too far behind our house.
I mean, mass is a massive factor for flight.
If you ever fly on a small plane, they ask your weight, and cap your luggage weight because they absolutely have to.