http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2016/10/scales-justice
Comments on “An American airline wins the right to weigh passengers on its Samoan route”, from “the Economist”, Oct 21st, 2016, by A.W.
Recently, due to some safety and costs issues, airline companies care more about the passengers’ weight than before. Some airlines check passengers weight to averagely assign their seats to achieve a safe fly. While some airlines started charging passengers by weight. These actions have raised a heated discussion in the society. A.W., a business traveler and a blog writer, who shared his opinions on the Economist.
In A.W.’s viewpoint, if we only regard these problems as pure economic issues, it is actually reasonable for airline companies to make these decisions as controling weight distribution could reduce fuel costs and ensure more secure flights. However, checking people’s weight is a quite sensitive issue which relates to unequal human rights and the publics feel uncomfortable with. As a result, A.W. thinks that airline companies should find other ways to achieve safety flights and reduce costs.
From my perspectives, I quite agree with A.W.’s opinions. Firstly, considering safety issues, it is easy to understand why airlines tend to assign passengers’ seats due to their weight distribution. If people who are overweight occasionally all seating on one side of the plane, then the plane would easily slant and may cause a crash when it is landing. Secondly, if the company wants to follow the “Cost Leadership” strategy, the first thing to do is to reduce costs. Airplanes with more weight would delivery more expenses on fuel and that is to say people who are overweight would make airlines spend more on fuel. Thus, charging passengers by weight is understanding from this perspective.
However, what the individuals care most is their personal privacy. People will generally feel uncomfortable to be classified by their own weight. It is especially sensitive for people who are overweight. The policies that airline companies make are impersonal and offend passengers’ human rights while it is critical to respect individuals’ rights in the modern society. Thus, the individuals may choose other airlines or other transportations to achieve their trips. Besides, airlines are service industry and driven by customer preference. As a result, companies which assign and charge passengers by weight would easily loss the market and customer loyalty. Eventually, airlines would give in and come up with other policies to ensure security and strategies to reduce costs based on respecting passengers’ rights.
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