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PaperclipPerfector  30d ago (text post)   2290 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 22, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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I know that at least Samoa Air did what you want and what sounds logical: charged people by the total flying mass. It went bankrupt, though.

So a passenger flying from Apia to Asau weighing 80 kg (180 lb) and carrying 20 kg (44 lb) of luggage would pay US$132 for the flight (100 kg x US$1.32 base fare), while another passenger weighing 60 kg (130 lb) and traveling without luggage would pay US$79.20 (60 kg x US$1.32 base fare) for the same flight.

Regarding the limit on the checked luggage, @rverghes probably has the right idea.

Sadly, the airline business is very volatile, so it's hard to know if the policy worked or not. Though it's funny that it was implemented by Samoa Air, given the mass propensities of Samoans.

Given the mass propensities of Samoans surely the best place to try out a policy like this is in Samoa where there's large variance in weights. There's no point in all the overhead for a policy like this if the standard deviation in how much people pay is going to be like $10 or so.

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