Airline ‚Äúfat tax” wins support

Airline ‚Äúfat tax” wins support
By admin


More than half of international travellers are in favour of an airline "fat tax", a new poll has revealed, following Samoa Air's confirmation it will charge passengers according to their weight.

The Pacific airline's "world first" cost-per-kilo system requires passengers to submit their weight, including luggage, when booking their fares then to weigh in at the airport to ensure the quoted price is accurate.

Its website reads: "Booking a flight with us is as easy as inputting your approximate weight into our online booking engine (don't worry, we will weigh you again at the airport) — you then can prepay your ‘guesstimate', guaranteeing you that much weight is allocated to you for that flight … with Samoa Air, you are the master of how much (or little!) your air ticket will cost."

Samoa Air chief executive Chris Langton defended the move, describing it as the "concept of the future" and highlighting the cost benefits to families with small children.

Samoa is frequently highlighted as having a problem with obesity.

Meanwhile, the new survey by travel search site Skyscanner revealed only 41% of international travellers felt it was unfair to discriminate, with the remaining 59% in favour of such a tax.

Skyscanner market development manager Australia, Dave Boyte, said such a levy would always be a "controversial issue".

"But it is surprising to see the majority of people are in favour of the tax proving that cheap fares and reduced emissions are more important to many travellers," he said.

The debate over "pay what you weigh" ticketing has been gathering momentum once again after Norwegian economist Dr Bharat P Bhatta stated a pricing model based on passengers' weights could benefit airlines by creating cheaper fares and reduced carbon emissions.

A Travelzoo survey in January 2012 revealed that one third of Australians supported "pay per kilo" charging.

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