Airlines To Treat Customers "As Freight"

Because of rising fuel costs, you may be charged by the pound next time you want to fly.

From Reuters:

After U.S. airlines reported combined first-quarter losses of $1.7 billion and crude oil jumped to a record $133.17 a barrel on May 21, almost double from a year earlier, fares based on a passenger's weight may be a logical step, said Robert Mann, head of R.W. Mann & Co., an aviation consultant based in Port Washington, New York.

``If you look at the air-freight business, that's the way they've always done it,'' he said. ``We're getting treated like air freight when we travel by airlines, anyway.''

``Laughter aside, the airlines are just in a desperate situation,'' said David Swierenga, president of consulting firm Aeroecon in Round Rock, Texas, who dismissed weight-based ticket sales and steep price increases as unrealistic.

Since December, eight companies have ceased flying, largely because of fuel costs -- MaxJet Airways Inc., Big Sky Transportation Co., Aloha Airlines Inc., ATA Airlines, Skybus Airlines Inc., Eos Airlines, Silverjet Plc. and the charter- flight operator Champion Air. Air Midwest, a division of Mesa Air Group Inc., is ceasing operations this month.