United kingdom Daily news: 'Fat tax' for airlines: Half of passengers agree with the controversial idea of a surcharge

Jumat, 27 April 2012

'Fat tax' for airlines: Half of passengers agree with the controversial idea of a surcharge

'Fat tax' for airlines: Half of passengers agree with the controversial idea of a surcharge

By Travelmail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 07:31 EST, 27 April 2012 | UPDATED: 07:35 EST, 27 April 2012

If passengers are charged more for bringing overweight luggage on board a plane, then why aren't obese passengers hit with a punitive fee?

That is the question posed by travellers who have voted in favour of a flight 'fat tax' on passengers.

Nearly half of holidaymakers polled agreed with the extreme measure of charging fellow passengers if they were deemed 'overweight'.

Fat tax: Half of travellers believe obese passengers should be charged more

Men were less sympathetic than female holidaymakers, with 51 per cent in favour of the additional charges.

Just 43 per cent of women agreed with the tax, averaging out to 40 per cent in support of the controversial idea across both genders.

James Lewis, head of online partnerships at HolidayExtras.com, said: 'The world is getting fatter - and this is becoming a big issue.

'Being an overweight passenger affects your travelling companions, physically and financially. If we have to pay extra for excess baggage, it's only fair that we pay extra for excessive body weight.'

He added: 'Sitting next to a large person on a plane can sometimes reduce the space that you have to relax, so maybe airlines should offer some of the revenue from the additional ticket cost to the person sitting next to the fat person too.'

It is not the first time the idea of a fat tax has been suggested.

In 2009, Ryanair confirmed it was looking into the idea of charging overweight passengers more, saying that when it asked its customers how to save more money, one in three suggested the idea of a 'fat tax'.

At the time, Ryanairâ€™s spokesman Stephen McNamara defended the scheme, which he said would only apply to 'those really large passengers who invade the space of the passengers sitting beside them.'

The extra charges, he explained, would cut the cost of tickets for other customers who did not exceed the weight limits.

He has also claimed that charging extra may benefit customers' health in the long-term.

He said: 'These charges, if introduced, might also act as an incentive to some of our very large passengers to lose a little weight and hopefully feel a little lighter and healthier.'