An American airline wins the right to weigh passengers on its Samoan route

Re:An American airline wins the right to weigh passengers on... by Johnny555 on Wednesday December 28, 2016 @02:11AM (#13268962)

Hawaiian Airlines is not charging more for heavy passengers, they are delaying seat assignment and assigning seats based on weight (for better weight distribution):

So Hawaiian Airlines instituted a new policy. People flying between Honolulu and American Samoa would no longer be able to select their seats before arriving at the airport. Instead, they would be assigned seats when they checked in so that the carrier could distribute their weight evenly around the plane.

Ironically, Samoa Air (from their own country) does charge by weight:

...Samoa Air in 2013 became the first airline to charge passengers by weight.

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Re:An American airline wins the right to weigh passengers on... by tylerhou on Wednesday December 28, 2016 @04:27AM (#13269465)

I think the person's objection is that the logic presented in that paragraph is pretty terrible. (Otherwise, the paragraph reads like a bad joke, which should have no place in formal writing, especially not writing as reputable as the Economist.)

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Re:An American airline wins the right to weigh passengers on... by dagw on Wednesday December 28, 2016 @04:39AM (#13269509)

The Economist has always included the occasional joke and bad pun in its articles to lighten the mood. It's one of its charms.

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