Air Asia has an excellent web-booking system. For instance, you choose weather you like to eat or not and how much luggage you need. The price for additional kilos is not excessive, contrary to the IATA penalty, which used to be something like 1% of a regular ticket per kilo.
The more weight you carry, the more fuel is needed aboard the plane and, at least theoretically, the less cargo can be carried, resulting in less revenue for the airline.
However, if this is the real reason for limiting weight, I think the airlines should go all the way. Let’s say that the average passenger weighs 80 kilos. Then enters the over-weight 130 kilo flyer with his bagage, loading the plane at the same charge with 55 kilos more of weight.
Someone might argue that charging the heavy passenger a higher fee would be discriminating, but I think it is the other way around: as the practice is today, it is the lighter person who is getting the foul treatment.
image source: doctor2008.wordpress.com
So why don’t we fight for a system with a total maximum weight limit, passenger plus luggage, of, say 80 kilos included in the price for a regular ticket? For any excess you pay more, but you don’t get credit for weighing less. About one dollar per kilo would be fair, or the fee could even be progressive.
Problem with this idea is that women, on average weigh less than men, and having cheaper tickets based on sex would probably be unacceptable.
But what the heck, women carry more luggage than men anyway – let them keep on doing this.