Samoa Air, in a first for the airline industry, has begun charging fares based on a customer’s weight.
"This is the fairest way of traveling," Samoa Air CEO Chris Langton told Australia’s ABC Radio on Tuesday. "There are no extra fees in terms of excess baggage. It is just a kilo is a kilo is a kilo."
Passengers are assessed a fixed rate per kilogram (2.2 pounds) for the combined total of their weight and baggage.
Rates vary from $1 per kilo on short flights to $4.16 on longer routes. For a 185-pound person with a 30-pound bag, the charge on the short route would be about $97.
Fair or not, Samoa Air’s new pricing model is not likely to catch on with other carriers, said Colorado-based airline consultant Mike Boyd.
"I don’t expect any U.S. carrier to touch this with a 10-foot pole," Boyd said. "I’ve got to give (Langton) credit. At least he’s admitting what other carriers don’t want to admit, and that is they want to treat people like cargo. Airlines charge cargo by the weight, and you could make the argument that airline service today makes you feel like a piece of cargo."
As much as he dislikes the practice, Boyd said charging by weight may be logical for Samoa Air.
"For a big carrier this doesn’t make sense. It’s nuts," he said. "But on a carrier that has literally five-passenger airplanes, it probably does. This is an airline that’s connecting small islands, and on very small airplanes, weight restrictions is something to consider."
Travelers in the region are used to stepping on scales when they fly because of small planes used between islands.
David Vaeafe, executive director of the American Samoa Visitors Bureau, said the new pricing system is, "in many ways … a fair concept for passengers."
"For example, a 12- or 13-year-old passenger, who is small in size and weight, won’t have to pay an adult fare, based on airline fares that anyone 12 years and older does pay the adult fare," he said.
University of Hawaii linebacker coach Tony Tuioti, who was born in Samoa and recruits there, said he often flies Samoa Air. At 290 pounds, Tuioti said he may have to look at flying on other carriers such as Polynesian Airlines.
"I feel for the people of Samoa that have to travel and that’s their only means of transportation," he said. "By nature a lot of Samoans are heavy-boned people. To be penalized by their weight is not fair. It’s a plus for those not as heavy."
Langton suggested to ABC radio that the move will help promote health awareness in Samoa, which has one of the world’s highest levels of obesity.
"People generally are becoming much more weight-conscious," he said. "That’s a health issue in some areas."
Samoa Air, which operates eight-seat Britten Norman Islander aircraft and three-seat Cessna 172 planes, flies domestically within Samoa as well as to American Samoa, Tonga, Niue, North Cook Islands and French Polynesia.
Gus Hannemann, director of the American Samoa government office in Hawaii, said Samoans can use another carrier if they choose, or not fly at all.
"We cannot control what airlines do with their charges and how they levy their fares," he said. "I guess the way to deal with it is if you don’t want to fly, don’t fly."
Samoa Air proclaims on its website, "Pay only for what you weigh!"
The airline says the new fare model works by booking a flight online, entering the passenger’s estimated weight, including baggage, and then receiving the airfare calculation. Passengers are weighed again at the airport to double-check their "guesstimate."
"Airlines don’t run on seats, they run on weight, and particularly the smaller the aircraft you are in, the less variance you can accept in terms of the difference in weight between passengers," Langton said.
Mokulele Airlines CEO Ron Hansen, whose Cessna Grand Caravan 208B turboprops carry nine passengers, said he understands Samoa Air’s move but won’t follow suit.
"Weight has a definite impact on all aircraft, even very long-haul aircraft," Hansen said. "But I don’t think we’d ever get to that point by charging by the weight of the passenger. Our average flight is 25 minutes long."
Mokulele has a maximum weight per passenger of 350 pounds.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
