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Your BMI is your ticket price — the next dimension in airline pricing

From small events, big things one day come
There are countless events in world history where small, seemingly insignificant events would later have significant global repercussions. Perhaps one of the most notable was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which led to World War 1.
In the aviation sector, Air New Zealand (ANZ) announced a long-haul flight as part of its post-pandemic recovery. At a scheduled 16 hours and 15 minutes, flight NZ2 from Auckland, New Zealand to New York City is one of the world’s longest flights.
But the flight has recently run into some headwinds, literally and figuratively. Simply Flying reported that NZ2 had been forced to fly fewer passengers due to wind miscalculation. A basic calculation shows that even a slight 60-mile-per-hour headwind can ultimately cause AZ2 to be 1,000 miles short of its destination.
Due to this, the Air New Zealand Boeing 787 has not been able to fly at capacity. And that directly affects the profitability of the flight. ANZ is being forced to bump passengers from the flight to avoid making a costly fuel stop in the middle.
Fuel is one of the highest costs for airlines, accounting for 20–40% of expenditure depending on price and region. Regarding fuel, simple physics shows that the more something weighs, the more fuel it will require.
And that leads me to predict one of the most significant cost changes in the airline industry since they started charging for checked bags. Airlines will soon tie the ticket price to the passenger’s weight.
Whether charging directly by weight could violate the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is debatable. So rather than charging directly by weight, airlines will use the same model as checked bags. Each passenger will get a specific weight limit they can check in for their seat. Anything additional will be charged accordingly.
I estimate that the airline will start at 150 pounds per passenger. When they check in at the terminal counter or gate, a scale will calculate any difference. If there is, that fee will be added to the ticket price.