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September 5, 2008 2:49:37 AM CDT

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Airlines Mull Weighing Passengers

Posted Jun 3, 08 4:14 PM CDT in Business 

(Newser) – Desperate airliners are doing everything to cut fuel costs, scaling back on water and snacks—and adding a fee for overweight passengers could be next, analysts tell Bloomberg. "Nothing is beyond their imagination," one says of CEOs. "They have already begun to think exotically." Fuel costs, nearly triple since 2000, account for as much as 40% of operating expenses.

"If you look at the air-freight business, that's the way they've always done it,'' one consultant said. "We're getting treated like air freight when we travel by airlines, anyway.''

Source Bloomberg

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With fuel prices nearly doubling in the past year, airlines have cut various amenities and raised fares; charging overweight passengers an extra fee could be the next move.   (AP Photo)
Eight airlines have ceased operations since December, due mainly to skyrockering fuel costs.   (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
"They have already begun to think exotically," one analyst says of airline executives, examining weighing passengers after approving charges for heavy luggage. "Nothing is not under the microscope.''   (AP Photo)
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gas prices  • air travel  • airplane  • overweight


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