Airlines Mull Weighing Passengers

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.'' (More air travel stories.)