Baby Got Back!

But those big butts are supposedly jacking up fuel costs. Of course that means higher airline ticket prices for my skinny behind. I know many carriers are asking some obese people to pay for two seats but does this mean they are ultimately going to come up with a "fat tax" for chubby passengers?

"Heavy suitcases aren't the only things weighing down airplanes and requiring them to burn more fuel, pushing up the cost of flights. A new government study reveals that airlines increasingly have to worry more about the weight of their passengers.

America's growing waistlines are hurting the bottom lines of airline companies as the extra pounds on passengers are causing a drag on planes. Heavier fliers have created heftier fuel costs, according to the government study.

Through the 1990s, the average weight of Americans increased by 10 pounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites). The extra weight caused airlines to spend $275 million to burn 350 million more gallons of fuel in 2000 just to carry the additional weight of Americans, the federal agency estimated in a recent issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

'The obesity epidemic has unexpected consequences beyond direct health effects,' said Dr. Deron Burton of the CDC. 'Our goal was to highlight one area that had not been looked at before.'

The extra fuel burned also had an environmental impact, as an estimated 3.8 million extra tons of carbon dioxide were released into the air, according to the study. "
[...]
Just like we don't control the costs of our fuel, we don't control the weights of our passengers," he said. "Passengers gain weight, but airlines are the ones that go on a diet. It's part of the conundrum we face right now."

A conundrum? Let's bank on a new weight impact surcharge!