Airlines Can't Charge You for What You Wear

by mooreds • 2 months ago

18 25 2 months ago

Hehe, I remember doing stuff like wearing 8 t-shirts back in the day to try and travel for £1 around Europe.

Currently feel like I'm living on the edge by 1-bagging an Osprey Farpoint 40. My heart races every time I'm at the gate, and I feel I've perfected a masterclass in illusion by angling my body, distracting the gate staff, moving my hands to draw attention, etc (note: I probably look like an idiot - but it's fun to dream).

The optimal solution is just to weigh everybody as they board the plane and bill them accordingly, lol. But I don't think that'd go down too well.

If these jackets can hold 5kg, and there's 200 passengers donning them, that's a ton of weight, which is about $100 per flight in extra fuel?

Wonder if the fairest way to charge for this is aa ringfenced externality tax on the product itself; calculating the average amount of fuel such products burn in an average lifespan. Would be preferable to airlines dictating what you can and can't wear...

genxy• 2 months ago

The next one will be a body suit so you end up looking like Santa Claus.

Qem• 2 months ago

Next would be taxing airways and using the resources to subsidize the costs of GLP class drugs, as they benefit directly from customer weight loss.

marcta• 2 months ago

There is a reason that luggage has to be weighed. If you watch Mentour Pilot, there's a not insignificant number of plane accidents (and outright disasters) that occur due to the plane weight being calculated incorrectly, and thereby running out of fuel.

https://www.evionica.com/blog/blog/how-much-the-passenger-we...

rationalist3• 2 months ago

Wouldn't it be possible to install strain gauges in the landing gears to determine the plane's weight?

ooterness• 2 months ago

Systems built into the landing gear do exist, but they're not very common. There are also ground-based systems (i.e., scale-on-a-cart for each wheel).

https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/16307/how-does-...

tadfisher• 2 months ago

They would have to be calibrated and cross-checked with the manifest weight

Markoff2• 2 months ago

seems it would be easier just to have them at boarding gate for all passing passengers

nradov• 2 months ago

Running out of fuel isn't the real concern. It's more about center of balance and aircraft performance (ability to climb with an engine out).

lispisok• 2 months ago

Cant recall ever being weighed as a passenger and in this day and age you have passengers who are 120 lbs and 300 lbs yet you get penalized if your suitcase is 1 lbs over the limit.

Markoff2• 2 months ago

I believe this is more of a thing for fully loaded private jets.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=wa76cbc7dzQ

wavemode• 2 months ago

Carry-on luggage is usually not weighed, there are simply safety margins in place for that sort of thing. (A human probably isn't capable of carrying a bag heavy enough to erode those margins.)

And fuel burn is the least of the concerns when it comes to weight - a far bigger issue is how it affects balance and engine lift. But on a plane the size of a jet airliner, this too is almost never a real concern when it comes to passenger weight - a standard weight is just assumed for each passenger and their carryon. (It's a concern for cargo weight, but that's why cargo is always weighed and balanced properly.)

Maybe if the airline notices that all the passengers are sitting on the left (for some strange reason) or something like that, they would reseat people.

jareklupinski• 2 months ago

Maybe if the airline notices that all the passengers are sitting on the left (for some strange reason) or something like that, they would reseat people.

I was on a turboprop plane when they made a few people switch seats to balance the weight: the seats were arranged Seat - Aisle - Seat - Seat , and all the singles on the left side were filled to the back, with only a few seats on the right side taken.

rationalist3• 2 months ago

It appears to be a rebrand of a cheaper item:

https://www.amazon.com/BVASJIUK-Voyage-Coat-Travel-Pockets/d...

The photo on the homepage appears to be identical to the photo in the Amazon listing (on my phone).

(Or whomever is manufacturing for the company is trying to undercut the company that hired them.)

netsharc2• 2 months ago

I was curious to see it in action, obviously it's not on YouTube yet (it's a pre-order, which makes me think vaporware), but here's a review of a similar thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU7UrhrpWGI

I suppose with the continued enshittification of air travel, jackets like this will be more common, and the sight of passengers with bulky clothing at airports will no longer be strange.

I was travelling the last few weeks, and wearing a jacket in an airport in warmer countries would make me look very out of place.

bushwart• 2 months ago

Looks great for summer. The many pockets seem especially practical for organizing wads of travel cash and supplements like creatine, protein powder, magnesium capsules, etc. They should consider producing a niqab version for Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia.

OutOfHere2• 2 months ago

I strongly advise keeping all supplements in a checked bag, with good written labels about what they are. I keep them in ziploc bags with very clear labels. For mixed stacks, write DAILY VITAMINS, DAILY PROTEIN, etc.

If you carry them with you while going through security, you're just asking to be strip searched and questioned.

spidercat2• 2 months ago

I can only speak towards TSA in the US, but they explicitly state that they do not search for drugs; their priority is to screen for explosives, weapons, things of that nature. Anytime I travel with my beloved Mystery Powder supplements, I always just put them in my carry-on luggage. I've lost count of how many times I've done this, and it's never been an issue, stateside and abroad.

Of course, all of the supplements etc I've traveled with have been very much legal and mainstream enough (e.g. creatine, magnesium), in case security do get suspicious, but it has not once been an issue.

rationalist3• 2 months ago

wads of travel cash

Be very careful about this. It is a good way to get your money "stolen" through Civil Asset Forfeiture:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United...

A 2020 study found that the median cash forfeiture in 21 states which track such data was $1,300

It doesn't have to be a lot of cash, and in fact smaller amounts are more likely to be taken so that there is less of a fight to try to get it back.

0x000xca0xfe• 2 months ago

Don't forget a bunch of wires (there is always the right USB or aux cable missing, right?) and a spare cellular phone or two!

xnx• 2 months ago

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Airlines Can't Charge You for What You Wear

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