Princeton prof thinks fat fliers should pay higher ticket prices

Sitting in an airport watching a petite woman pay a fee for her oversized bags while a man who was oversized all on his own went unpenalized, Princeton University bioethics professor Peter Singer devised an eyebrow-raising idea: allowing airlines to base their ticket prices on each passenger's weight. In an essay for Project Syndicate, Singer presents two plans: one based on a standard passenger weight, while another combines the weight of the ticket purchaser and their bags. Given the increase in fuel costs, the academic believes that a weight-based surcharge is fair, whether your suitcase is supersized or you are. "Flying is different from, say, health care," he wrote. "It is not a human right."

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