Airlines adopting policy to charge passengers according to body weight

New reports reveal that some airlines are in the early stages of adopting a "pay as you weigh" for seating prices according to Yahoo News reports on Tuesday, April 2.

The projected new pricing plan will charge obese customers for an extra seat. So far, Samoa Air is the first airline to have put the new pay as you weigh pricing plan into effect.

The Samoa airline's price-per-kilogram is described to vary depending on the flight, from as little as $1 per kilogram to as much as $4.16.

Chris Langton the chief executive of Samoa Air stated during a radio interview earlier this week,"This is the fairest way of traveling," Langton said. "There are no extra fees in terms of excess baggage or anything—it is just a kilo is a kilo is a kilo."

The airline passengers are now required to type in their body weight and the weight of their baggage into the online booking section of the airline's website.

"When you get into the Pacific, standard weight is substantially higher," Langton continued. "That's a health issue in some areas."

Langton stated that the new weight policy is intended, in part, to raise awareness of Samoa's weight problem, which has one of the most obese populations in the world, revealing that 80 percent of the population over the age of 15 are considered obese, making it the sixth fattest nation in the world.

Check out what others are saying about the pay as you weigh airline policies on Twitter here.

What do you think about a pay as you weigh policy for all airlines?