The Travel Insider ---Weekly Newsletter Oct 21
American's expanding waistlines are adding to airline's rising fuel bills. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says the average American gained 10 pounds during the 90s and that extra weight translated into 350 million extra gallons of fuel at an estimated cost of $275 million in 2000 (when jet fuel was less than half what it is now). The higher fuel consumption resulted in an extra 3.8 million tons of CO2 and smaller amounts of other pollutants being released into the atmosphere. The report, in this month's edition of the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, focuses on the overlooked economic and health consequences of obesity.
It has always struck me as inconsistent that on many international flights, you are limited to 44 lbs of baggage and have to pay a very expensive penalty for each extra pound, but there is no limit, incentive, or penalty, based on one's own weight.
Interesting factoid : It requires 3% of the weight of an object in fuel per hour of flying. So if you're on a 10 hour trans-Atlantic flight and weigh 200 lbs, the airline has burned almost 60 lbs (about 10 gallons) of jet fuel to fly you.
