Like many, I have the occasional dream in which I've arrived somewhere - usually on a form of public transport - stark naked. The sense of shame in this dream is huge. (For me the origins of this dream could be connected to an evening in a 10-storey Berlin hostel when, drunk and naked, I went looking for a toilet and got lost. But that's a tale for another time.)
As a bloke who clocks in at a kilo or two - oh, okay, 15 - over my ideal playing weight, the only thing I can imagine that would match the sense of shame in the naked bus ride would be standing on a set of scales at the front of a lengthy airport check-in queue.
Samoa Air, the three-plane airline using a set of scales to bring some weighty justice to ticket pricing, could be ahead of their time. In principle it seems fair enough. Why should a skinny passenger be worrying the night before their flight about whether an extra pair of socks will put their luggage over the limit, while the more capacious traveller who will sit next to them on the plane the next day is gorging themselves on a delicious burger?
Mmmm... burger... Sorry, got distracted.
The proposed system discriminates against fatties like me no more than the present system penalises the skinnies. An utterly unscientific poll by Skyscanner reckoned that 59 per cent of international travellers were in favour of "pay-as-you-weigh" ticket prices. Until I can dodge the burgers, count me in with the 41 per cent.
By Winston Aldworth @WinstonAldworth Email Winston-
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