Samoa airline to price tickets by passenger weight

[NBCNews]

  By Fili Sagapolutele, The Associated PressA tiny Samoa airline is offering a new reason to drop extra weight  before your next trip: Tickets sold not by the seat, but by kilogram.

Samoa  Air planned on Wednesday to start pricing its first international  flights based on the weight of its passengers and their bags. Depending  on the flight, each kilogram (2.2 pounds) costs 93 cents to $1.06.

Follow @NBCNewsWorldThat  means the average American man weighing 195 pounds with a 35 pound bag  would pay $97 to go one-way between Apia, Samoa, and Pago Pago, American  Samoa. Competitors typically charge $130 to $140 roundtrip for similar  routes.

The weight-based pricing is not new to the airline,  which launched in June. It has been using the pricing model since  November, but in January the U.S. Department of Transportation approved  its international route between American Samoa and Samoa.  


The  airline's chief executive, Chris Langton, said Tuesday that "planes are  run by weight and not by seat, and travelers should be educated on this  important issue. The plane can only carry a certain amount of weight and  that weight needs to be paid. There is no other way."

Travelers  in the region already are weighed before they fly because the planes  used between the islands are small, said David Vaeafe, executive  director of the American Samoa Visitors Bureau. Samoa Air's fleet  includes two nine-seat planes for commercial routes and a three-seater  for an air taxi service.

Langton said passengers who need more room will be given one row on the plane to ensure comfort.

The  new pricing system would make Samoa Air the first to charge strictly by  weight, a change that Vaeafe said is, "in many ways... a fair concept  for passengers."

"For example, a 12- or 13-year-old passenger,  who is small in size and weight, won't have to pay an adult fare, based  on airline fares that anyone 12 years and older does pay the adult  fare," he said.

Vaeafe said the pricing system has worked in  Samoa but it's not clear whether it will be embraced by travelers in the  U.S. territory.

Langton said the airline has received mixed  responses from overseas travelers since it began promoting the pricing  on its website and Facebook page.

Ana Faapouli, an American  Samoa resident who frequently travels to Samoa, said the pricing scheme  will likely be profitable for Samoa Air.

"Samoa Air is smart  enough to find ways to benefit from this service as they will be  competing against two other airlines," Faapouli said.

Pago  Pago-based Inter Island Airways and Polynesian Airlines, which is owned  by the Samoa government, also run flights between the country and  American Samoa.