Tolkach, Denis, Pratt, Stephen, Masiero, Lorenzo, Jørgensen, Matias Thuen, Zoltan, Judit, Schuckert, Markus, and Chon, Kaye (2024) Self‐interest, ethical and environmental considerations of air traveler weight policies. International Journal of Tourism Research, 26 (4). e2691.

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Abstract

There is ongoing debate about whether airlines should charge passengers based on their weight. This study examines the ethics of three policies by surveying 1012 US air travelers: A Standard policy with a uniform price irrespective of the weight. A Threshold policy with a penalty if the body weight exceeds 160 pounds (72.6 kg). And a Unit-of-Body-Weight policy with an individual price based on body and baggage weight. The study demonstrates levels of acceptance of these policies by different segments of passengers across various normative ethical theories. Younger generations were more accepting of alternatives to the current standard policy. Self-interest was evident as a major influence of respondents' views. The core of the theoretical contribution highlights the importance of a differentiated view on, and separation of ethical and environmental issues in tourism research, as it shows, that the more environmentally sustainable choice may not be the more ethical one.

Item ID:	85864
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1522-1970
Copyright Information:	© 2024 The Author(s). International Journal of Tourism Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Date Deposited:	17 Jun 2025 04:24
FoR Codes:	35 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES > 3509 Transportation, logistics and supply chains > 350901 Air transportation and freight services @ 50% 35 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES > 3508 Tourism > 350899 Tourism not elsewhere classified @ 50%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280106 Expanding knowledge in commerce, management, tourism and services @ 100%
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