Should a 100-pound woman who has a carry-on bag (or checked bag for that matter…) that is a few pounds overweight have to pay up while a 300-pound woman with a slightly smaller bag is welcomed onboard without issue? Probably not, but let’s unpack this issue a bit.

Equity Vs. Equality: Should Carry-On Weight Include YOU?

A reader shared an interesting Instagram post and asked for my comment. While I’m trying to avoid the sort of contentious issues that divide readers and only lead to bickering, this is an interesting question that I will answer, in part because it is directly travel-related.

The post below shows a petite woman forced to pay extra for her carry-on bag because it is overweight, while a morbidly obese woman does no have to pay extra because here carry-on bag is a few pounds under.

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A post shared by Mrs Curator (@mrscurator)

An “equity” versus “equality” argument is made…I find that those two words have been hijacked by cultural warriors and will not even use them.

I will also note that carry-on bags are restricted by dimensions in the USA, but not weighed, so the issue is somewhat moot in terms of US readers.

So what do I think?

I’m not in the business of coddling people and reject the fat pride folks as dangerously delusional. At the same time, I know that many overweight people struggle with their weight and seem to keep weight on despite their best efforts—it is a constant battle. The point is not that most obese people are victims, but that we cannot look at someone and reduce their weight problem to laziness or a lack of self-control. Even if we could, yelling at someone does not generally lead to changed behavior.

The idea that the overall weight of the passenger plus carry-on bag should be factored is not wholly devoid of logic, but it presents an impractical solution to a world full of people of many shapes and sizes. What about weight lifters? What about very tall people? Conrolling the weight and size of carry-on bags is simple and straightforward. Penalizing someone for being large, even if it is their own fault, probably does not help anyone. There must be better carrots than shaming to incentivize people to embrace a healthier lifestyle.

Furthermore, one reason some airlines control the weight of carry-on bags is to reduce the risk of damage if they fly out of the overhead bin or have to be handled by airline personnel. The heavier the bag, the more damage it could do. I have a nasty scar on my hand after a very heavy bag fell on me after an American Airlines flight. When the woman behind me opened the overhead bin, the bag fell right on my hand, causing not only the scar, but also fairly bad pain.

So no, I don’t think it is a workable solution, even in places that do weigh carry-on bags. I would say that if a petite person has a carry-on bag that might be a few pounds over, maybe you just say, “Go ahead.”

What do you think about this issue? Setting aside the incendiary “equity” language, is it logical to let a 300-pound woman bring on a 40-pound carry-on bag but tell a 100-pound woman her 50-pound carry-on bag is too heavy?