Extra Baggage

U.S. travelers are getting so large, they're dragging down the airline industry. The weight of the average U.S. adult has increased about 10 lbs. since the early 1990s, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, and it's costing millions of dollars more for airlines to haul the heavier load. In a letter to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control calculated that planes burned 350 million gal. more fuel in 2000--at an additional cost of $275 million — than they would have if passengers had weighed on average 10 lbs. less. There's no plan to charge people by the pound — as they do for extra-heavy luggage — but double-width passengers are sometimes asked to buy two seats.