A 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.

That 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.

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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.

FRANKFURT, Germany -- A strike by cabin crew at German airline Lufthansa disrupted hundreds of flights on Friday, leading to long lines of stranded passengers at Germany's biggest airport.

Officials from Lufthansa told NBC News that they were forced to cancel a large share of the airline's 360 flights scheduled for the first half of the day to and from Frankfurt.

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The industrial action affected mostly domestic and inner-European connections, but Lufthansa also cancelled flights from Boston, Philadelphia and Atlanta to Frankfurt, the airline said.

Thousands of people are estimated to be stuck or delayed at the Frankfurt airport, according to Reuters.

Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport briefly asked for no flights to depart from European destinations to Frankfurt as a result of the strike.

"Because we were anticipating a problem with aircraft parking positions at our airport, we temporarily -- for about 20 to 30 minutes -- asked other German and European airports to discontinue take-offs of inbound flights to Frankfurt," a Fraport spokesman told NBC News.

"This does and did not affect any transcontinental flights or any aircrafts that are presently in the air," the spokesman added.

Union threatens to extend strike
Among the demands of the UFO union, which represents about two-thirds of Lufthansa's 19,000 cabin crew members, was a 5 percent pay increase and a guarantee that the airline would not outsource jobs. Lufthansa has said it is offering a 3.5 percent raise.

The union called the strike after 13 months of negotiations for higher pay and guarantees on conditions failed to produce an agreement.

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While Lufthansa officials stressed that they wanted to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible, union representatives say that the strike could continue for a long time.

But UFO union head Nicoley Baublies said on Bayerischer Rundfunk radio that the Frankfurt strike may just be the beginning if Lufthansa does not meet its demands.

"It depends on how Lufthansa responds now and how much they try to break the strike and put our people under pressure," UFO union head Nicoley Baublies said on Bayerischer Rundfunk radio, according to The Associated Press. He said the union would decide Friday whether to stage similar strikes again Saturday and whether to expand them to other airports.

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"That's always possible and we will announce it with six hours' notice," Baublies said.

Lufthansa said it would try to place passengers on trains and alternative flights.

"The call to strike action forces Lufthansa to cancel a majority of flights from and to Frankfurt," Lufthansa said in a message to passengers on its website.

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"Subject to cancellation are mostly short- and medium-haul flights. Nevertheless, a small number of long-haul flights will have to be cancelled as well even though they have utmost priority and, wherever possible, shall operate. In general, delays must be anticipated throughout the day," it said.

Costly work stoppage
Like most global airlines, Lufthansa is battling soaring fuel prices, weak demand from cash-strapped passengers and economic slowdown, as well as fierce competition from low-cost carriers such as Ryanair.

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Lufthansa, which operates around 1,850 flights daily, mostly from Frankfurt and Munich, also needs to generate more profit to pay for $21.3 billion of new aircraft on order, according to Reuters.

If the stoppages affect the airline's wider European and global network and could cost it millions of dollars a day in lost revenue. 

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Chunks of metal the size of a cellphone fell onto cars in a neighborhood near Toronto airport Monday, around the same time as an Air Canada Boeing 777 made an emergency landing, CBC reported.

The airliner, bound for Japan, suffered a failure in one of its engines shortly after takeoff from Pearson International Airport.

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The plane dumped fuel before returning to Pearson, landing normally using one engine. No injuries were reported.

The aircraft is thought to be fitted with GE90 engines. (GE is part-owner of NBC Universal, which is joint parent company of msnbc.com).

At least four vehicles were hit by pieces of metal, according to Peel regional police Constable George Tudos, but there was no immediate confirmation the debris was from the plane.

“We believe it is, but it's not up to us — we're not the investigating body,” Tudos told CBC.

"As it [the plane] was traveling away from Pearson we had other complaints stating that debris, consisting of metal objects, was falling from the sky," he said.

On Twitter, residents near the intersection of Derry and Kennedy Roads in Mississauga were posting photos of a vehicle’s rear windshield that was apparently smashed by falling material from the plane, Canada's National Post reported.

CBC said there were 318 passengers and 16 crew aboard Flight AC001, which took off from Pearson at 2:10 p.m. ET and returned to make its emergency landing at 3:53 p.m. ET.

Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said the plane's crew requested the emergency landing shortly after takeoff.

A businessman who was on board the plane tweeted that passengers were told it was an engine overheating.

"Seems my plane fell apart! Luckily we managed to land it," Jason Flick tweeted, adding that the plane spent 20 minutes dropping fuel.

The passengers were given hotel accommodation overnight and were expected to resume their journey Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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