Does anyone remember the days when the passengers were weighed or asked their weigh prior to boarding an aircraft? This was once common practice and you can see it shown in some old movies from the 20's, 30s and 40s. I remember it happening when I was a small child and we were flying on propeller aircraft. Any way, to make this make sense in this category, the FAA has just announced that they are going to require airlines to weigh passengers prior to boarding some aircraft due to the fact that Americans are getting so fat that it is throwing off the weight and balance of the smaller planes. This apparently will not affect the major aircraft 737-type and larger, but the smaller commuter aircraft may be included in this practice. I assume this will mean seat assignments will be made according to your weigh, as was done in the "old days". Some are now worried that the airlines will then price the tickets based on how much you weigh.
Yeah, on both counts in that I do remember both the passengers and the luggage being weighed. I was just listening to the new mandate on the radio and there a couple of theories out there. One said that because of fuel shortages that any extra weight means more fuel for the aircraft hence a charge for an “over average weight” person. Average weight for guys is around 199 and gals around 150 or so I think. There’s already a maximum weight for luggage on nearly all aircraft and some airlines already charge up to double + for morbidly obese people. Dunno. The only aircraft I like to fly on anyway are rotary winged and I really don’t like flying fixed wing unless I’m jumping out of them and haven’t flown in years and do not have plans to do so anytime in the future. So, all in all for me is it seems funny when I picture someone going through the check line. Now they not only have your life’s history and get ya to take half your clothes off including the shoes. Then they reveal a down to the skin picture via a scan and also charge ya if you’re a couple of pounds too heavy. That’s more than my doctor asks for. The next time I do fly I think I’ll ask if I can switch my insurance from a visit to the doctor to a visit to the airport.
oh Wow that will go over like a weighted balloon . Thanks for posting ,did not know either one of those.
It was said that it was because Americans were getting fatter, but I think the whole thing recently started with Air New Zealand, so maybe they are getting fat too, or the whole thing is to gather data on you for some reason.
Do remember flying from Vegas to San Fran to get a connection flight home the plane was delayed because there was to much weight at the back of the plane. Landed at San Fran 10 minutes before my connecting flight took a wrong turning and had to go through TSA again, got to my flight 10 minutes late only to find the flight had been delayed by 2 hours LOL
Question is........have you ever sat next to an extremely heavy person on a flight? The person could have a great personality, but parts of their body could come into the area where you are sitting. Same thing could be said about the seating in a theater or any place where seats are connected to each other.
I know what the thread title is, but was referring to why it could start up again. IOW, there have been people who have complained to the airlines they flew on about the heavy person that was sitting next to them. Some heavy people would call the "complaining" discrimination against heavy people, while others would tell the airlines that the heavy person needs to buy two seats. That is, if "seating" is what this is about.
They're not going to stop letting "Passengers of Size" on the plane. They just want to know how much weight they're carrying so they'll know how much fuel to load in order to get from point A to point B.
There is also a thought that seating on the smaller planes may be reduced if the average weight of passengers is significantly higher than the "standard". The standard also assumes males weigh more than females on average, so I guess this new rule may be addressing sexism.
Back in the 70s I used to fly New Haven Airways puddle-jumpers up to Connecticut from DC on a pretty regular basis, and they used to weight the passengers. It was a commuter flight, so very little [non-emotional] baggage to worry about.
Not to change the thread, but has anyone ever seen a heavy person complain about something that they related to their weight? We did. We were in a theater, watching movie previews , before the feature movie started and a preview of Shallow Hal was shown. Ever seen the movie Shallow Hal? If not, look it up online. Anyway, there wasn't many people in the theater and we were sitting in one of the higher rows. When the preview of Shallow Hal came on, a very heavyset young lady, sitting in the lower rows, got up, and with both middle fingers, flipped off the screen and walked out of the theater. The preview really got to her that much.
I don't ever remember being weighed before flying on a plane. Seems like most airports have those counters with scales where baggage is checked, so I assume they have weighed bags for years.