- A Finnish airline made headlines after it said it would weigh its passengers
- Group says one week survey will update averages and make for safer travel
An airline’s policy to weigh volunteer to get better estimates of a flight’s weight before taking off is ‘long overdue’, experts have claimed.
Finnish company Finnair has divided travellers and consumer rights experts with its review of how much passengers weigh and bring on board with heavy coats and carry-on items.
The organisation told MailOnline it is measuring passengers to get ‘accurate data for aircraft performance and balance calculations’ that are ‘needed for the safe operation of flights’ – instead of relying on European standard weights.
The move has been welcomed by some experts who say such a policy is ’20 years overdue’ for international airlines – and revived debate around whether, separately, passengers should pay a ‘fat tax’ fee relative to their weight, as with carry-on luggage.
A former USAF engineer told MailOnline the policy was ‘long overdue’.
‘Airlines estimates of weight and weight distribution on aircraft are very important to flight safety. Weights are assumed based on [averages] from decades ago. The bottom line is that people are much larger and heavier than they were decades ago.
He said overloaded planes are ‘flying blind’ without up-to-date information, which he warned was ‘extremely dangerous’.
But frequent flyers warn the policies must not overstep their limits, arguing that weighing passengers for safety reasons could be ‘humiliating’ for some who could be left ‘particularly vulnerable to discrimination’.
Speaking to MailOnline today, travel and consumer rights journalist Laura Sanders said: ‘Relying on averages could become less accurate as aircrafts are packed to the rafters and we could see more instances where passengers are asked to get off the plane to reduce weight.
‘Weighing passengers and their luggage before each flight to manage weight distribution on an individual level instead of relying on averages is sensible, but if you’re being weighed at the gate, it’s already too late and a huge inconvenience if you’re asked not to fly to avoid tipping the scales (not to mention embarrassing).
‘This could leave overweight people and solo travellers particularly vulnerable to discrimination as they’re the easiest to remove (families and friends will want to stay together).’
She suggested airlines considering weighing passengers could instead request they input their weight at the time of booking the flight to support safety directives without exposing travellers to humiliation.
Finnair told MailOnline the decision to weigh volunteers came about in 2017 when they chose to use their own guide measures instead of relying on the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA)’s standard weights.
These estimate the average male weighs 88kg and the average female 70kg.
Finnair’s current standard weights, based on their own testing, finds that men weigh, on average, 96kg while women weigh 76kg. They note this varies depending on the season and by route.
‘In our Asian traffic, the weights are a bit lower,’ they gave as an example.
Finnair will be measuring passengers in one-week surveys through February and again in April and May. They explained the International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s winter season ends in March and they ‘need data from both the winter and summer seasons, as in winter customers typically…
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