Airlines to weigh passengers before boarding

[B3ck89]

www.thesun.co.uk/travel/8895844/airlines-weigh-passengers-save-fuel/?utm_campaign=sunmainfacebook040919&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1567623178

Spotted this in the sun.

Many allow 88kg (13.8 stone) for men, 70kg (11 stone) for women and 35kg (5.5 stone) for children

This bit confused me a little bit, is that their estimate they use for calculating fuel consumption? My partner and children weigh more than that estimate

I wonder what their weight limit will be? 🤔
And I can see shit will hit the fan when/if this does come into force, and passengers are excluded from the flight

Puzzledandpissedoff

This is disgusting imo. Many people struggle with weight due to metabolic problems including myself. It would be humiliating.

As a pp mentioned there's the equality act and the amount of controversy(screams of 'fat shaming' etc) it would cause if it really was a thing.

Just to repeat, weight is not a protected characteristic so the Equality Act doesn't enter into it. Even if weight was a protected characteristic, weighing passengers so that the pilots know the exact weight of the load and can therefore ensure that they stay below maximum take off weight and load the correct amount of fuel would not be a breach.

Reported in The Sn? Probably a load of utter drivel, I'd not believe a word of it.*

Some airlines are already weighing passengers for safety reasons, although not in the UK. Finnair weigh passengers in Helsinki, Hawaiian Airlines weigh passengers going to and from American Samoa. Many in the industry think this will become more widespread. It would be safer than the current approach of using average weights to guess the load.

This is disgusting imo. Many people struggle with weight due to metabolic problems including myself. It would be humiliating

Because no-one with eyes would even notice that you are overweight until the check in desk people weigh you and tell precisely nobody what you weigh?

I can't believe the hysteria over such a non issue. Would people rather that planes risk crashing or flights cost more due to wasted fuel than somebody finding out a fairly meaningless vital statistic about you?

Words fail me.

Oh my god, at 5'10" I'm quite a bit over 11st but I wouldn't class myself as fat (and I'm certainly not overweight by BMI). I know that overweight passengers use more fuel etc, but I honestly don't think it's fair to do it like this.

...and that's the sun for you!!!!!!

How can you possibly look at weight alone & not take into account height?

Gravity does not accept notes from your doctor explaining that you’re the perfect weight for your height and build, (and besides, you play rugby), and say “oh that’s OK, you weigh the good sort of kilograms not the bad sort, I’ll exempt you from the rules”.

How can you possibly look at weight alone & not take into account height

Because the physics of an aeroplane doesn't care about how tall you are. Your weight affects whether the plane can get off the ground before running out of runway and the amount of fuel it needs to carry to arrive safely. Your height is irrelevant.

What they said ^

Your volume is irrelevant (well, insofar as the plane can physically contain you, so unlikely to be a problem!!), it's your weight that's the salient point.

Doesn't matter if you're a hyper fit body builder or if you just like chocolate too much (guilty as charged), each additional kilo, whether fat, muscle, or your emotional support peacock, is additional fuel needed.

@Metempsychosis Thanks for the link!

I'm not taking about the physics of flying but in terms of what's considered healthy. A far few posts seem to think weighing over these limits = overweight. I'm just over 5ft 9 & the smallest of my siblings. DH is 6ft 2.

Do they weigh you and charge you if your bmi is too high? Or is it a height tax too? Can you imagine how long it’d take to board?!

Not especially realistic

I always thought being tall was great & there were no downsides but maybe not now!

No that wouldn’t be very realistic missanthony. That’s probably why nobody’s suggesting it.
I assume that standing on a pair of scales and pressing a button marked “yes I’m on the scales now” would be just as quick and easy for heavy people as light people - the scales don’t count up your weight in ounces one at a time.

What NearlyGranny said

Worked in a pilot training school for a while. Offered sightseeing flights in 2/3 seater aircraft. Always needed to know passengers’ weights for trim and fuel requirements
Also remember seeing that most big airlines calculate on average passenger weights ( different for men women and children) was a lot of discussion about whether these needed updating as people generally seem to be bigger than they were 30-40 years ago. Perhaps this is some kind of exercise to work out new averages?

prh47 and BarbaraofSeville we might as well be pissing in the wind. Everyone is being so defensive about their weight that they haven't read the article properly or understood it, and are completely missing the point.

People - this isn't about fat shaming ffs. It is about flying safely.
And for the record this article has been published way before The Sun got hold of it.

why would it be 'fat shaming' if everyone has to go on the scales?

I think the average weights are out. many women are 5.9 or taller and 11st would be at the lower end of healthy bmi.

If it's about flying safely, why isn't the body weight allowance for men and women the same?

Why is is less safe to fly a woman who is 11st 6lbs than a man who is 12st 6lbs? One is within the weight tolerance, one isn't.

Redchocolatebutton - being forced to get on the scales in public would be very humiliating for a lot of people, even if they weren't treated differently because of that. As far as the very overweight people I know - one them gained weight as a result of severe childhood sexual abuse, one of them suffers with long term anxiety and mental health problems and a low thyroid, and their medication causes weight gain, one of them has struggled with it her whole life. Yes, let's humiliate and punish those people in public, shall we?

men are generally taller and heavier than women.

they plucked a weight out of the sky applied one higher weight for men, lower weight for women to calculate the passenger load.
i.e. 120 passengers. 50 males x average weight and 50 females x average weight and 20 children x average weight.
a very blunt calculation and not very accurate.

I am unable to read this article as I actively boycott the filthy rag but am I right to think this is all about calculating fuel usage rather than charging for 'excess wieght', therefore many people are getting themselves into a froth about nothing?

YES! And it hasn't just been reported in the Sun. People on this thread are gnashing their teeth and getting in a fankle for all the wrong reasons.

Everyone is being so defensive about their weight that they haven't read the article properly or understood it, and are completely missing the point.
People - this isn't about fat shaming ffs. It is about flying safely.

^this

Bold fail!!!