An airline has announced it will begin weighing passengers with their carry-on luggage

hollydolly

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About time IMO....

An airline has announced it will begin weighing passengers with their carry-on luggage in order to better estimate the plane's weight before take-off.

The controversial move comes from Finnish carrier Finnair, who told media they began 'measuring' passengers departing from Helsinki on Monday.

'So far, more than 500 volunteer customers have participated in the weigh-ins,' spokeswoman Kaisa Tikkanen said.

Finnair, which services the UK with budget flights to and from Finland, noted in a statement airlines work out the weight of the plane, its interior and passengers on board to balance the flight and make for safe transit.

Airlines may use average weights provided by aviation authorities - assumed to be 88kg - or collect their own data, it said.
Weigh-ins will take place in February, April and May and are on a voluntary basis, it said today.

They will also take a note of age, gender and class of travel.

Finnair are not the first airline to take the initiative and measure the weight of passengers themselves.

In August last year, Korea's largest airline, Korean Air, announced it would start weighing passengers at Gimpo Airport on domestic routes and Incheon Airport on international flights for a short period through September.

The company said the move was aimed at reducing wasted fuel and helping more accurately estimate the weight of the plane.

A month prior, an easyJet flight from Lanzarote to Liverpool asked 19 passengers to get off the plane because it was deemed 'too heavy to take off'.

A spokesperson confirmed the incident in a statement, writing: 'easyJet can confirm that 19 passengers on flight EZY3364 from Lanzarote to Liverpool volunteered to travel on a later flight as a result of the aircraft being over the weight limits for the weather conditions.
Airline says it will now weigh PASSENGERS as well as their luggage
 

You have people like this demanding that airlines make their seats bigger to accommodate her Huge Arse

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Not sure if this still happens, but I've been told that Loganair used to weigh passengers on the routes to the various islands. The planes were small and weighing passengers was both to balance the plane and ensure it stayed within maximum weight.
 

Not sure if this still happens, but I've been told that Loganair used to weigh passengers on the routes to the various islands. The planes were small and weighing passengers was both to balance the plane and ensure it stayed within maximum weight.
I remember reading that many years ago...but as you say those island planes are very small...
 
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In 2010, 58 per cent of Britons said they wanted overweight passengers to pay more to fly, according to research from Holiday Extras.

45 per cent believed it made no difference to them if an airline started charging extra based on weight, and six percent even said the measures would actively encourage them to fly more often.

In 2017, another poll by jetcost.co.uk revealed nearly 90 per cent Britons believed overweight passengers should pay more to fly.

Nearly 80 per cent also said they thought 'plus-sized zones' should be introduced on flights.
 
Not sure if this still happens, but I've been told that Loganair used to weigh passengers on the routes to the various islands. The planes were small and weighing passengers was both to balance the plane and ensure it stayed within maximum weight.
That's true for small planes. Weight totally effects how long the fuel will last.
 
Weight has always been a huge factor for airlines. At United, at one time, management ran a contest for its employees to come up with ways to save fuel. This was another reason to stop serving food. Food for 200-400 passengers is a lot of weight. Saving fuel is saving money.

Jet fuel is expensive. We had to calculate the weight of our passengers, baggage and freight. We used government averages of males, females and children. Add all that together, plus weight of the aircraft and we can figure our takeoff speed (V1).
 
They'll be shocked at how much my purse weighs.
The old joke used to be that one day there'd be a planeload full of women and the plane wouldn't be able to get off the runway because of the weight of their purses.

That's true! Back in the 1960's and 1970's, when I did a lot of foreign flights, they didn't weigh your purses, only your checked bags and sometimes your carry-on.

When I was moving to Turkey, I had a HUGE purse that I loaded up with my silverware set. It weighed so much, I thought my shoulder was going to break. As I was climbing the steps into the plane, the purse strap broke and my purse bounced down the steps behind me and off the steps onto the runway. The zipper burst open and the silverware flew in all directions.

I didn't know WHAT to do..... Luckily, the ground personnel started picking up all the pieces and throwing them into my purse. I was so embarrassed. Later, when I got there, I checked and EVERY PIECE had been recovered. I'm sure they were laughing about that for days.

I most recently flew on Aeromexico and they state that they weight EVERYTHING that you take on board, including your purse. Luckily, they didn't.
 
Not sure if this still happens, but I've been told that Loganair used to weigh passengers on the routes to the various islands. The planes were small and weighing passengers was both to balance the plane and ensure it stayed within maximum weight.
Yes, Hubby and I booked a holiday package flying in a small plane from Sydney all the way up to the Gulf of Carpentaria, then across The Top (i.e. the Northern Territory and the north of Western Australia) to Broome before flying over Uluru (formerly Ayers Rock) and back to Sydney via Tibooburra. The plane might make several stops at small airfields each day. It was a 14 day package. It was a great way to see a lot of Australia without the endless and tedious driving.

Before we set off from our local airfield we were both weighed, together with our luggage. I thought that was a very sensible and responsible procedure.
 
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I don't plan to fly much in the upcoming decade. If I do let it be out of the Pumpkin cannon.
I do like the Seats in my F150 and UTV. Other than that, I avoid tight spaces.
 

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