This airline is weighing passengers before they board their flight

Airline company Finnair is requesting that passengers weigh themselves and their luggage on a scale, before boarding.

According to CTV News, the scheme, which the company stresses is voluntary, is intended as an exercise in data collection on the weight aircraft must carry during the winter months.

Finnair are reportedly hoping to learn how much of a difference it makes to the flight, when passengers are carrying winter coats, boots, and, thicker jumpers.

A spokesperson for the airline told USA Today,

The weighing is purely voluntary and anonymous, and only the customer service agent sees the weighing result.

Samoa Air in 2013 opted for a rather different approach, when they announced plans to charge passengers based on their body mass.

In 2016, a US court ruled that Hawaiian Airlines had the right to weigh passengers to avoid crash landings, by distributing the weight of passengers throughout the aircraft.

Regulations from the European Aviation Safety Agency suggest that airlines assume the average weight for males is 94 kg and for females 75 kg, including their carry-on luggage.

The report included concerns about increasing weight and size of passengers.

The agency's last report was conducted for the 2008-09 period, prompting Finnair to conduct its own survey.

The weighing survey will be conducted by Finnair throughout November, and hopes to collect data from 2,000 volunteer passengers.

USA Today reports that roughly 180 passengers have so far volunteered.

HT CTV News

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