Some airlines are starting to weigh more than luggage. On Tuesday 30 May 2023, Air New Zealand announced that it will ask its passengers to step on the scales at their departure gates as part of a five-week customer weight survey. Under the initiative, some 10,000 passengers travelling internationally out of Auckland International Airport up til 2 July 2023 were faced with being weighed prior to boarding.

Now, several other airlines have decided to follow suit. On Thursday 24 August 2023, South Korea’s largest airline announced that it would be “measuring the average weight of passengers along with their carry-on items”, according to the Korean Air website, and in February 2024, a new project by European carrier Finnair is asking passengers to volunteer to be weighed at the departure gate at the airline’s central hub in Helsinki Airport.

If the ordeal sounds undesirable or humiliating, take comfort in the knowledge that this is all done to make you a little safer – in fact, New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority requires the measure. Passenger weight and its distribution are key factors both in keeping an aircraft stable and in determining how much fuel is required for the journey, according to industry site Simple Flying. Airlines periodically calculate average passenger weights to make such adjustments. “We weigh everything that goes on the aircraft – from the cargo to the meals onboard, to the luggage in the hold,” Alastair James, an Air New Zealand load control improvement specialist, said in a statement. “For customers, crew, and cabin bags, we use average weights, which we get from doing this survey.”

We asked Dr Alexis Conason, eating disorder specialist and author of The Diet Free Revolution, about the potential impact of asking passengers to weigh themselves in public places. She says, “Weight bias is prevalent and most people hold anti-fat bias so I do wonder how this new measure could put fat folks at risk of increased discrimination. People in larger bodies are routinely forced to buy two airline tickets if their body is deemed to impinge on the adjacent seat.”

The weigh-ins for Air New Zealand were on a completely voluntary, opt-in basis. Plus, the airline is assured customers that all data collected will remain anonymous, and no one will be able to see passengers’ weights. Passengers were asked to step right up to the digital scale, and the numbers will shoot right into the survey. Neither the gate agent nor the passenger would be privy to a number of any kind, keeping everyone but the necessary parties in ignorant bliss. “We know stepping on the scales can be daunting,” James said. “We want to reassure our customers there is no visible display anywhere.” Korean Air has echoed this assurance, claiming that despite the fact that passengers flying from Seoul’s main airports may be asked to step on the scales, travellers can opt-out.

However, Dr Conason fears the opt-in may not necessarily negate the potential negative impact. There are too many unknowns for people suddenly faced with a potentially stressful decision: “I think anytime people are presented with the option of being weighed it can be problematic. Will people be penalised if they don’t opt-in? What judgments will be made about people who chose to opt-in or opt-out? Will the airline staff treat people differently based on their decision?” she says. “Being weighed is a highly sensitive issue, especially for those struggling with body image issues, eating disorders, disordered eating, and for people in larger bodies who are subject to discrimination based on their weight. I can imagine this new measure bringing increased stress to travel, which can already be a very stressful situation, especially for people in larger bodies.”

Air New Zealand last surveyed passenger weight in 2021, but, as the nation’s borders were closed due to the pandemic, it was only able to measure domestic fliers. Now, as international travel to and from New Zealand has rebounded, this summer’s survey will capture data from passengers around the world.

Occasional passenger weigh-ins are required in many countries, not just New Zealand. Finland’s Finnair, for one, conducted a similar weight survey on a voluntary basis at Helsinki airport in 2017. Then, as now, the airline sought to update data that had grown stale. The FAA also requires US airlines to periodically submit refreshed customer weight averages, but most US carriers rely on alternative methods of data collection to estimate what the average passenger weighs. Allowing passengers to self-report their weight is one such option, and it comes with the caveat that passenger weight fluctuates over time and even from one season to the next. For example, the FAA tells airlines to add five pounds to any reported weight to account for clothing in the summertime; in the colder months, that figure jumps 10 extra pounds to factor in heavy winter clothes.

Source: CNTRAVELLER