By Corey Bennett
As most people know, sitting through that long and boring line at the airport is the worst. Only to then do the “crouch of shame” as you rummage through your baggage to remove items because you are just barely overweight.
However, passengers are now consenting to being weighed before they board the plane. The passengers are asked to complete a survey on whether or not they feel comfortable being weighed.
New Zealand is one of the first to ask travelers to weigh themselves before they take a flight. They plan to ask more than 10,000 customers using the flight to take part, saying that the data they collect from it will help calculate the plane’s “weight and balance of the loaded aircraft.”
Passengers are being weighed along with their carry-on bags, though the weigh-ins are not tied to bookings or passenger data. Everything will be anonymous.
Airlines calculate the weight of the plane by weighing everyone on board, the cargo and baggage, and the catering and water tanks that are aboard the aircraft. Right before the plane takes off, the weight of the aircraft will affect where passengers can sit and even how many will be allowed onboard. Every aircraft that you fly with has a maximum weight.
Other airlines, like Finnair, are now also considering having their passengers start this trend in the later seasons.
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