You May Want to Lose a Few Pounds Before Your Next Flight
If you have a trip coming up that involves you getting onto a plane, be prepared because airlines are looking into weighing passengers before flights.
Obesity rates are on the rise in the United States and for safety reasons, airline companies are considering having passengers hop on a scale so they can get an accurate weight before planes take off.
The weight of passengers and their luggage can have an effect on the planes flight plus the amount of fuel the plane will need between flights.
According to WOOD, the Federal Aviation Administration is concerned that planes are getting over loaded and this could lead to a crash and no one wants that. With the rate of obesity rising in the U.S., the numbers the airlines are using to calculate how much weight is on the plane have become outdated and a new system needs to be adopted for continued flight safety.
Depending on where people are seating in a plane can make a difference on the balance of an aircraft. With the obesity rate in the U.S. being at just over 42%, this problem happens more often then not.
The FAA has a system of what an average adult passengers weighs and figures in their carry on weight also and they say in the summer months it is 190 pounds and in the winter it is 195 pounds. This average weight system has increased 20 pounds over the past couple years and seems to be rising.
Now this is where things get a bit tricky with weighing passengers. Airlines will need to determine the standard average weight for passengers, crew members and baggage then randomly select passengers to get weighed to make sure a particular flight is not over the weight limit. You will be able to choose if you want to opt out of getting weighed but still that will be pretty awkward if they are doing the weighing in front of other people.
The FAA says the passengers weight will be kept confidential but you have to think when they are selecting people to get weighed, they are not gonna weigh the skinny people so there may be some sort of fat discriminating going on. This could cause a whole bunch of other issues and make getting on a plane even slower than before.
There are airlines all around the world that currently weigh passengers and in some cases, some airlines charge by the pound.
Sounds like things are about to get awkward at the airport and looks like there is another reason to lose a few pounds before you get on your next plane.