If the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gets their way, airlines will not only weigh your luggage – they’ll make you step on a scale too.
With obesity rates skyrocketing in the U.S., airlines are concerned planes are being overloaded with, well… too much weight.
Basically, they already know Americans are heavier than ever – but the government wants to know just how fat we’ve actually become.
You see, in the name of safety, airlines must calculate an aircraft’s weight and balance – but the data they’ve been using to come up with the average weight of men and women is outdated.
But just how off is it?
Nobody knows.
So a recent FAA report recommends finding out…
… which includes selecting random passengers and making them step on a scale.
Crazy, right?
I mean, what woman (even those who are slim) wants to disclose their weight!?
Not to mention, heavyset passengers are bound to feel shame if they’re suddenly asked to step on a scale in front of a complete stranger.
To ease concerns, the report claims if a passenger refuses to get weighed, airlines can select another “voluntary” passenger.
View From The Wing reported:
“The FAA says that surveys should be done at airports representing at least 15% of an airline’s daily departures in the secure area of the airport (to ensure that connecting passengers are included) and should select passengers at random.
This is voluntary and passengers have to be allowed to opt out, with airlines then selecting another passenger at random and not the person who is next in line.”
And while no official decision has been made just yet, this potential move is bound to make travelers even more uncomfortable.
I mean truly how “random” will the selection really be?
Will airline officials pick a slender gal? Or target an overweight gentleman?
Regardless, it’s bound to irritate passengers even more as this is just another thing they’ll have to deal with when traveling – as if people’s travel anxiety isn’t high enough already.
Interestingly enough, other countries have already implemented practices like these and consider weighing passengers standard protocol.
And it’s actually already been happening here in the States too.
When I visited the Indian Reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, I wanted to save a few bucks.
So I hopped on a tiny six-passenger plane that took me to the middle of nowhere in Nebraska – but before we took off, they made all six of us disclose our weight so they could distribute us evenly on the plane.
Awkward.
And let’s be totally honest – what woman is REALLY going to disclose her actual weight?
Yep, they know this too – which is why they added about 10lbs to whatever weight we told them.
Airlines already cram their passengers in like sardines, so perhaps the silver lining in this is they won’t do that anymore.
But then again, they’ll likely make up for the loss of passengers by hiking up flight prices.
So if you head out this summer and an airline official asks you to step on a scale before you board your flight – don’t be too offended – it has nothing to do with you – and everything to do with just another invasive procedure they want to push onto travelers.
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