Should airlines be weighing passengers?

22.02.2024 - 13:33 / nationalgeographic.com / Airlines

Asking passengers to step onto the scales before boarding a flight was always going to be a controversial move. Agitated commentators raged, accusing Finnair, which is Finland’s national carrier, of humiliating passengers and being ‘triggering to people with eating disorders’.

Delve a little deeper, however, and such outrage isn’t entirely justified, with safety, and crucially anonymity, at the heart of the airline’s data collection exercise. An accurate understanding of the weight of an aircraft is vital for aviation safety and, as the make-up of society changes, the charts and tables used by flight crew need updating.

Finnair insists its weigh-in is voluntary, although such assurance may struggle to appease those fearful of a rather public date with the scales.

Central to the whole scheme is each aircraft’s ‘maximum takeoff mass’, the weight at which it can safely leave the ground. This is specified by the manufacturer and must be strictly observed.

But weight is also a major factor in working out how much fuel a plane should carry and in calculating its range and potential emergency landing sites. As airlines don’t weigh every passenger or their hand luggage, a lot of averages are incorporated into those calculations. Over time, these need to be reviewed as society changes, especially given that public health data points towards a general increase in average body weight per person.

Broadly, airlines have two options when it comes to weight data. They can either use standard-issue data from official bodies — such as the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) or the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) — or collect it themselves. Finnair has opted for the latter.

The airline will ask a random sample of passengers travelling in April and May to step onto the scales as it seeks to ‘optimise [its] current aircraft balance calculations’.

Yes, of course. The airline is stressing that participation is entirely voluntary; however, it’s also at pains to tell passengers who do take part that all data is anonymous. Only the agent working at the gate will see the figure and Finnair won’t link the recorded weight to the customer’s name or booking reference.

The data will then be sent to the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency for approval. It will be used in calculations until 2030.

Satu Munnukka, head of ground processes at Finnair, said: “We record the total weight and background information of the customer plus their carry-on baggage, but we don’t ask for their name or booking number, for example.

“Only the customer service agent working at the measuring point can see the total weight, so you can participate in the study with peace of mind.

“We hope to have a good sample of volunteers, both