A famous airline has decided to weigh passengers before boarding the plane

Traveling by plane can be synonymous with holidays or work, but it can also lead to problems and controversial decisions. This is the case of the airline that decided to weigh its passengers, as well as their luggage.

According to the official communication, the initial weigh-ins will be voluntary and will be carried out to determine exactly how loaded the planes are.

Such information, specialists confirm, can help determine the fuel efficiency of planes.

Budget airlines operate on very low margins on many flights, meaning the difference between a profit and a loss can be determined by the weight of the plane and how much extra fuel must be used.

Which airline decided to weigh its passengers before flying?

Precisely in this sense the reference is to Finnairone of the most popular Scandinavian airlines and the largest in Finland.

Kaisa Tikkanen, spokesperson for the airline, explained: “The measurements started on Monday at Helsinki Airport. So far more than 500 volunteer customers participated in the weigh-ins”, second The mirror.

He also argued that calculating the total weight of a plane, including all items such as fuel, checked baggage and cargo, on-board catering, water tanks and, of course, passengers, is key to making flights more insured.

Another voice that has been added to the justifications is that of Satu Munnukka, field process manager from Finnair, which assured passengers that the weight will only be seen by the person using the scale.

And he added: “Only the customer service representative working at the measurement point can see the total weightso you can participate in the study with complete peace of mind.”

While there is no suggestion that weigh-ins won’t be voluntary in the future, not everyone is happy with the idea, which was evident online.

Criticism on social media for the weighing of passengers

On X (formerly Twitter), one person announced: “I won’t be flying with Finnair again anytime soon.” And another said they “won’t be embarrassed by a damn airline.”

A third chimed in: “Finnair will start weighing its passengers? Did I read that right? I’m completely shocked! and disgusted“.

Last year, a flight crew of EasyJet had to ask 19 people to leave because the plane was too heavy to fly from Arrecife to Lanzarote to John Lennon Airport in Liverpool, England.

EasyJet’s spokesperson at the time explained: “EasyJet can confirm that 19 passengers on flight EZY3364 from Lanzarote to Liverpool volunteered to travel on a later flight because the aircraft was overweight due to weather conditions.”

He added: “This is a routine operational decision. Under these circumstances, I am weight restrictions for all airlines for safety reasons.

Antecedents of another airline weighing people

In May 2023, the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority has ruled that staff at Auckland International Airport must ensure that passengers come Air New Zealand Step on the scale before international flights until July 2, 2023.

The goal of the month-and-a-half project was to collect data on the plane’s load and weight distribution, the airline said.

So far, international media have called for results or conclusions on the measure, but these have not been released.