Passengers will be asked to stand on a scale and be weighed before boarding a major airline's planes.
New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority has ruled that staff at Auckland International Airport must get Air New Zealand passengers to step onto the scales ahead of international flights until July 2, 2023.
The aim of the month and a half long project is to gather data on the weight load and distribution for planes, the airline said.
Travelers will be asked to stand on a digital scale when they check in for their flight, with their weight submitted without being visible to the checking agent.
Passengers will also be asked to place their luggage on another identical scale for separate weighing.
Alastair James, the airline’s load control improvement specialist, said that the weighing is voluntary and anonymous.
“We weigh everything that goes on the aircraft – from the cargo to the meals onboard, to the luggage in the hold," he said in a statement."
“For customers, crew and cabin bags, we use average weights, which we get from doing this survey.
“We know stepping on the scales can be daunting. We want to reassure our customers there is no visible display anywhere. No one can see your weight, not even us."
Air New Zealand previously asked passengers to step on the scales before boarding their flights back in 2021, but only domestic passengers. The international survey was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier this month a video began circulating online of a passenger being weighed on the baggage scale at an airport to make sure she wasn't too heavy for their plane.
Lillian, known as @lilwessel on TikTok, shared a short clip of a woman appearing to be weighed while a large number of customers looked on.
In the video, she wrote: "The whole airport trying to mind their own business as a woman is asked to step on the baggage scale because she claimed she was 130lbs."
The 24-year-old says the "tiny plane" needed their passenger's correct weight for "safety reasons".
While most users accused the unnamed airline for being so "cruel", others claimed weighing passengers is a common practice.
"Flying home from the Philippines and they weighed me… I have never been so embarrassed in my life," one TikTok user wrote.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FFA), weighing passengers and their luggage before boarding could help ensure an aircraft does not become overloaded.
The organisation says this is more critical for smaller aircrafts as it more accurately determines "balance calculations", rather than using estimates or trusting customers on their word.
"In lieu of weighing passengers, airline employees could ask how much a traveller weighs," the FAA has said.
"To account for a traveller who might low ball their weight, the FAA advised 'the operator should make a reasonable estimate of the passenger's actual weight and add 10 pounds'.
"If an airline opted to weigh each passenger on a scale, it would take place before boarding the aircraft, the FAA notice said, advising airlines to protect the privacy of passengers by keeping the scale readout hidden from public view."
