It sounds like flight shame, only completely different: Since the weekend, passengers of the airline Bangkok Airways have been put on the scales along with their hand luggage in order to calculate the total load on the plane. Who would have thought that after self-printing boarding passes, stuffing hand luggage into a measuring template and increasingly narrow rows of seats, the lowest point of humiliation for the passengers had not yet been reached?
The public broadcaster “Thai PBS” reported on Mondaythat the airline wanted to carry out these measurements at the gates by October 31st. The airline’s management assured that the information obtained in the process would be treated “strictly confidential.” The aim is to refine the compilation of average weight data in order to improve the precision and reliability of flight operations. The airline “looks forward to the proactive support and cooperation of its passengers – and is optimistic.”
Not everyone wants to share their weight with others, many don’t even want to know exactly themselves. So the passengers’ joy may be limited. Many Southeast Asian vacationers travel with Bangkok Airways from Thailand to Cambodia, Laos, the Maldives, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam. So there are also international visitors who are usually heavier compared to the locals.
Now, as an experienced and experienced air traveler, you suspect that things will soon get even tighter above the clouds. What’s next – ticket prices based on body weight? Anyone who has ever spent a continental flight next to a very tall person might find this fair. Unfortunately, as a taller person, it quickly happens that you end up towering over the airplane seats in every direction. The many other extras that you have to pay for today – such as a reserved seat or a snack – now also include so-called XL seats. However, they are not “Extra Large” in the sense that they could comfortably carry oversized passengers. They just offer a little more legroom.
Bangkok Airways assures us that weighing is only about safety and ecological needs. It “complies with the standard measures of the International Civil Aviation Organization” and is intended to make the calculation of takeoff weight more accurate. This in turn helps to calculate the necessary fuel. Air New Zealand has already weighed more than 10,000 passengers since June. “Korean Air” is also already putting its customers on the scale. This “has nothing to do with body shaming,” wrote CNN, when the measure was announced in August. Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has ordered all Korean airlines to weigh passengers and hand luggage to update its Aircraft Weight and Balance Management Standards, an airline spokesman said. The calculations must be carried out every five years. Because people in developed parts of the world where there is a lot of flying tend to become heavier.