A British company has recently proposed weighing passengers as a 'green' move as well as a money-saver, using the information to decide how much fuel is needed for the flight.
But wait! Before you panic or start thinking about dieting before you fly, no one is planning to make passengers step on a scale and write down their weight. The suggestion is that pressure pads, perhaps at baggage check, or integrated into the security check station, would collect weight data as passengers moved through, identified only by their flight numbers.
Experts believe that loading a plane with only the fuel needed to make the flight would save huge amounts of fuel and reduce carbon emissions from flying. At present, airlines have a good idea of how much the cargo weights, but is forced to use estimates for passengers, generous ones. Currently, the assumption is an average weight of about 200 pounds for males, 155 for women and near 80 for children.
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