This Airline Is Currently Weighing Passengers Before Boarding as Part of a Safety Protocol

Mar. 15, 2025

A Finnair flight lands at Geneva Airport on March 11, 2019.Photo:FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty

Travelers are voluntarily weighing in ahead of their flights in an effort to help one airline’s “current aircraft balance calculations.”

As of Thursday, 800 volunteers have already taken part in the data collection, according to Päivyt Tallqvist, Finnair’s senior vice president of communications. Average weights will then be sent to the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, and will also be used for “aircraft balance and loading calculations,” she noted.

Finnair’s Head of Ground Processes Satu Munnukka added in the release that the calculations are “required for the safe operation of flights, and the collected data is not linked in any way to the customer’s personal data.”

A Finnair flight appears at the Hamburg Airport in July 2022.Bodo Marks/picture alliance via Getty

Bodo Marks/picture alliance via Getty

“We record the total weight and background information of the customer and their carry-on baggage, but we do not ask for the name or booking number, for example," Munnukka shared. “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.”

Munnukka also noted that while weighing customers with their carry-on baggage, passengers' “age, gender and travel class” are also recorded in a database. The data collection is anonymous, per the release.

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The voluntary measurements come months afterAir New Zealand passengerswere also asked to volunteer to weigh themselves and their luggage in May.

NBC Newsaviation expert John Cox said at the time that the data could offer “wide-ranging benefits” for airlines globally, and that “you may see some other airlines utilize this at some point in the future.”

source: people.com