For 'safety': Uzbekistan Air to begin weighing passengers

Ben Mutzabaugh | USA TODAY

Uzbekistan Airways says it will begin weighing passengers —along with their carry-on bags — as part of an effort to "ensure flight safety."

After check-in, the carrier says customers will be asked to proceed to a "special weighing machine" near their departure gates.

Uzbekistan Airways promised individual passenger information would not be revealed, saying the combined passenger-and-baggage weight data would be categorized only as belonging to a man, woman or child.

"As for the rest, the full confidentiality of results is guaranteed," Uzbekistan Airways said in a statement.

It goes on to say, "According to the rules of International Air Transport Association, airlines are obliged to carry out the regular procedures of preflight control passengers weighing with hand baggage to observe requirements for ensuring flight safety."

Weight information is an important component of flight safety, especially on smaller aircraft.

"We will appreciate your assistance and thank you in advance for the help in the solution of our common task of flight safety!," the airline adds in language seemingly directed at passengers.

The Daily Mail of London suggests Uzbekistan Airways' move could "mean some overweight people could be excluded from busy flights on smaller planes if limits are exceeded."

However, the carrier made no such mention of that possibility in announcing its plans. Today in the Sky has reached out to Uzbekistan Airways for comment.

Regardless, the airline is not the first to weigh its passengers. Samoa Air, a small, island-hopping airline in the South Pacific, began charging passengers by weight in 2012.

Even today, the carrier boasts of the pay-by-weight scheme on its website, declaring: "A world first: The 'Samoa Air System' of pay by weight 'Pay only for what you weigh'!"

Samoa Air flies turboprop flights within the Samoan islands. And, in 2013, it expanded its weight-based pricing policy to several short-hop international flights to the U.S. territory of American Samoa.

In a 2013 interview, Samoa Air CEO Chris Langton told The Associated Press that its "planes are run by weight and not by seat, and travelers should be educated on this important issue. The plane can only carry a certain amount of weight and that weight needs to be paid. There is no other way."

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