New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority has asked its national airline to weigh passengers departing on international flights from Auckland International Airport by July 2, 2023.
The program, which Air New Zealand calls the Passenger Weight Survey, is a way to collect data on cargo and weight distribution for aircraft, the airline said.
Passengers weighed before boarding
“We weigh everything on the aircraft – from cargo to on-board meals to hold luggage. For customers, crew and cabin baggage, we use average weights, which we get from this study,” said Alastair James, the airline’s cargo control improvement specialist, in a statement, according to CNN.
However, weight is a personal thing that not everyone wants to reveal. To protect people’s privacy, the airline says it has anonymized the data.
Travelers will be asked to step on a digital scale when checking in for their flight. Their weight information is then sent to the survey, but will not be viewable on the agent’s screen.
They will also place their luggage on another identical scale to be weighed separately.
“We know stepping on the scale can be daunting. We want to assure our customers that there is no visible display anywhere. No one can see your weight, not even us,” James stated.
This is not the first time Air NZ has asked passengers to step on the scale before boarding the plane. Domestic passengers participated in a survey in 2021, but the one for international travelers was postponed due to the pandemic.
People who may be asked to take part in the survey include those traveling on a direct flight from Auckland to New York’s JFK airport.
The flagship 17-hour route was launched last autumn as a pillar of Air NZ’s post-pandemic strategy. It is also one of the longest flights in the world.
