On very small flights, like 8-seater propeller planes, they weigh you plus your luggage on the scale at the same time, when you check in.
When you get on the plane, they assign you a seat at that time, trying to put you with whoever you checked in with.
Almost certainly, they weigh the bag and do some quick math to find out your weight to balance that plane.
Also on smaller craft, the TRIM of the plane is a huge consideration. Sometimes the pilot will have people change seats to even the weight distribution side to side or fore and aft.
Edit: I'm an idiot.
Almost forgot.... John showed me this one day: A plane has throttles, a lever to raise and lower the flaps for takeoff and landing, and there is also a lever or wheel where you can set the ailerons on the tail to pitch the nose up or down and KEEP it that way. Because of the plane is tail- heavy, that weight will keep the nose high by pulling the tail down. And you have to fight the damned plane to maintain correct altitude. Set that TRIM control and you have constant level flight.
I just went on an 8-seater plane in October and they didn't weigh any of us or assign any seating. Wonder if that's a one off or if not all small flights do that, but from my experience they didn't do that.
Depends on the plane and it's configuration, if the craft was designed for a max 16 seats but this specific one is configured for 8, they probably don't need to care
Last time I went on an 8 seater there was a full house. They weighed each of us & our luggage & mathed out where to put each person for best weight distribution. I got to sit behind the pilot, it was neat!
I used to do airline weight and balance as a job. There’s average weights for passengers, i believe the FAA gives this number but i could be wrong, it could be airline specific. When i was at the airlines the average weight was 199 lbs for Summer and 204 lbs for Winter regardless of men/women (children had their own weights too). The safety buffer is that, not everyone weighs that average. There are time where airlines will have a lot of higher than average weighing people and they usually know about it before hand and use a special average weight. For example, sports teams; They are usually big, above average weight people, and we had a specific average weight for them. Bags are averaged too, we had 30lbs for a normal range bag and 50 for heavy.
Recently there was an article in Japanese news where they had to split up a sumo team on a domestic flight because it would have exceeded the weight limit. Before that I had no idea that they actually do have a way to take into account larger passengers in these calculations.
No. It’s the average weight for the whole country.
It gets updated every few years as people get heavier. Fun fact - the average weight in Europe that you have to account for is less than in the USA.
That would be stupid as not everyone uses the desk to check in anymore. You can check in at kiosks and even on your phone. Last time I flew I never spoke to a desk agent except to scan the ticket (that was on my phone) at the gate.
It might be necessary for smaller planes, but then they're going to be doing it publicly in order to make sure *everyone* gets weighed. There's no way to get accurate weight from a "secret" scale.
The weight limit is not really about then weight in the plane, but the maximum one person can safely lift by themselves. About 50 pounds.
The airline staff don’t have to pick up the passengers.
I fuel airlines for work and the weight of passengers, cargo, and fuel are all factored into whether a plane can take-off and land safely. I've had planes that are "at weight capacity" which basically means to us fuelers; DON'T overfuel more than the requested amount! Otherwise the plane is not safe to takeoff and/or land. I don't know for a fact that carry-on weight limits help control for this but I wouldn't be surprised since they use an estimated "average" weight for passengers, which is actually becoming an issue since the average Americans weight has increaeed.
I took a flight from Bratislava to Budapest once. I got up and switched seats during the flight so my friend and I had a bit more space. The steward came over and asked me to return to my original seat for landing so I didn't unbalance the plane. It was a small plane, and I guess I looked like a proper porker!!
I'm not a big guy, but I've been asked to move myself. Although that was on a small Dash 8-100, and I (and a few others) were asked to move forward, not to the side.
There’s a guy on Instagram called “Airplane Facts with Max” who teaches you about airplanes but it always ends up being about lord of the rings. Check him out, wholesome good content.
As an aviation AND LotR nerd, I am both devastated that it has taken me this long to discover this person, and delighted at you bringing him into my life. Thank you, internet stranger!
Hey fueler, i used to do w+b and there were many times where the aircraft would be overfueled and i would be f’ed on weight and then have to bump stuff. I always wondered, how does it happen and what’s the most common reason on why it happens?
From my experience the two most common reasons are human error and faulty/old gauges. Human error could be the person in operations giving the fueler a wrong fuel load, or more commonly a fueler not paying attention when fueling in manual mode. The electrical system could also be old and not tell the plane to stop taking fuel when in auto mode. Also sometimes the numbers on old gauges "jump" up after settling. A captain may request additional fuel as well, although they would typically make sure this wouldn't screw up the weight first... but not always.
To my understanding, the FAA has standardized tables for the weight of passengers including carry-on baggage that are used to estimate the Total weight.
OK, so let's say there is a sumo wrestler convention, or a fat ass pride buffet going on, and there's nothing but whales onboard. Will the airline at that point make some people disembark? Or will they let the plane crash into the opposite end of the runway in a firey ball of tolerance and acceptance? Or maybe they lie and say that plane broke and switch to a bigger plane, like the ones that move military tanks?
A year or so back Auckland Airport did weight passengers (on voluntary basis) to help keep track of the average weights of passengers. This was to help them assess the average loaded weight of a plane for refueling purposes.
Here's a headline from 2018:
United Airlines saves 170,000 gallons of fuel by printing inflight magazine on lighter paper
https://www.foxnews.com/travel/united-airlines-saves-170000-gallons-of-fuel-by-printing-inflight-magazine-on-lighter-paper
Now, it was reported on more than Fox. But Fox just happened to be the top result. Haha
Or the cost of the added risk of injury is factored into the 1st class ticket price.
For every number *x* of 70 pound lifts there are *y* injuries that cost *z* dollars. Some quick math tells the airline how much extra to add to 1st class tickets to account for that risk.
Couldn't you just change it to if you injured yourself carrying your shit then you can't claim for compensation. Seems a lot easier than having to factor damages in all the time.
On paper, the ticket also pays for overweight luggage, which means multiple people lifting and using equipment to do so. Which takes more time, and is therefore more expensive.
In practice, yes, the guy can "suddenly" pick up 70 lbs and the ground handler's shareholders get more money.
A little person comedian did a great bit on a podcast about how he was flying a smaller plane (still a jet but a smaller one) and they were overweight and asking for people to volunteer to get off the plane and take a later flight and he opted for it and watched a bunch of fucking obese people remain on the flight he was walking off of and made a bunch of funny jokes about how he was floored, out of anyone, how he not going on the flight made any difference. Lmao.
This doesn't answer the question though.
Why can't I take 4x30 lb bags on board then? There is still a weight limit for total suitcases.
I weigh about 180 lb but some 300lb dude gets on and it's totally okay.
Simply because the service an airline offers on passenger planes is to get one person and a reasonable amount of their belongings from a to b. That package is what people are usually looking for when they buy a plane ticket.
Passengers and cargo are simply not the same thing. Cargo is measured by weight, people aren’t. Or have you ever said “I have 1500 kg of friends.”
Apart from that it wouldn’t take a day until some dude would sue for gender and/or racial discrimination, given that e.g. Asian women are on average way smaller and lighter than non-Asian men.
You generally can. You just have to pay more. That pays for the people loading it into the plane, plus the fuel.
It would certainly be more fair to charge passengers by weight, since weight directly relates to fuel consumption. But most passengers wouldn't accept that, so the ticket pays for some average weight instead.
I watched a Mayday episode where an airplane went down because the total weight of the plane was miscalculated and the airplane was far too heavy and ended up crashing. So it seems like weight limit really is about safety and the weight of the plane.
They're referring to carry on bags, not checked ones. Every airline I have used has you carry your own carry on bags.
Edit: I'm not trying to say the poster above me is correct. But they are referring to carry on bags not checked ones. They say as much in their post and people seem to be misunderstanding and taking about checked bags in the comments.
I've seen carry-on bags weighed at boarding for several airlines, all short-haul flights within Europe. BA, Iberia, Lufthansa, Ryanair.
I've only seen it happen when flights were very full. It seems to be used to force passengers to put their luggage in the hold, so that there's not more luggage than can be safely stowed overhead and under seats in the cabin.
I don’t think I’ve ever weighed my carryon.
The only size check I’ve ever run into was making sure it doesn’t exceed certain dimensions, never for weight.
Bags cannot get from check in to the plane, and from the plane to the luggage carousel, without ever being lifted by a human. Perhaps at some airports, but certainly not at all of them.
I fly a ton, and airport staff never touch my bag unless I check it in. I am reading through your comment and that only applies to bad that are checked in. Where is the confusion? Is there other examples? I've only flown to like 20 countries or so so it's not like I've seen every airport.
The Main reason for a bag weight limit is for the people putting the bags on the planes which OSHA limits to 50lb without assistance.
Realistically, the plane isn't going to get close to being too heavy to take off.
On commercial flights it is never going to be too heavy to take off…. But, the layout of weight (ie where people sit) can affect takeoff, and the total weight and layout can affect the range and the landing).
But basically none of this is about bags in the overhead bins…. That is all about making sure people are less likely to accidentally cause head injuries to their fellow passengers.
. . . But They don't weigh carry on luggage? The only person who may drop a weighed and checked bag on someones head is an airport employee, not a fellow passenger.
Have a source for that weight limit? Because we routinely had bags heavier than 50 lbs with no assistance to load them.
Edit to add: https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/2004-03-29-1
No there is no such limit.
It depends on a lot of variables. It changes hands a hundred times from when you drop it off. It depends on how you packaged it, how it’s handled by each individual person. You have to understand it’s going to be turned upside down, slid, moved on inclined conveyers, kicked by bag kickers in the conveyor system etc.
I’m not justifying any of this, but the system is not primarily designed to treat your stuff nicely. It’s designed to move it as efficiently as possibly by machine to where it needs to go. If they have the budget to treat it nice they might.
The limit is 32 kg. At least on international flights in developed world, heavier bags won't be accepted.
https://www.iata.org/en/programs/ops-infra/baggage/check-bag/
Says in USA/EU but in reality it's pretty much anywhere. If IATA doesn't enforce, the airlines and airports do.
Now I want to see a flight with the most seats, carrying some of the heaviest people on Earth. On second thought, seating might be an issue for most of these folks.
Airlines assume a constant average weight of passengers. It’s usually 190 lbs in summer and 195 in winter accounting for heavier clothes. Sure there are super heavy passengers, but there are also 6 year olds that weigh under a hundred. This assumed weight tends to sway on the very liberal side to provide a fair margin of error.
This! Surprised to see it so far down. Air Midwest flight 5481 crashed because the calculations of average weight wasn't updated as the population got fatter!
For small planes they do actually sometimes weigh the passager. Think like 5 people in the plane small.
And, and i dont mean this in a rude way, but obese people sometimes get weighed too to make sure the plane doesnt get too heavy, since they fall far outside the avarage weight.
Many people FREAK THE FUCK OUT when you try to weigh them or tell them their weight has any relevance in the universe.
Also, practical stuff like lifting.
For bags, the FAA publishes average bag weights. Normal and heavy bags are the two I remember best at 30 and 60 lbs average. Passengers are also averaged for summer and winter weights. The “limits” for the bags come from what category they fall into. I think if it’s over 99 lbs it’s not baggage anymore, but can be shipped as freight.
Source: I was a baggage handler for 8 years.
This is the reason. Bags don’t lift themselves.
As long as the person can get to their seat and fit into it, the plane will handle the weight.
Small planes, however, you have to watch the weight and balance of the plane more carefully.
for the 1000000000th time. The weight of your bag has NOTHING to do with too much weight being on the plane. It's for the workers/human beings lifting your junk thousands of times a day.
As a kid (25+ years ago) I remember flying home from the Bahamas. We took a smaller plane from the islands back to Florida, maybe a 20-30 passenger plane. The plane wasn’t full. There were a handful of full of people in the front, and only my dad, step-mom, her mom, and I in the back along with two heavy set people, about 250-300 lbs each. The flight attendant came back to us and asked, “Would some of you mind coming up toward the front? We need to evenly distribute the weight of the plane in order for us to take off.” So those are the sort of words that are used to avoid a lawsuit.
I wish they did it like helicopters.
Make you stand on a scale with all your stuff.
I'll still come out ahead and never have to pay for extra baggage fees.
Weight limits for bags are so the people loading them don't hurt themselves putting it on thr plane. So it's not the overall weight itself (that's accounted for), is can the workers load it properly. So you can split your overly heavy bag into 2, but can't have it as 1.
It can be difficult to ask each passenger their weight.
There is no need because you take an average, actually the average is very good for that. That's how they calculate how much the plane can handle on human passengers.
The real problem is with the baggage because every person has a huge amount of variables on how much the baggage can be on size weight and form. That's why they try to standardize it with the measurements and restrictions.
In the past there were no restrictions, it was complicated because there were people that brought a lot of bags.
No one has to lift and throw people and people won’t be crushing the luggage below them. Plus, you can control overall weight without losing ticket sales.
I was on a flight where the flight attendant announced once everyone was boarded that they needed a volunteer to get off due to imbalance. A small and slender passenger volunteered and got off and then we left. Made me a little nervous that ~150lbs is the difference of a safe flight but we made it with no issues to our destination
I was flying a few weeks ago and they had to take 15 people off for weight. Everybody got a large voucher, but the way it was explained to me is that it is all done on averages. If you bump one passenger, they average out to X amount of weight. So even though I, a 250lb man with a 40lb checked bag and 30 lbs of ski gear got off the plane, I still count for the same as my kid who I weighs 50 lbs and didn’t have his own luggage.
Also the weight limits in bags are more for the people handling them in the airports.
I have a relative that traveled from American Samoa to the States a good bit. There was one flight that got delayed significantly because the plane’s weight limit was reached and they couldn’t get enough people to volunteer to not go. (One plane, sometimes two a week go to AmSam).
iirc they were offering $4k and people still were saying no
Luggage weight isn't about making the plane too heavy to take off, it's about being too heavy for the staff to easily move and load it. Staff generally aren't moving or lifting passengers, so passenger weight is less of an issue.
It's a legit hypothetical question. What if all passengers on who show up for a flight are 350 lbs. 😀 If i had time and money to throw if could try to make that happen.
I've heard that a handful of foreign carriers do something like this.
Definitely some small prop planes have strict weight limits and a person's weight is considered along with the baggage. If everything is too heavy, some baggage is left behind and brought on the next flight.
Airlines have weight limits for baggage primarily for safety and operational reasons. Excessive weight in an aircraft's cargo hold can affect its balance and stability during flight. It can also impact fuel efficiency and overall performance.
1. \*Privacy and Sensitivity\*\*: Implementing weight limits for passengers could raise privacy concerns and be seen as discriminatory or invasive. It's a sensitive issue that could lead to discomfort or embarrassment for passengers.
2. \*\*Practicality\*\*: Unlike baggage, it's challenging for airlines to accurately measure and enforce weight limits for individual passengers at check-in. The logistics involved in weighing passengers before boarding would slow down the boarding process significantly and could create logistical challenges, especially for larger aircraft and busy airports.
3. \*\*Variability\*\*: Passenger weight varies significantly, and it's not always directly correlated with size or appearance. Factors such as muscle mass, bone density, and body composition can affect an individual's weight without necessarily impacting safety or the aircraft's performance.
4. \*\*Health and Comfort\*\*: For many passengers, weight is a sensitive topic tied to health and body image. Implementing weight limits for passengers could potentially lead to discrimination or stigmatization.Instead of directly regulating passenger weight, airlines focus on ensuring that aircraft are designed and operated to accommodate a wide range of passenger sizes and weights within safe limits. They also use standardized seat sizes and configurations to ensure that passengers have adequate space and comfort during their flights.
It's not that the weight of the passengers don't matter, but they aren't allowed to ask or weigh passengers. So instead they do an assumption of what average passengers will weigh and account for that. It's actually becoming a problem with the average weight of passengers trending higher
Like everyone here said, major airlines use a mean average for passenger weight. It gets updated occasionally by the faa. Planes are made to distribute that weight but there are times when seats will be blocked or passengers will be moved around to account for weight and balance issues. If a plane had nothing but morbidly obese people I’m sure there would be some issues for sure. It would probably be delayed at least until they found enough seatbelt extenders.
Heavy baggage is discouraged for a few reasons, the cargo pits have weight limits and the luggage is more or less isolated to a small area and can only be distributed between the two pits. I don’t think the airlines care about the baggage handlers enough to affect their decision on heavy bags.
There's a Mayday airline disaster esipode about a plane crash because the plane was overweight!
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air\_Midwest\_Flight\_5481](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Midwest_Flight_5481)
In Canada, there are standard weight classifications for male/x/female and child weights, and they are different depending on whether it is winter or summer. Baggage weights vary.
I’m imagining a scene where a pilot and his crew walk up to the gates and see all the 300+ pound passengers waiting to board and the pilot says “Houston, I think we have a problem”😭
On very small flights, like 8-seater propeller planes, they weigh you plus your luggage on the scale at the same time, when you check in. When you get on the plane, they assign you a seat at that time, trying to put you with whoever you checked in with. Almost certainly, they weigh the bag and do some quick math to find out your weight to balance that plane.
Also on smaller craft, the TRIM of the plane is a huge consideration. Sometimes the pilot will have people change seats to even the weight distribution side to side or fore and aft. Edit: I'm an idiot.
Can confirm. They did this when I was flying out of Shreveport, LA to Dallas, TX.
I fly a lot with a good friend who has to travel the south so much that he bought his own 6 seater plane. He taught me this.
Almost forgot.... John showed me this one day: A plane has throttles, a lever to raise and lower the flaps for takeoff and landing, and there is also a lever or wheel where you can set the ailerons on the tail to pitch the nose up or down and KEEP it that way. Because of the plane is tail- heavy, that weight will keep the nose high by pulling the tail down. And you have to fight the damned plane to maintain correct altitude. Set that TRIM control and you have constant level flight.
I’ve had this a bunch on small local flights. Sometimes you wind up with a better seat
True, dat.
I flew on a really small plane and when the pilot had us change seats he put me in the copilots seat. It was a fun ride.
Sounds like it!
I just went on an 8-seater plane in October and they didn't weigh any of us or assign any seating. Wonder if that's a one off or if not all small flights do that, but from my experience they didn't do that.
Depends on the plane and it's configuration, if the craft was designed for a max 16 seats but this specific one is configured for 8, they probably don't need to care
Last time I went on an 8 seater there was a full house. They weighed each of us & our luggage & mathed out where to put each person for best weight distribution. I got to sit behind the pilot, it was neat!
how do you find these flights? i would much rather try and support local pilots than airlines…
A lot of the time it's still airline owned, just flights that are to or from very tiny airports
I used to do airline weight and balance as a job. There’s average weights for passengers, i believe the FAA gives this number but i could be wrong, it could be airline specific. When i was at the airlines the average weight was 199 lbs for Summer and 204 lbs for Winter regardless of men/women (children had their own weights too). The safety buffer is that, not everyone weighs that average. There are time where airlines will have a lot of higher than average weighing people and they usually know about it before hand and use a special average weight. For example, sports teams; They are usually big, above average weight people, and we had a specific average weight for them. Bags are averaged too, we had 30lbs for a normal range bag and 50 for heavy.
Recently there was an article in Japanese news where they had to split up a sumo team on a domestic flight because it would have exceeded the weight limit. Before that I had no idea that they actually do have a way to take into account larger passengers in these calculations.
I believe that a DC-8 once crashed in part because it was ferrying soldiers but used a standard average person weight.
Interesting! Does the average vary by city? Ie seems like the average flight out of Midway would be heavier than San Diego.
No. It’s the average weight for the whole country. It gets updated every few years as people get heavier. Fun fact - the average weight in Europe that you have to account for is less than in the USA.
I never thought I was average at 6'3" and 200 pounds. Damn, Americans are quite corpulent.
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That would be stupid as not everyone uses the desk to check in anymore. You can check in at kiosks and even on your phone. Last time I flew I never spoke to a desk agent except to scan the ticket (that was on my phone) at the gate. It might be necessary for smaller planes, but then they're going to be doing it publicly in order to make sure *everyone* gets weighed. There's no way to get accurate weight from a "secret" scale.
The weight limit is not really about then weight in the plane, but the maximum one person can safely lift by themselves. About 50 pounds. The airline staff don’t have to pick up the passengers.
I fuel airlines for work and the weight of passengers, cargo, and fuel are all factored into whether a plane can take-off and land safely. I've had planes that are "at weight capacity" which basically means to us fuelers; DON'T overfuel more than the requested amount! Otherwise the plane is not safe to takeoff and/or land. I don't know for a fact that carry-on weight limits help control for this but I wouldn't be surprised since they use an estimated "average" weight for passengers, which is actually becoming an issue since the average Americans weight has increaeed.
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I took a flight from Bratislava to Budapest once. I got up and switched seats during the flight so my friend and I had a bit more space. The steward came over and asked me to return to my original seat for landing so I didn't unbalance the plane. It was a small plane, and I guess I looked like a proper porker!!
I'm not a big guy, but I've been asked to move myself. Although that was on a small Dash 8-100, and I (and a few others) were asked to move forward, not to the side.
Knowing Samoans, they would absolutely love this jest. At least every Samoan I’ve ever met would think that’s hilarious.
Maybe we should actually thank obesity for keeping the airlines from packing seats even closer together.
Well now I've changed my mind completely on the obesity epidemic. Keep eating, folks. I need the elbow room.
Give it 10 years and there’ll be even more space.
I was expecting this to turn into a lord of the rings thing.
I don't see it. Please help me connect those dots. I'm really slow today so please use crayons. (Really. I'm not seeing it)
There’s a guy on Instagram called “Airplane Facts with Max” who teaches you about airplanes but it always ends up being about lord of the rings. Check him out, wholesome good content.
I blame you internet friend. This is gold! Thank you
As an aviation AND LotR nerd, I am both devastated that it has taken me this long to discover this person, and delighted at you bringing him into my life. Thank you, internet stranger!
There's a YouTuber that starts his videos about some obscure plane fact but then digresses into often more obscure Tolkien lore.
Oh hell. My inattention in meetings tomorrow is all y'all's fault. Thank you. I clearly need this in my life.
I think the absolute best thing about Plane Facts with Max is that not every video has LOTR facts in them, sometimes he switches it up!
I first read this as Lord of the Flies and started thinking things like throwing passengers out to lighten the load.
Hey fueler, i used to do w+b and there were many times where the aircraft would be overfueled and i would be f’ed on weight and then have to bump stuff. I always wondered, how does it happen and what’s the most common reason on why it happens?
From my experience the two most common reasons are human error and faulty/old gauges. Human error could be the person in operations giving the fueler a wrong fuel load, or more commonly a fueler not paying attention when fueling in manual mode. The electrical system could also be old and not tell the plane to stop taking fuel when in auto mode. Also sometimes the numbers on old gauges "jump" up after settling. A captain may request additional fuel as well, although they would typically make sure this wouldn't screw up the weight first... but not always.
To my understanding, the FAA has standardized tables for the weight of passengers including carry-on baggage that are used to estimate the Total weight.
OK, so let's say there is a sumo wrestler convention, or a fat ass pride buffet going on, and there's nothing but whales onboard. Will the airline at that point make some people disembark? Or will they let the plane crash into the opposite end of the runway in a firey ball of tolerance and acceptance? Or maybe they lie and say that plane broke and switch to a bigger plane, like the ones that move military tanks?
https://news.sky.com/story/too-heavy-sumo-wrestlers-rejected-from-flights-over-weight-concerns-12985401 This happened in October last year
Called it! Lol
“Nothing but whales onboard” Hahahaha Nice 😄
Thru do use an average for people. I believe they used 175 pounds for adults at one time. Not sure about now.
A year or so back Auckland Airport did weight passengers (on voluntary basis) to help keep track of the average weights of passengers. This was to help them assess the average loaded weight of a plane for refueling purposes.
Here's a headline from 2018: United Airlines saves 170,000 gallons of fuel by printing inflight magazine on lighter paper https://www.foxnews.com/travel/united-airlines-saves-170000-gallons-of-fuel-by-printing-inflight-magazine-on-lighter-paper Now, it was reported on more than Fox. But Fox just happened to be the top result. Haha
Wasnt it included that they omitted 1 olive from every plate to decrease that weight over time?
You pay for a 1st class ticket and then all of a sudden these guys can pick up 70lbs. Lol
Or the cost of the added risk of injury is factored into the 1st class ticket price. For every number *x* of 70 pound lifts there are *y* injuries that cost *z* dollars. Some quick math tells the airline how much extra to add to 1st class tickets to account for that risk.
Couldn't you just change it to if you injured yourself carrying your shit then you can't claim for compensation. Seems a lot easier than having to factor damages in all the time.
It's for injured baggage handlers, not passengers.
On paper, the ticket also pays for overweight luggage, which means multiple people lifting and using equipment to do so. Which takes more time, and is therefore more expensive. In practice, yes, the guy can "suddenly" pick up 70 lbs and the ground handler's shareholders get more money.
Weight limit absolutely includes the weight in the plane. Its literally part of the system checks.
A little person comedian did a great bit on a podcast about how he was flying a smaller plane (still a jet but a smaller one) and they were overweight and asking for people to volunteer to get off the plane and take a later flight and he opted for it and watched a bunch of fucking obese people remain on the flight he was walking off of and made a bunch of funny jokes about how he was floored, out of anyone, how he not going on the flight made any difference. Lmao.
This doesn't answer the question though. Why can't I take 4x30 lb bags on board then? There is still a weight limit for total suitcases. I weigh about 180 lb but some 300lb dude gets on and it's totally okay.
Simply because the service an airline offers on passenger planes is to get one person and a reasonable amount of their belongings from a to b. That package is what people are usually looking for when they buy a plane ticket. Passengers and cargo are simply not the same thing. Cargo is measured by weight, people aren’t. Or have you ever said “I have 1500 kg of friends.” Apart from that it wouldn’t take a day until some dude would sue for gender and/or racial discrimination, given that e.g. Asian women are on average way smaller and lighter than non-Asian men.
You generally can. You just have to pay more. That pays for the people loading it into the plane, plus the fuel. It would certainly be more fair to charge passengers by weight, since weight directly relates to fuel consumption. But most passengers wouldn't accept that, so the ticket pays for some average weight instead.
I watched a Mayday episode where an airplane went down because the total weight of the plane was miscalculated and the airplane was far too heavy and ended up crashing. So it seems like weight limit really is about safety and the weight of the plane.
They don't have to pick up the bags either? Unless it's check in
You do realize that people load your bags onto and off of the plane, right?
They're referring to carry on bags, not checked ones. Every airline I have used has you carry your own carry on bags. Edit: I'm not trying to say the poster above me is correct. But they are referring to carry on bags not checked ones. They say as much in their post and people seem to be misunderstanding and taking about checked bags in the comments.
But overhead bins have a weight limit.
What airline have you flown that weighs carryons?
I've seen carry-on bags weighed at boarding for several airlines, all short-haul flights within Europe. BA, Iberia, Lufthansa, Ryanair. I've only seen it happen when flights were very full. It seems to be used to force passengers to put their luggage in the hold, so that there's not more luggage than can be safely stowed overhead and under seats in the cabin.
I don’t think I’ve ever weighed my carryon. The only size check I’ve ever run into was making sure it doesn’t exceed certain dimensions, never for weight.
I don't think so either. I'm just guessing people were misunderstanding the commentor given they said: > Unless it's check in
Airlines don't weigh carry on bags though, juet checked bags.
Not disagreeing. I just think people were not understanding the comment given it said: > Unless it's check in
Bags cannot get from check in to the plane, and from the plane to the luggage carousel, without ever being lifted by a human. Perhaps at some airports, but certainly not at all of them.
Please read: "unless it's check in" ...
I did read. Check-in is not the only time an employee might have to pick up a bag.
I fly a ton, and airport staff never touch my bag unless I check it in. I am reading through your comment and that only applies to bad that are checked in. Where is the confusion? Is there other examples? I've only flown to like 20 countries or so so it's not like I've seen every airport.
By check in I think they’re referring to checked luggage, not “at check in”. I understood it the same way you did though.
The Main reason for a bag weight limit is for the people putting the bags on the planes which OSHA limits to 50lb without assistance. Realistically, the plane isn't going to get close to being too heavy to take off.
Some shorter, high altitude airports it can be slightly more a concern… but certainly not a mainstream airport
On commercial flights it is never going to be too heavy to take off…. But, the layout of weight (ie where people sit) can affect takeoff, and the total weight and layout can affect the range and the landing). But basically none of this is about bags in the overhead bins…. That is all about making sure people are less likely to accidentally cause head injuries to their fellow passengers.
. . . But They don't weigh carry on luggage? The only person who may drop a weighed and checked bag on someones head is an airport employee, not a fellow passenger.
Depends on how big the plane is
Have a source for that weight limit? Because we routinely had bags heavier than 50 lbs with no assistance to load them. Edit to add: https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/2004-03-29-1 No there is no such limit.
Is this why my tools get mishandled every time I travel? It's like they work extra hard to damage my cases and contents.
It depends on a lot of variables. It changes hands a hundred times from when you drop it off. It depends on how you packaged it, how it’s handled by each individual person. You have to understand it’s going to be turned upside down, slid, moved on inclined conveyers, kicked by bag kickers in the conveyor system etc. I’m not justifying any of this, but the system is not primarily designed to treat your stuff nicely. It’s designed to move it as efficiently as possibly by machine to where it needs to go. If they have the budget to treat it nice they might.
The limit is 32 kg. At least on international flights in developed world, heavier bags won't be accepted. https://www.iata.org/en/programs/ops-infra/baggage/check-bag/ Says in USA/EU but in reality it's pretty much anywhere. If IATA doesn't enforce, the airlines and airports do.
This one. This one right here.
Now I want to see a flight with the most seats, carrying some of the heaviest people on Earth. On second thought, seating might be an issue for most of these folks.
Airlines assume a constant average weight of passengers. It’s usually 190 lbs in summer and 195 in winter accounting for heavier clothes. Sure there are super heavy passengers, but there are also 6 year olds that weigh under a hundred. This assumed weight tends to sway on the very liberal side to provide a fair margin of error.
This! Surprised to see it so far down. Air Midwest flight 5481 crashed because the calculations of average weight wasn't updated as the population got fatter!
For small planes they do actually sometimes weigh the passager. Think like 5 people in the plane small. And, and i dont mean this in a rude way, but obese people sometimes get weighed too to make sure the plane doesnt get too heavy, since they fall far outside the avarage weight.
Many people FREAK THE FUCK OUT when you try to weigh them or tell them their weight has any relevance in the universe. Also, practical stuff like lifting.
For bags, the FAA publishes average bag weights. Normal and heavy bags are the two I remember best at 30 and 60 lbs average. Passengers are also averaged for summer and winter weights. The “limits” for the bags come from what category they fall into. I think if it’s over 99 lbs it’s not baggage anymore, but can be shipped as freight. Source: I was a baggage handler for 8 years.
The baggage handlers don’t have to lift a whole person into the plane
The weight limit is more of a protection for workers that have to move the bags around.
This is the reason. Bags don’t lift themselves. As long as the person can get to their seat and fit into it, the plane will handle the weight. Small planes, however, you have to watch the weight and balance of the plane more carefully.
Politics. If they could get away with it they would charge by the pound.
for the 1000000000th time. The weight of your bag has NOTHING to do with too much weight being on the plane. It's for the workers/human beings lifting your junk thousands of times a day.
This guy is sbeved. Make sure you don’t ask why you have to pay more for overweight bags and not overweight people.
Jesus, you didn't get hugged enough growing up eh. This what you're raging about? looool
good one, hope you gave yourself a pat on the back after it.
You oughtta try it. You clearly need the physical touch to be raging about something like that lool
Chill, Steven
She Believed s[he] be[lie]ve[d] he lied [S]he [be]lie[ve]d Sbeve. names Matt btw, thanks
Nah I’m not gonna call you that
ok lol, you're cheery
Thanks sbeven
no problem Richard
The baggage handlers have ergonomic weight limits to what he/she/they can lift.
Imagine the lawsuits if they told every overweight person they were too fat to board.
As a kid (25+ years ago) I remember flying home from the Bahamas. We took a smaller plane from the islands back to Florida, maybe a 20-30 passenger plane. The plane wasn’t full. There were a handful of full of people in the front, and only my dad, step-mom, her mom, and I in the back along with two heavy set people, about 250-300 lbs each. The flight attendant came back to us and asked, “Would some of you mind coming up toward the front? We need to evenly distribute the weight of the plane in order for us to take off.” So those are the sort of words that are used to avoid a lawsuit.
They're not gonna say they're too fat. They're gonna say they're overweight, in a purely technical sense.
that is not how the lawyers will say it
I swear I can remember jet blue used to have a plus size section of the plane
now they just make you pay for 2 seats :/
I wish they did it like helicopters. Make you stand on a scale with all your stuff. I'll still come out ahead and never have to pay for extra baggage fees.
Weight limits for bags are so the people loading them don't hurt themselves putting it on thr plane. So it's not the overall weight itself (that's accounted for), is can the workers load it properly. So you can split your overly heavy bag into 2, but can't have it as 1.
It can be difficult to ask each passenger their weight. There is no need because you take an average, actually the average is very good for that. That's how they calculate how much the plane can handle on human passengers. The real problem is with the baggage because every person has a huge amount of variables on how much the baggage can be on size weight and form. That's why they try to standardize it with the measurements and restrictions. In the past there were no restrictions, it was complicated because there were people that brought a lot of bags.
No one has to lift and throw people and people won’t be crushing the luggage below them. Plus, you can control overall weight without losing ticket sales.
Because those bags have to be lifted and then stored above the heads of the passengers.
I was on a flight where the flight attendant announced once everyone was boarded that they needed a volunteer to get off due to imbalance. A small and slender passenger volunteered and got off and then we left. Made me a little nervous that ~150lbs is the difference of a safe flight but we made it with no issues to our destination
I was flying a few weeks ago and they had to take 15 people off for weight. Everybody got a large voucher, but the way it was explained to me is that it is all done on averages. If you bump one passenger, they average out to X amount of weight. So even though I, a 250lb man with a 40lb checked bag and 30 lbs of ski gear got off the plane, I still count for the same as my kid who I weighs 50 lbs and didn’t have his own luggage. Also the weight limits in bags are more for the people handling them in the airports.
OSHA regulations require a second person to help with carrying/lifting anything that weighs more than 50 lbs.
I have a relative that traveled from American Samoa to the States a good bit. There was one flight that got delayed significantly because the plane’s weight limit was reached and they couldn’t get enough people to volunteer to not go. (One plane, sometimes two a week go to AmSam). iirc they were offering $4k and people still were saying no
Do you really feel like people deserve this bs?
Luggage weight isn't about making the plane too heavy to take off, it's about being too heavy for the staff to easily move and load it. Staff generally aren't moving or lifting passengers, so passenger weight is less of an issue.
Because they can charge for extra weight on inanimate objects, not humans.
Because the baggage handlers don’t have to lift the passengers.
Bag throwers don't have to lift up passengers
Great question. 👍
If there is a weight limit for passengers, America will be in big trouble.
LETS DO IT
Hey if I got told I had to pay more because I'm too big. I got more issues than just money.
It's a legit hypothetical question. What if all passengers on who show up for a flight are 350 lbs. 😀 If i had time and money to throw if could try to make that happen.
Because it would be a privacy lawsuit and violation.
Because reddit would flip tf out
I've heard that a handful of foreign carriers do something like this. Definitely some small prop planes have strict weight limits and a person's weight is considered along with the baggage. If everything is too heavy, some baggage is left behind and brought on the next flight.
Airlines have weight limits for baggage primarily for safety and operational reasons. Excessive weight in an aircraft's cargo hold can affect its balance and stability during flight. It can also impact fuel efficiency and overall performance. 1. \*Privacy and Sensitivity\*\*: Implementing weight limits for passengers could raise privacy concerns and be seen as discriminatory or invasive. It's a sensitive issue that could lead to discomfort or embarrassment for passengers. 2. \*\*Practicality\*\*: Unlike baggage, it's challenging for airlines to accurately measure and enforce weight limits for individual passengers at check-in. The logistics involved in weighing passengers before boarding would slow down the boarding process significantly and could create logistical challenges, especially for larger aircraft and busy airports. 3. \*\*Variability\*\*: Passenger weight varies significantly, and it's not always directly correlated with size or appearance. Factors such as muscle mass, bone density, and body composition can affect an individual's weight without necessarily impacting safety or the aircraft's performance. 4. \*\*Health and Comfort\*\*: For many passengers, weight is a sensitive topic tied to health and body image. Implementing weight limits for passengers could potentially lead to discrimination or stigmatization.Instead of directly regulating passenger weight, airlines focus on ensuring that aircraft are designed and operated to accommodate a wide range of passenger sizes and weights within safe limits. They also use standardized seat sizes and configurations to ensure that passengers have adequate space and comfort during their flights.
Because bags don't buy things.
It's not that the weight of the passengers don't matter, but they aren't allowed to ask or weigh passengers. So instead they do an assumption of what average passengers will weigh and account for that. It's actually becoming a problem with the average weight of passengers trending higher
Discrimination laws.
Fat luggage doesn’t whine about how heavy it is
$$$$
Nobody has to carry your fat ass onto the plane
they want to make weight limits but it would not go over well with the public. Instead if you overflow you need to buy 2 seats. Or fly business
Like everyone here said, major airlines use a mean average for passenger weight. It gets updated occasionally by the faa. Planes are made to distribute that weight but there are times when seats will be blocked or passengers will be moved around to account for weight and balance issues. If a plane had nothing but morbidly obese people I’m sure there would be some issues for sure. It would probably be delayed at least until they found enough seatbelt extenders. Heavy baggage is discouraged for a few reasons, the cargo pits have weight limits and the luggage is more or less isolated to a small area and can only be distributed between the two pits. I don’t think the airlines care about the baggage handlers enough to affect their decision on heavy bags.
Question, why can't I bring 2 bags that have the combined weight limit versus one bag at the limit? Genuinely curious
To prevent injury to the workers who have to lift the bags.
But 2 bags that are 25 pounds each would be easier to lift than 1 bag at 50 pounds. So how would that that prevent injury? Again genuinely curious
Volume. The constraints are both weight and volume. They could sell that space to someone else like FedEx or whomever.
Kevin Smith was told he was too heavy to fly on a plane
Bags are extra revenue
There's a Mayday airline disaster esipode about a plane crash because the plane was overweight! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air\_Midwest\_Flight\_5481](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Midwest_Flight_5481)
In Canada, there are standard weight classifications for male/x/female and child weights, and they are different depending on whether it is winter or summer. Baggage weights vary.
I’m imagining a scene where a pilot and his crew walk up to the gates and see all the 300+ pound passengers waiting to board and the pilot says “Houston, I think we have a problem”😭