Forget the weight of your bags, how much do you weigh Sir?
According to a study by the Lancet, one-third of the population is now obese. This growing epidemic — and we mean growing literally — has implications across all sectors. Obviously, the food supply is a big player in this issue, whether that’s the sale of foods and beverages driving the increasing weight of the population or the move towards more natural, healthy foods to put things in reverse. And of course, there is the medical industry angle as society deals with the adverse impact from all the extra weight people, are carrying around — diabetes, cholesterol, hypertension and other medications.
There is also the day-to-day impact, and this story looks at the travel industry and the very real issue of the weight of passengers on the plane. We’ve all read the stories about people being forced to purchase multiple seats. In this story however, the issue of weighing people before getting on planes to calculate fuel consumption is raised. Down the road it makes us wonder if just like your bags, will weight limits be put in place for passengers and force people to pay extra if they weight over a certain weight? Will be an interest societal and business issue.
A pair of American Samoan businessmen have complained to the United States transport regulator over their claims that they had to be weighed before joining their flights from Honolulu.According to Radio New Zealand, they are annoyed with Hawaiian Airlines because they were unable to choose their own seats on the flight from Hawaii to Pago Pago, with the airline citing a rise in average passenger weight and a need to distribute the load evenly around the aircraft on that route. One of the complainants, Avamua Dave Haleck, says the new rule is discriminatory and an injustice, because it only applies to flights between Honolulu and the American Samoan capital.
Source: Row as airline weighs passengers to American Samoa – BBC News
