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One British startup wants to discreetly weigh passengers in order to help airlines save on fuel costs and keep passengers from feeling like they’re being shamed for their size.
According to Lonely Planet, Fuel Matrix, a startup founded by CEO Roy Fuscone, aims to use methods like pressurized pads at self-service bag drops or during full body scans to collect data on passenger's weight. Much like with facial recognition technology, the pads will confidentially send data to the airlines alone for the purposes of fuel economy.
Perhaps many passengers take for granted how much weight is on their flight, and how much fuel it takes for their plane to get from one place to another based on how light or heavy it is. But airlines take this measurement into account for every single flight.
Baggage gets weighed. Passengers should also get weighed. I'm 100 pounds soak-n-wet. Why shouldn't someone who weighs three or four times that not pay more for the ride?
Can that statistic POSSIBLY be true - that planes carry an average of 1% more fuel than they need?
????????
Who knew we were flying that close to the bone? Geez.
So, like, if you get to the airport and have to circle around a few times waiting for your turn to land, chances are very high you'll crash?
I don't think my idea is so "out there". Take a few seats out and make the plane automatically lighter. But airlines don't do that. More important to keep their profit margins I guess.
Can that statistic POSSIBLY be true - that planes carry an average of 1% more fuel than they need?
????????
Who knew we were flying that close to the bone? Geez.
So, like, if you get to the airport and have to circle around a few times waiting for your turn to land, chances are very high you'll crash?
I'm guessing there's "reserve" fuel somewhere in the plane for situations just like this. In other words, when the tank reads "empty," there's still fuel left, either at the bottom of the tank or in a separate reservoir. Much like when your car reads "E," it still has a solid 60-150 miles left, depending on the make and model.
One thing I do know, however, is that pilots are trained to be able to land without fuel. It won't just "crash."
I have a vague recollection of people being weighed prior to boarding on a commuter size plane and then seated to balance the weight. This would have been over 30 years ago.
A few years ago, before a Powell River to Vancouver flight, I had to sit on the baggage scales. Not because I was at all overweight, but, if I remember right, because of the heavy weight of my suitcase, they needed to check my weight too.
Smart move on the part of the airlines. Get people judging and bickering amongst each other (in this case, start a big fat-hate-fest), and they won't notice that you're introducing ridiculous policies to hose them. Divide and conquer, etc.
Lol... we didn’t weigh passengers... nor luggage. We used an “average” weight per bag and per passenger to figure weight and balance. We used a higher estimate to make sure we were within limits.
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