Thai airlines weigh in on passenger pounds

[sambum]

4 hours ago, neeray said:

This is a precursor to charging passenger tickets by weight. Any other explanation is BS.

Got to agree - however I remember flying with a particular airline from Glasgow to Bangkok (via Dubai!) and the check in "girl" said "Your hand luggage is a bit heavy "sonny" (I was in my forties at the time!) - you'll have to put some of it into your check in baggage". So I said "In Manchester, they usually allow a couple of kilos leeway on your cabin luggage (as long as it's not too large to fit in the overhead locker) and the total weight doesn't exceed the limit". Her reply? "Aye, well ye're no in Manchester now, sonny, ye're in Glasgae" and sent me to the back of the queue to "rearrange" my luggage! In retrospect, I should have reported her attitude, or asked to see her supervisor, but I've never flown with that airline from "Glasgae" again!

[Emdog]

Dang! Next thing ya know FedEx, DHL, post offices gonna start charging for items by weight! What? oh... wait...

[Liverpool Lou]

7 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Very intrusive. I think I would start saying NO to the airlines who engage in this policy. See ya! 

Participation is voluntary, as the OP clearly explains.  See ya! 

[mancub]

7 hours ago, IamNoone88 said:

Its complete rubbish. Commercial flights started in 1914 over 100 years ago ... airline safety standards and engineering standards are second to none .... and there is no data available on average weight distribution for individuals ... anywhere .. including national health services? Airlines are looking to gouge passengers yet again ... Ryanair even call it a "fat tax".

Weight is critical in determining take off speed and there are published figures that airlines follow/adhere to comply with regulatory body safety standards. 

[Jimjim1]

6 hours ago, blazes said:

In Asia, there is generally no problem with obesity

Clean your glasses sunshine and take a look around you. I have just returned from Thailand and to be honest I have never seen so many fat Thai women and girls and it is getting worse, long gone are the days of never seeing a fat Thai, now they are wobbling around everywhere.

[Sydebolle]

it would certainly help if the ground staff at the air bridge or the bus gate would screen the socalled hand luggage. It is appaling - to say the least - what Thais can understand as "hand luggage", a hand bag, computer bag, travel bag, beauty case and the usual Krispy Creme box. I fly very, very often domestically and more than once passengers boarding after me took out my single handluggage of less than 7kgs, put it on a seat and squeezed in their own stuff. 
Some of these sweeties pretend not being able to lift up their suitcase; possibly due to the fact that they (the luggage, not the passenger) is by far too heavy. They then are utterly surprised when I tell them in fluent Thai what I think about the relocation of my single handluggage within the limits of the carrier; a face-losing smile and then they get on the nerves of the cabin crew. 

Thais always believe that rules are great, as long as they are observed by others but themselves 8-) 

[NoshowJones]

2 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

stupid post.... A western tourist weight 85 kg which is very normal and with 20kg luggage they all have to pay much more, than an Asian who weight 53 and 20kg luggage will get a discount?? Bit strange...but when the Asian brings 20k luggage and 10k as handluggage which I often see in airplanes it would be no problem.. So only westerns are being overweighed constantly

"A western tourist weight 85 kg which is very normal".  Really?? At 6ft tall if I was that weight I would be well overweight. What is the average height of a westerner? 5ft 8ins or thereabouts? That would make a westerner of 5ft 8ins and weighing 85 kg very overweight.

[ifmu]

7 hours ago, Iron Tongue said:

It has nothing to do with weight distribution.  It's another opportunity to charge more per seat.

ah yes   intent  ...... 

i agree its just a cash grab

[Torlyng48]

8 hours ago, Iron Tongue said:

It has nothing to do with weight distribution.  It's another opportunity to charge more per seat.

Good idea, now a 60kg person have to pay a lot for extra luggage weight, but a 90kg person go free of charge, not fair 

[Walker88]

There are some former airline employees here who likely know better, but I recall reading an article that said US airlines assume an average weight of each customer plus baggage as 185 lbs (about 84kg). That, at least in the US, is fanciful now.

 

Since 1993 the average American is 35 lbs heavier. That ain't genetics or evolution; it's sloth and gluttony.

 

For large aircraft, I guess there would be fuel savings if passengers were distributed better, but there is less of a safety issue in terms of trim. On smaller aircraft it definitely is an issue, and there have been fatal crashes on commuter aircraft, due to obese passengers and bad distribution of weight..

 

So obese are many now that they must ask for a seat belt extension in order to get it around their fat. Flight attendants dip into a closet and take one out. I think they have a sizable inventory, as so many flying are obese. Clearly Economy Seats with the arm rests down cannot contain the overflow blubber of many. Some passengers cannot even fit into the bathroom, as the door doesn't open wide enough to allow their girth. One would think the physical discomfort of 'holding it in' on long haul flights would encourage the obese to better their lifestyle.

 

Should there be an emergency and a need to rapidly evacuate, fat people will get in the way and likely be the cause of unnecessary deaths.

 

There are many reasons why 'fat shaming' would be good for society, and this is one of them. Time to toss out the 'body positive' nonsense. Fat is not beautiful.

[bdenner]

5 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Nonsense..... 

See this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Midwest_Flight_5481

There have been many more!

[newbee2022]

2 hours ago, findlay13 said:

Thai airways shooting themselves in the foot again.Do they actually want people to fly with them again?

 

😂Only the slim or normal🤣

[PETERTHEEATER]

Ultimately, this will result in a practice where passengers pass through the boarding gate and into a tunnel terminating in two branches with a wig-wag barrier. Scanned by CCTV a computer controlling the barrier will direct pax down one branch or the other. One boards a passenger plane and the other to CARGO.😋

[Bobydog]

4 hours ago, Marco51 said:

.....never come back airlines ................

I came back often enough, Sunshine

[ikke1959]

1 hour ago, NoshowJones said:

"A western tourist weight 85 kg which is very normal".  Really?? At 6ft tall if I was that weight I would be well overweight. What is the average height of a westerner? 5ft 8ins or thereabouts? That would make a westerner of 5ft 8ins and weighing 85 kg very overweight.

your weight in cm above one meter is normal....no overweight... so 1.85 and 85 kg is normal... 165 65 kg normal too... Know what you are taking about

 

[tkramer]

4 hours ago, newbee2022 said:

Time now to lose weight for some? I can see already many complaints here😊. Are there any obese here? Really?😂

Irresponsible over-eating 'fatty's' on this forum...?

 

I don't think so...'Buster'!

 

(I mean, who in their right mind on this forum would eat more than they need...?)

Edited October 21, 2023 by tkramer

[Hardcastle P]

Next it will be combined wight of passenger and luggage , not before time.

[Hardcastle P]

10 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Very intrusive. I think I would start saying NO to the airlines who engage in this policy. See ya! 

On you bike then 

[geisha]

It’s a TRIAL. !!  Can you imagine weighing 3 or 4 hundred passengers before check in on one flight ?? 
It’s been done before , and often on smaller planes to investigate weight distributions. I’ve participated in the Philippines a few years back. 

[NoshowJones]

53 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

your weight in cm above one meter is normal....no overweight... so 1.85 and 85 kg is normal... 165 65 kg normal too... Know what you are taking about

 

I'm 6ft 77k so what does that make me? Surely at 5ft 8ins and weighing 85k, a person is overweight though not obese.

[Hardcastle P]

8 hours ago, waders123 said:

Phase 1:  Airlines request volunteer passengers to weigh themselves and their luggage to gather average weight data.  You know for weight distribution and fuel savings.  Wink, Wink.

 

If no real pushback from Passengers, Airlines will move on to the next phase.

 

Phase 2:  Airlines will demand passengers to weigh themselves and their luggage to gather average weight data.  You know for weight distribution and fuel savings.  Wink, Wink, and a Wei.

 

Again, if no real pushback from Passengers, Airlines will move on to the next phase.

 

Phase 3:  Airlines will have a set weight limit for each passenger and their carry-ons, (weight limits will more than likely vary from airline to airline).  An additional fee will be applied to passengers who exceed the limit.

 

This is just another bad idea to float out there when every country's economy is in the toilet and desperately needs all the cash injection they can get! 

This is definitely not a positive PR move for tourism.   

I can see it now:  Come enjoy what our beautiful country has to offer, but first, you need to step on these scales so we can extract more money out of your pockets and make you feel like s#&t and pi$$ you off.  Welcome to our country!

 

I would only hope there will be a LOT of passenger pushback to this sort of airline practice.  Because, just like the seats, weight limits could be subject to smaller sizes/limits; in the end, everyone could be paying to collect weight information for weight distribution and fuel savings.  Wink, Wink, and a happy Wei.  

Sorry but I do not see why I should have to pay extra for being 2kg over the luggage allowance when the person behind me weighs 30 kg more than me and gets away Scott free because their luggage is just on the limit of the weight allowance. 

[tkramer]

16 minutes ago, NoshowJones said:

I'm 6ft 77k so what does that make me? Surely at 5ft 8ins and weighing 85k, a person is overweight though not obese.

Maybe yes, maybe no. Obesity is determined by percentage of 'body fat', not weight.

 

25% body fat is 'obese'.

 

Although most body-builders I see here in Thailand have more 'bulking and sculpted fat' than lean muscle', they may still not be 'obese'. 'Top body-builders' are always running usually way under 10% body fat.

 

It's all in the 'muscle definition', not the bulk.

Edited October 21, 2023 by tkramer

[KannikaP]

3 hours ago, mancub said:

Weight is critical in determining take off speed and there are published figures that airlines follow/adhere to comply with regulatory body safety standards. 

This table then suggests that adult men average the low 80s......no way. And women are 15kg less than men.  And do they compensate this when two fatties check-in on line in advance and sit together.

[mancub]

12 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

This table then suggests that adult men average the low 80s......no way. And women are 15kg less than men.  And do they compensate this when two fatties check-in on line in advance and sit together.

It's not concerning passenger seating dispersion. but basic guidelines to better enable take-off weight calculation.

[Liverpool Lou]

18 hours ago, Peabody said:

So if you prepay for a specific seat, you may get moved?

 

There was no suggestion of that, at all.  It's just a data-collection exercise.  As the article stated.

[Liverpool Lou]

11 hours ago, Iron Tongue said:

It has nothing to do with weight distribution.  It's another opportunity to charge more per seat.

Nothing to do with that...you'd know if you bothered to read the article.

[Liverpool Lou]

11 hours ago, DjSilver said:

Another reason why passengers are giving up on Thai air. Always bankruptcy when the board of directors are all Thai 🤣

What?  What has THAI got to do with this?   They're not involved in the exercise.

[Liverpool Lou]

11 hours ago, IamNoone88 said:

Airlines are looking to gouge passengers yet again ...

No reference to that in the article.

[Peabody]

9 hours ago, LukKrueng said:

Add long as it comes with the same % discount for those under the average I'm all for it

I have no doubt that slightly under the average will be set as the starting base weight. Go over, pay more.

 

[Peabody]

17 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

There was no suggestion of that, at all.  It's just a data-collection exercise.  As the article stated.

Cuz everything they say is gospel and airline price creep is fake news.