The message on the company’s website states the procedure is required to ensure flight safety, referencing International Air Transport Association (IATA) regulations, according to which “airlines are obliged to carry out the regular procedures of preflight control passengers weighing with hand baggage.”
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan Airways guarantees its passengers full confidentiality, and says weights will not be associated with passengers’ names, and instead the “weighing record will only contain the corresponding passenger category (i.e. male/ female/ children).” Special scales will be placed near departure gates.
This is not the first time an airline has become concerned with their customers’ weight. In 2013, Samoa Air became the first airline in the world to enforce a pay-by-weight policy, according to which the price of an airline ticket depends on the total weight of the passenger and her or his baggage. The airline’s website explains it’s necessary in order to “pay for what you carry, and everyone pays for what they use (which is the dreaded kilo or pound if you prefer).”
The approach taken by Uzbekistan Airways doesn’t appear to be connected to ticket price just yet.
