Finnair To Begin Weighing Passengers Ahead Of Boarding Flights

Finnair reportedly began weighing passengers Tuesday ahead of boarding a flight at Helsinki Airport in Helsinki, Finland. The airline asked for volunteers to step onto a scale with their luggage. Nearly 180 customers agreed to participate.

Finnair wants to gather its own weight data to ensure the safety of everyone who boards its flights. Airline workers will ask at least 150 passengers to hop on a scale each flight. The recorded weight will only be known to the volunteer and the airline worker.

"We want to make sure we have the best possible data at our disposal also in this respect," Sami Suokas, the manager of customer processes at Finnair, told Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat Monday. "That's why we're collecting data from our own network."

The Finland-based airline, until now, had followed guidelines set by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) passenger standard weight estimates. Published in 2009, these regulations are used to make important safety calculations that could affect various aspects of the airplane. The system did have some faults, however, as the average weight is often varied per customer and the heaviness of one's luggage differs, among other factors.

EASA's weight predictions put the average male customers at 187 lbs, with female passengers at 147 lbs. These weights can vary as men flying first-class often weigh more than men who are seated in the economy section, BBC reported Wednesday.

"This is part of having a very strong safety culture in our organization," Päivyt Tallqvist, communications director at Finnair, told the Huffington Post Thursday. "We want to see if the data we're using for calculations is accurate. We use them for every flight, and they're important for the aircraft's performance. When you explain this to [passengers], they understand."

The airline's collection period is set to continue into 2018 to provide an accurate representation the of weights of all passengers and luggage carried by its.

Finnair isn't the only airline to weigh customers. Uzbekistan Airlines announced its plan to place passengers on a "special weighing machine" in 2015, but the company dropped the program before weigh-ins commenced.

Hawaiian Airlines also came under fire in 2016 for enforcing a weigh-in requirement for fliers. The airline's policy was later approved as a method for preventing potential crash landings, despite receiving numerous complaints.

Several airlines have set in place regulations for passengers of size. Alaska Airlines, United Airlines and American Airlines require overweight passengers to purchase a second seat. Air Canada equates being obese to a disability, with its One Person One Fare program requiring individuals "disabled by obesity" to request extra seating ahead of their flight. This service is free of charge on most of Air Canada's flights.

A representative for Finnair did not immediately return International Business Times' request for comment.