The Biggest Loser: the airline weighs full passengers before boarding the plane

An American airline has asked an obese passenger to climb on a luggage scale to check her weight and then decide whether to allow her to board the plane or not, The Sun reports.

Such a strange incident caused the disapproval of passengers gathered nearby and prompted one of them to film the incident on video. A short video was posted on social networks.

People were shocked to see a video of people being weighed before they were supposed to board the plane. Most passengers need to make sure that their luggage does not exceed a certain weight, but few people think that their own weight will prevent them from boarding the plane.

The incident caused widespread disapproval among travelers, as well as those who watched the video or read about it online, as previously no airline required a certain weight for a traveler and did not prohibit obese people from traveling or boarding flights.

A traveler named Lillian filmed the incident, took photos of it and posted them on social media, and also wrote a comment saying: "This behavior embarrassed us." I and the rest of the passengers are in a state of shock after the staff asked the woman to stand on the luggage scale because she might be overweight."

The video has been seen more than 1.6 million times since she posted it, with other people shocked by what they'd seen.

One wrote: "That’s not ok."

Another said: "Why would they need her weight...? Or is this a US thingy?"

While most users have criticized the unnamed airline for such "cruelty," others argue that it is a common practice.

One user said, "Airports are out of control."

However, one user argued, "They care about weight restrictions on small planes because they need to have a central weight in a certain part of the plane."

"I've seen this exact thing at my job. I'm a medical intern and some medications are weight-based, so it's important that we ask," said another user.

Another user added, "Weight and balance are very important on small planes."

This is more important for small planes, as it allows for more precise "balance calculations", rather than using estimates or taking customers word for it.

However, instead of weighing passengers, airline staff may ask how much the traveler weighs.

To take into account a traveler who may underestimate their actual weight, the FAA advised to "make a reasonable estimate of the passenger's actual weight and add 10 pounds".