m500dpp
with the population getting increasingly obese it may soon be necesary for safety to weigh everyone in when checking in...
Actually, what happens is that, every year, there are test weight measurements made, to establish the changing average.
For many years, I recall, South African Airways did this. At check in there was a sign asking for volunteers to sit on the scales. The reading was hidden and formed no part of the check in. Across three months, they would have thousands of weights of people (age and gender noted) and they then used this information for themselves and sold the data to other airlines.
It was often done at quieter regional airports, rather than main cities. It is my understanding that this process continues so that airlines know the average weight - if not the girth! Weights are amended by the statisticians to allow for differences where required but the overall weight change is tracked.
In the very early days of flight, as
bealine mentions, passengers had a combined weight limit but they were actually weighed with their luggage. There was a special seat and the bags and person placed on it. I have read of this continuing with the Dragon Rapide into the 1940s.