Airline’s seating method draws ire for weight factor

The results of Hawaiian Airlines’ six-month voluntary survey found that on average the passengers and their carry-on bags were 30 pounds heavier than anticipated, and it’s prompted a new policy:

[...] they are assigned seats when they check in for their flights at the Honolulu and Pago Pago airports to ensure that weight is evenly distributed around the jets’ cabins.

The new policy has prompted complaints to federal transportation officials and claims that people from American Samoa are being targeted because of their weight.

Snook said he was surprised to see headlines about the issue, and said many media reports were inaccurate in saying that the airline was assigning seats based on passenger weight.

Using the results of the survey, airline officials found that if adults all sat in one row of the plane, the combined weight of those passengers might exceed load limitations in crash-landing situations, Snook said.