Is it reasonable to weigh passengers? “Definitely not,” said Vance Hilderman, CEO of the aviation safety company Afuzion. At least not for the purpose of safety, he said. “If you're at a small Bombardier, a small Embraer jet, and we had 10 very obese people … it could make a small difference,” he said.

Airlines generally do not weigh individual passengers because it is logistically impractical, invasive to privacy, and unnecessary for flight safety. Instead, the aviation industry uses standardized average weights for passengers and carry-on luggage (typically around 84kg or 185 lbs for an adult in 2026) to calculate the aircraft's mass and balance. These averages are periodically reviewed by regulators like the FAA and EASA to ensure they remain accurate. Weighing hundreds of passengers would cause massive boarding delays and significant social discomfort. However, there are exceptions: smaller regional aircraft and turboprops may require actual weights because their smaller size makes them highly sensitive to minor weight variances. Occasionally, airlines may conduct voluntary, anonymous weighing surveys to update their statistical data, but for standard commercial flights, "average" data is more than sufficient to ensure the plane stays within its safe center of gravity.