Hawaiian Airlines Faces Complaints Over Weight Discrimination
Joe Cortez October 04, 2016
Two complaints focus on weight distribution on flights to American Samoa.
Hawaiian Airlines may have to answer to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over allegations that they have discriminated against flyers of a particular weight. Radio New Zealand reports two men have filed complaints against the airline over a weight distribution policy on flights between American Samoa and Hawaii.
Under the airline’s current policy, flyers arriving to or departing from Pago Pago International Airport (PPG) in American Samoa are not allowed to select their seats online or at check-in. Instead, flyers’ seats are selected for them because the airline says they are contending with heavier passengers aboard the flight. According to a statement from Hawaiian Airlines, the policy allows the airline to redistribute weight in order to meet manufacturer guidelines on the Boeing 767 aircraft that fly the route.
However, the two business flyers claim that the policy is discriminatory and has little to do with weight distribution. Speaking to Radio New Zealand, Avamua Dave Haleck told the station that the policy was an “injustice,” because it only applied to one route. Furthermore, Haleck notes that there is nowhere in the system where passengers are asked to be weighed. With the two complaints filed against Hawaiian Airlines, the FAA will investigate the claims.
Obesity in American Samoa has been a growing problem noted in research papers. NPR reports that one in three residents of the island nation currently contends with Type 2 diabetes as a result of diet and weight issues.
Hawaiian Airlines’ issue with weight is not the first time an airline has addressed the concern of heavier flyers. Last year, Uzbekistan Airways announced they would begin weighing passengers prior to boarding, while Southwest Airlines maintains a “Customer of Size” policy for large flyers.
[Photo: Hawaiian Airlines]
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If the airlines didn't cram so many more seats on to the planes than they used to, would this still be a problem? My question is sincere. Thinking out loud, if you removed, say, 20 seats, the weight distribution on the plane still matters, but you have less total weight to deal with.
Wait till they try Cape Air.
The issue seems to be a national origin issue, not a "weight discrimination" issue. It seems to me that the plaintiffs here have a point, given that no one is weighed in the process of checking in/boarding a Hawaiian flight.
The problem is that airlines keep shrinking the size of the seats and pitch to cram more passengers in for revenue. It is not just overweight people who have issues, it is all people who are very tall.
I have been on many flights where passengers had to be moved due to balance issues. HA only has 3 rows in First on their 767-300ER, so packing more passengers toward the front is probably going to make it a little nose-heavy to begin with. Growing up in Hawaii, I can confirm that routing will have issues with passenger weight. I'm not surprised at all that passengers had to be moved around so often that they put the "no advanced seat selection" policy in place. Quite sad that such a thing is necessary.