While this may be a question more correctly asked to someone other than a pilot, I will give it a try here.

I flew round trip a few weeks ago and on the outbound probably had 30% children. On the return, I didn't see one child and most were men that seem to all average 200+ pounds. It got me to thinking about aircraft design and weight maximums.

Over the years, planes have gone from 30 to 33 rows or from 8 abreast to nine abreast in coach. I know the planes were designed to carry a specific weight and now have an additional 15 to 30 passengers/seats. I also believe that there is an average weight applied per passenger, which according to the government since we are almost all obese, probably isn't accurate at take-off. My question is at what point do the planes reach there safety limits vs. CFO's economic interest and does this even concern any of you?