This has never happened to me before--I was seated on a fairly small plane (2 seats on one side, 1 on the other) out of FAY and I had gotten on standby in order to have a longer connection in ATL, so my seat wasn't guaranteed in advance. But as we were just about to depart, they told me I had to get off again because the plane was too heavy. Does this happen a lot? I weigh 115 pounds--my checked luggage another 25 maybe. How do they calculate this, and why could they not know before I boarded that this might be an issue? It sucked to be all excited to have gotten on the flight and then I was so disappointed to have my hopes dashed and spend another 4 hours waiting in the FAY airport for my original confirmed flight. I assume I deserve no compensation since my seat was never guaranteed, right? Is this a common thing that happens?

As a Captain for a regional I can say what you experienced is, while uncommon, not unheard of. We make every attempt to accommodate all passengers and bags with the required fuel amounts for the specific flight. Generally this is all sorted out before boarding commences, but on occasion, there are slip ups we find in the final checks requiring bags, mail, cargo, or passengers, to be offloaded. Generally non-revs are removed first. It sounds like in your case there were no non-revs (or at least I hope there weren't) and they had to remove a revenue standby. Sorry for the inconvenience you experienced! Sometimes weather, crew, and/or aircraft maintenance requirements necessitate more fuel than what was originally expected. I would say I see it affect bags/cargo on almost a weekly basis. As far as passengers go, I only see it a handful of times a year.

All of DL regional jets (CRJ-200/700/900, EMB-170/175) are 2x2 in coach. AA has Piedmont ERJ-145's with 1x2 seating on FAY-CLT, but DL no longer has any such aircraft. Weight and balance issues are not uncommon on the regional aircraft. They base the weight savings on averages and have no clue how much each passenger actually weighs. No, you are not due IDB compensation as you did not have a confirmed booking on the flight. Also, if you were on a CRJ-200 (which appears to be case as all the regional flights on this route are currently Skywest CRJ-200's), aircraft 60 seats or under are exempted from DOT IDB rules if denied due to weight/balance issues (which should tell you that such issues are not uncommon for these aircraft).

Wow! That's interesting!

Several times on RJs I have been asked to change seats for balance. Have never been asked to deplane once boarded.

As LBJ notes, there's a standard weight for adult passengers and a standard weight for checked bags on aircraft of more than 19 seats. The passenger weight is higher in winter -- I don't know if the FAA allows for winter coats or is fearful of seasonal carb consumption!

Winter coats is one of the things that actually is taken account of.

This issue happens not just on small aircraft but also larger ones. I have been on a 737 when people were off loaded.

No, all major airlines just use a standard assumed weight for passengers and carry-ons together. In the winter they add something like 5 or 10 pounds to the average based on the idea that passengers have more "weight" on their person and in their carry-ons due to heavier clothes in the winter.

The overall average figure has been revised upward over time, but it may be due for another given the continued expansion of waistlines as well as heavier carry-ons due to checked bag fees. I think the last revision was around 2006.

As this issue is relevant to many airlines, I am moving the thread to TravelBuzz
Obscure2k
Delta Moderator

Not only assumed weight but the assumed weight builds in a huge safety margin. If the carrier used actual weight for everyone + bags (even allowing a large margin of error in weighing), I imagine you would have stayed on (and the flight could have filled more empty seats.

maybe in some places this is true. Not so much in the fast-food loving USA.

Happened to me twice. Once a Dash-8 into LEB (NH not the country) and the first time on an MD-80 (really), both of these were back in the day. I remember on the MD80 flight the flight attendant came to my seat and said, quite loudly, "we're having some trouble with the weight distribution...YOU will have to move to first class." She really leaned on the "YOU" like I was the one causing all the problems. I was both embarrassed at the implication I was fat (an BTW, I'm 5-10, 155, so, you know, come on) but also grateful for the bump.

Was once flying ORD-CMI and AA offered me $900+ to take the next flight in an hour due to weight restrictions. I jumped at the opportunity but was told they ended up not needing any volunteers after the plane was loaded.