Have Your Say

Removing the extra weight from the baggage is important due to the weight in the rear or front of the aircraft. I can understand your confusion with the this, but by taking the extra weight into the cabin area is not so critical , due to the weight having a neutral impact on the aircraft ie not affecting its CG (center of gravity ). Look at it this way, place the plane on a triangle , find the balance point and then put weight in the centre, then put extra weight in the front or rear and see what happens, this is so simplified , but i think you will understand . To much weight in the front and rear and the aircraft may make the aircraft to heavy to lift off from the runway and to much in the rear and the plane may pitch up and become uncontrollable in flight. Weight and balance of an aircraft is not hit and miss, it covers all aspect of the aircraft and load.
In respect to ” your own weight” that too is taken into account and is calculated . Individual passenger weight is not the issue here, but the the position inside the aircraft where you are seated. Passenger seating is important to the aircraft trim, ( think of a boat on the a lake and put 9 people all on one side, see what happens ) and spreading passengers over the length of the aircraft will keep it within its CG, but baggage weight is concentrated in a specific location in the aircraft at a specific spot and the weight is usually in the rear or front which has implications for takeoff and landing. So while you may feel the 150kg person is not penalized due to their personal weight , inside the plane the spread of passengers will counteract that type of issue, but , yes, Pax weight still does have an issue

I should also state i have over simplified the issues and answers here, but this is generally how its done,and each aircraft will be treated accordingly. There is no set figure that can be applied to each flight or the same aircraft, as each will have their own unique set of parameters to work with. As an example you will could have two identical aircraft say 777 and both may weight differently, even though they are the same model, how is that so?. One may have been repainted twice and the other left unpainted, thus the weight of the paint is the factor here and paint can weight in the hundreds of kgs and has to be taken into account, and each plane will have its own index value due to these types of differences.

So while you may feel aggravated with the airlines requesting you to alter your baggage this is done for YOUR safety and the safety of the aircraft

Hope that helps