Uzbekistan Airways to weigh passengers with their carry on before boarding

Uzbekistan's national carrier plans to weigh passengers with their hand luggage before boarding as part of a new 'flight safety' measure.

Uzbekistan Airways passengers will be directed to a "special weighing machine" at the departure gate, to determine each person's average weight with their hand baggage.

The airline said that individual passengers' weights would not be disclosed, and "full confidentiality of results is guaranteed", with the weighing machine only categorising passengers by sex and into adult and child groups.

"According to the rules of International Air Transport Association, airlines are obliged to carry out the regular procedures of preflight control passengers weighing with hand baggage to observe requirements for ensuring flight safety", the company said in a statement.

The Tashkent-based airline, whose motto is "safety, stability, comfort", has not made it clear whether larger passengers will be charged a fee, or excluded from flights on smaller planes.

It is also not known what measures would be taken should the total weight of the passengers and their hand luggage appear to exceed an aircraft's weight limit and guidelines. Uzbekistan Airways operates numerous routes throughout eastern Europe and Russia, and between London and Tashkent. It is sometimes used for internal or regional flights by tour operators offering "Silk Road" and central Asia tours.

Recently, a man attempted to sue Etihad Airways after he claimed he was left with back pain from sitting next to an obese passenger. Claire Mackichans wrote that her husband endured a nine-hour flight from Los Angeles next to a large gentleman, whom she said was so overweight, "he needed to shuffled sideways along the aisle and bring his own seatbelt extension onto the flight with him. He intruded at least 20cm into my husband's seat and was so large he couldn't fold down his tray table. Virgin Atlantic flight staff were unhelpful when my husband complained on two occasions during the flight. He had paid for a seat but was having to share half of it with another passenger. No other seat was available apparently."