Air New Zealand's voluntary weight survey is crucial to the enhancement of safety and efficiency, as well as to the reduction the environmental impact of flights, as it will enable airlines to minimize fuel consumption and emissions. Even though this is relatively rare in many parts of the world, several Pacific airlines are already gathering data for weight and balance calculations.
While the airline may indeed be carrying out this survey due to safety concerns, the decision to ask passengers to weigh themselves in public places is likely to further promote weight discrimination. This new measure will make the sometimes very stressful experience of air travel even tougher, especially for people with body image issues and eating disorders.
There's a 21% chance that the CDC will adopt a Health at Every Size approach towards addressing obesity before 2035, according to the Metaculus prediction community.