The Federal Transit Administration proposed last year that its assumed bus-passenger weight be raised to 175 pounds from 150 pounds.
Airlines would also need to factor passenger weight into their ticket pricing schemes, which would make an already-complex algorithm even more complicated.
In 2003, the issue of passenger weight surfaced when a commuter plane crashed on takeoff from Charlotte, North Carolina, because of excess weight and a maintenance error.
The new rule was prompted by a recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board, which found that passenger weight was a factor in several deadly boating accidents in recent years.
While Samoa Air's model could prompt a shake-up in the profit-starved industry, many of the world's airlines have so far been reluctant to capitalize on passenger weight because of discrimination concerns.
Mr. Langton said knowing each passenger's weight ahead of time allows the airline to change the configuration of an airplane to accommodate larger passengers.
The accident prompted the FAA to increase the estimated weight per passenger by 10 pounds, including 20 pounds of carry-on luggage.
For example, the average weight for a passenger traveling in the summer (including carry-on luggage) went from 180 pounds in 1995 to 190 pounds in 2003.
And the wings are the reason this plane is considered one of the most revolutionary in aviation history (the weight-saving reduces per-passenger fuel consumption by 20 percent).
Part of the reservations system calculates the weight of the airplane based off passenger, fuel and luggage data, which is necessary for the airplane to safely take off.
By urging airlines to limit carry-on items to one per passenger, and by actually enforcing carry-on size and weight restrictions.
Placing the batteries in the floor of the vehicle provides optimum weight distribution to help enhance handling and allows for five-passenger seating by not intruding into the cabin space.
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With a thrust that barely exceeded its weight, the booster struggled off the pad so slowly that a passenger could not be sure he was moving at all.
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