Comments

1. People who are grossed out by things they see in restaurant front-of-house environments…have clearly never been in a restaurant kitchen, lol. I made peace long ago that nothing has killed me yet, so I must be all good…

2. Before I had status with the airline, with the accompanying waiver of bag fees, I did the foot under the scale trick all the time.

3. An interesting idea I’ve seen before but still dishonest.

4. Amused by the wheelchair. I wonder how long it had been missing…

5. I remember years ago I was working as a consultant for Texas Air (Continental and Eastern under Frank Lorenzo) helping them select a cargo management system (extremely interesting engagement BTW) and they told me that Unit Load Devices (ULDs), which are the big containers that go in wide bodies to both hold luggage and reinforce the airframe, had been known to go missing in some counties (mainly in Asia) and they later found people living in them as shelter.

6. I wonder — are the scales at the airport certified by the local or state weights and measures people?

   In Florida, state law requires all devices used to weigh anything for commercial purposes to be certified by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Fla. Stat. ch. 531. There are exceptions for weighing railroad cars and petroleum products, but not for airlines (F.S. sec. 531.61.). And “commercial purposes” means “any device…used in computing any charge or payment due for services rendered on the basis of weight, measure or count.” Fla. Admin. Code Sec. 5J-22.001(1)(b).

   I’ve never seen a FDACS seal on any scale at an airport in Florida.

   Just asking for a friend….

7. I’ve seen the Florida Department of Agriculture stickers on scales at VPS, though I don’t remember if it’s been recently.

8. I don’t mind the dishonesty of what that guy is doing because of the dishonesty of the scales – I once was stuck at an airport that had closed (our flight came in late) waiting for my bag, and took the opportunity to weigh myself. One 3 different scales I got 3 different numbers, with a range of about 8 pounds.

9. The contents of my suitcase weigh 49.5 lbs (coincidence, I have a bag waiver) and I’ve never had a weight variance on an airline scale or more than a pound (which is more than likely a shirt or two variance in the contents than the scale itself.)