12.5 stone man kicked off flight over weight limit

US passenger weighing just 175lbs (12.5 stone) has described his shock at being ejected from an aircraft because it was too heavy to take off.  

Dan Nykaza said he was forced to leave a flight with Envoy, a regional subsidiary of American Airlines, moments before take-off as the plane exceeded its weight limit, ABC7 reports.

"I'm sitting on the plane for 20-30 minutes and the flight attendants came up to me and said 'You have to get off. You have to get off. You're out of the plane,'" said the dentist from Wilmette, Illinois, who was on the flight from Chicago to Salt Lake City.

The flight was not overbooked, according to Mr Nykaza, who was one of two passengers asked to leave. “[I was told] there was too much weight on the plane and nobody would take the voucher they were offering. So they chose two people, me being one of them," he added.

The passenger was on an Envoy flight, a subsidiary of American Airlines, departing from Chicago to Salt Lake City, Utah CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES

he “platinum status” passenger was reported to have reluctantly disembarked the plane after he refused to accept a $200 voucher and was told he and the other flier were chosen for being the last people to check in.

"There was probably a total of 300 pounds taken off the plane between me and the other gentleman who was a little smaller than me," Mr Nykaza said.

Unhappy with the way American Airlines had dealt with the situation, Mr Nykaza said he emailed the airline and did not receive a response for a week.

Following an enquiry by ABC7, the airline has since issued an apology for the incident and compensated Mr Nykaza with a $500 voucher and 15,000 air miles, a spokesperson for the airline said. Under a US federal passenger rights law, Mr Nykaza should have been offered more than a voucher worth $200 when he was forced to disembark the flight, according to the spokesperson.

American Airlines also claimed its regional carrier did not follow the correct policy on board the flight and should have removed the passengers who were last to book, rather than the last to check in.

Different airlines have different policies as to which r/s should be removed under such circumstances and if no passenger agrees to take a voluntary voucher, the airline will try to disrupt as few people as possible, according to Brian Sumers, an airline expert.

“Every airplane has maximum weight - they can't take off if they are any heavier than that," he said.

Back in 2013, an easyJet flight (not pictured) from Liverpool to Geneva was delayed for being over its weigh limit CREDIT: GETTY

"Most airlines remove people, and there is a pretty simple reason for it - you have to remember you may have to take 10 bags off of a flight and then there will be 10 people will get to a destination and realize they don't have laptops or medicine or whatever and you will annoy 10 people at the last minute," he added.

In Britain, back in 2013, an easyJet flight from Liverpool to Geneva was unable to depart for the same reason. The flight was reported to have had “an exceptionally high proportion of male passengers and more hold luggage than usual”.

“In these circumstances volunteers are required to offload and easyJet offers passengers £100 in compensation and alternative flights,” a spokesperson for the airline said. Four volunteers were said to have come forward and the flight departed shortly afterwards.

Every airline is said to have a strict regulations around its weight limit, depending on the length of the runway, the air temperature and the distance to be flown, among other factors. Airlines have the option of calculating plane weight limits by weighing each passenger with their baggage, but UK carriers instead use an approximation of how much each passenger weighs.

ccording to the regulation issued by Europe’s Joint Aviation Authorities, airlines are told to assume each male passenger weighs around 88kg while each female passenger weighs 70kg and children of either gender are assumed to weigh around 35kg. 

Under the latest EU Air Passenger Rights legislation, any passenger denied boarding against their will is entitled to several rights including the reimbursement of the cost of the ticket within seven days or a return flight to the first point of departure or re-routing to their final destination and compensation totalling EUR 250 for all flights of 1,500 kilometres or less, EUR 400 for all intra-Community flights of more than 1500 kilometres, and for all other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometres and EUR 600 for all other flights. Passengers denied boarding are also entitled to refreshments, meals, hotel accommodation, transport between the airport and place of accommodation, two free telephone calls, telex or fax messages, or e-mails.