'I Think It's Very Insensitive': Company Suggests Weighing Airline Passengers To Save Fuel, Cut Costs

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- There are plenty of steps travelers have to go through at the airport before they board the plane. Could there soon be one more step: onto a scale?

Before your flight takes off, the airline has already estimated how much you weigh based off of generic data for men, women and children. Of course, generic data isn't ultra accurate, but scales are.

Weight means a lot at 30,000 feet. Our bags are placed on a scale and a wallet comes out if they exceed limits placed. Bottom line: it's all about fuel.

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Now, British software company Fuel Matrix says if exact weight information was known for each passenger, the exact amount of fuel needed for flights could be calculated, helping to cut costs and reduce carbon emissions.

"I would not be a happy camper," traveler Sharon Pierce said of the idea.

We asked frequent flyers to weigh in one potentially, well, weighing in.

"I don't think I would be upset, but my next question would be, would they charge extra if I'm overweight?" Morgan Weatherly said.

Luckily, Fuel Matrix proposed a confidential, anonymous method of weighing passengers. Think the TSA body scanner, but with a scale fixed below.

"I think it's very insensitive actually to do that, I'm not a fan," Joyce McQuaid said.

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But Harold Katzman sees the idea as a boost to safety and efficiency. He served in the Air Force for 23 years.

"Part of my job, I was a navigator, and we had to make sure I computed the weights and everything and it made a big difference in taking the plane off," Katzman said.

When you buy an airline ticket, you are essentially agreeing to hand over a lot of private information. So, according to Fuel Matrix, there wouldn't need to be many hurdles for an airline who wanted to start weighing passengers.