Sometimes, airline reporting is just hilarious. Take this line from a BBC report:
Dozens of holidaymakers returning to Newcastle refused to fly after they were asked to act as human ballast.
Scary! More details!
A jammed hold door meant luggage could only be loaded into the front of the Thomas Cook plane at Mallorca airport.
Passengers were asked to move seats to distribute the weight, but 71 left the plane, fearing for their safety.
Thomas Cook said it was standard procedure for airlines to ensure cargo and passengers were evenly distributed, and there was no safety risk.
I know I’m not the most frequent passenger, but isn’t moving passengers around for weight and balance a pretty common practice, especially on regional flights?
Oh well…
It gets worse. You want sham reporting? I’ll give you it at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1194937/Terrified-tourists-boycott-flight-home-told-sit-balance-nose-heavy-jet.html
Sigh….
As a multi-year UA 1K, I have not experienced any rebalancing. Admittedly I only fly RJS 4-5 times a year, but I doubt the aircraft in question was an RJ. More likely a 757.
So I don’t think we should expect infrequent flyers to be familiar with this procedure. But then it’s always fun to mock the Kettles.