Two American Samoa Businessmen File Complaint With DOT

Two businessmen from American Samoa have filed complaints with the Department of Transportation after they were weighed during boarding on a recent Hawaiian Airlines flight.

Fox News reports that the men say in their complaint that they were assigned to different seats on their flight out of Honolulu.

A Hawaiian Airlines spokeswoman said that the flight was part of a survey period in which the airline weighed all passengers traveling traveling between Hawaii and the American Samoan capital of Pago Pago. She said that the airline has not implemented a general policy of weighing passengers.

Spokeswoman Alison Croyle said that the airline has conducted similar surveys on other routes, and all were conducted in accordance with FAA protocols. She said that seat assignments were changed to assure the proper weight distribution in the airplane.

American Samoa has the world's highest obesity rate in the world, according to the CIA's World Factbook. Samoa Air began charging passengers based on their weight in 2013, according to the Fox News report.

The DOT says it is investigating the incident to determine if any type of discrimination occurred.

FMI: www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook