KOLD News 13 live, local and late breaking-State investigators find major problems with baggage scales at TIA

State investigators find major problems with baggage scales at TIA

By Barbara Grijalva - email

Picture this: You're rushing to the check-in counter at the airport, and the bag you packed perfectly weighs more than 50 pounds.

You're stuck, either unloading your luggage or paying an overweight fee.

But you might not have been in the wrong.

KOLD News 13 has learned that some of the scales used to weigh your luggage at Tucson international are not accurate.

And, in some cases, that may have translated into travelers getting ripped off at the check-in counter.

Nowadays, we can pay from $25 to $175 per overweight bag.

To keep us from getting ripped off, the Arizona Department of Weights and Measures sends investigators out periodically to check things like baggage scales at airports.

We went along on the inspection Tuesday and, right off the bat, the investigators found something.

First stop:  The Delta Airlines counter.

By the end of the inspection, all eight of Delta's baggage scales...six inside and two at the curb...were red-tagged.

Arizona Department of Weights and Measures spokesman Steve Meissner was there too.

"We had to take them out of service because they were not giving an accurate reading. If you came in with a 50 pound bag and they tell you it weighed 51 pounds, and they would charge you a fee," he said.

Meissner said the scales had been modified and were not in compliance.

"If you take a scale and you weigh yourself on a level concrete floor, you're going to get one weight. If you take that same scale and don't adjust it and put it on carpeting, the weight's going to change. That's the kind of problem we were finding when we found the wood planking and the foam strips underneath the plates for the scale," Meissner said.

"That does surprise me.  I would assume the airlines would be accurate with what they're doing," airline passenger Terry Bredehoft said.

Delta had to quit weighing bags, and just let them pass.

One Delta customer who was flying with several family members was glad to hear it.

"Around Christmastime I don't want to get hit with some other fees when we're flying back an forth to see family," Michelle Ross said.

The Delta scales were a surprise to the investigators. 

"This is unusual. We almost always find some problems when we come out to the airport. To my knowledge, this is the first time we've had to shut down every scale at one airline," Meissner said.

But late Tuesday afternoon Meissner called KOLD News 13 to tell us that the investigators had shut down all seven of United Airlines' scales.

Meissner said United had no security seal on any of its scales,so they were red-tagged.

Any error, even one that favors the customer is considered a problem. 

As for penalties, Meissner says they start at $300 per scale.

When a scale is red-tagged, it cannot be used until it is repaired by a certified service representative. 

We called Delta's corporate office in Atlanta, Georgia.

A spokesman told us he didn't know how the Delta scales came to be changed, but that the airline had called a repair person.

Meissner said this was a routine inspection, but Arizona Weights and Measures will schedule an inspection any time there is a complaint from a consumer.

In addition to airport baggage scales, the department regulates grocery store scales and gasoline pumps.