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News
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ODA inspectors ensure airline baggage scale accuracy
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12/7/2011
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Article Content Suggested lead
You know the scales at the airport that are used to determine the weight of your check-in baggage and whether you need to pay additional fees? Well, somebody is looking at those scales to make sure they are accurate:
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Audio 01
Check-in baggage at the airport can be a costly proposition if you pack too much. That's why it's important that those baggage scales used by the airlines are accurate:
NELSON: "The airlines have begun charging for overweight baggage. That fee can be a little bit of a charge or quite a large charge. So the accuracy of the scale will determine whether that charge is applied or not." :14
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Audio 02
Josh Nelson with the Oregon Department of Agriculure's Measurement Standards Division says ODA inspectors annually check baggage scales at all commercial airports throughout the state, and if they are not accurate, require a repair and retest. If the error is in favor of the consumer, the scale can remain in operation before the repair is made. If it's in favor of the airline, the scale cannot be used until it's fixed:
NELSON: "We make it a priority to test these devices before the busier holiday seasons and the travel season so they have time to be approved and corrected if need be." :10
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Nelson says he can assure holiday air travelers in Oregon that the scales are accurate at this time and nobody is being charged more than they should be for check-in baggage. As an example, at Portland International Airport, six out of 65 scales were given repair tags earlier this year- less than 10 percent of all scales. They were repaired and operating accurately well before the busy holiday season arrived. In Salem, I'm Bruce Pokarney.
Additional audio: Audio 03
NELSON says ODA has checked baggage scales at all Oregon commercial airports prior to the busy holiday travel season. Any that needed repairs have been fixed to ensure they are accurate:
"Travelers can rest assured that, in Oregon, the scales have been tested and approved and they can fly with confidence that the weights are correct." :08
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Additional audio: Audio 04
JASON BARBER, administrator of ODA's Measurement Standards Division, has some advice for air travelers just in the off chance that scales may become innacurate before the next annual inspection is made:
"My recommendation would be to weigh the bag and give yourself maybe five pounds of a buffer. We've seen fees from twenty dollars up to 200, so it can be quite expensive." :12
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Full story
http://oregon.gov/ODA/news/111207airline_scales.shtml
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