Name: ( ) Date: Weekly News Archive

Class:
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. (22 marks) B1 level
No. of Words: 808

Hawaiian Airlines’ Supersized Controversy

1 November 2016

[1] Last month, the US Department of Transportation approved Hawaiian Airlines’ weighing of its passengers
at check-in. For the past six months as part of a ‘survey’, passengers flying from Honolulu to Pago Pago had
their weight measured before being allowed to board the plane. To ensure that the weight is evenly distributed
throughout the aircraft, passengers could not preselect seats. Their seats are instead assigned by the airline. Six
10 complaints have been filed with the Department of Transportation against the airline as a result. After the study
ended, the airline no longer weighs passengers flying to the American Samoa, and has set new seating policies.

[2] Hawaiian Airlines began the study when it found that fuel expenditure on that route was greater than they
had predicted. Ruling out other factors that could cause extra fuel usage like strong winds, the airline concluded
that the main reason was unexplained weight. Hawaiian’s study required passengers on the route to be weighed
15 together with their carry-on luggage, a move which critics described as discriminatory.

[3] Although Hawaiian explained that the study was being conducted due to safety reasons, not everyone
agreed. ‘So have we been flying unsafe all these years?’ Avamua Dave Haleck, a businessman who had filed one
of the complaints, questioned the honesty of Hawaiian’s claims. It seemed as if the weight of passengers headed
to Pago Pago was of no real importance, as the airline had flown the route for so many years without problems.
20 The decision to suddenly weigh passengers appeared to many as unfair. ‘What they’re saying is that Samoans
are obese,’ Atimua Migi, a passenger of the airline, said.

[4] Responding to the belief that Hawaiian was targeting Samoans, the airline’s chief operating officer Jon
Snook said, ‘That’s an entirely incorrect assumption.’ A spokesperson for Hawaiian denied that specific
passengers were chosen to be weighed and assigned a seat. Instead, assigning seats for passengers is the best way
25 to make sure that weight is distributed evenly throughout a Boeing 767 craft. After the study, Hawaiian has
implemented a seating policy that requires one seat in each row to remain empty or be occupied by a child under
the age of 13. The spokesperson said that the new policy would allow families to sit together with their children.

[5] The debate surrounding Hawaiian’s weighing policy may be unwise, considering how the study followed

Weekly News Archive 1 © 2016 ATHENS EDUCATION

 the scientific method. Hawaiian did not choose specific people in its study; every passenger on the route to the
30 American Samoa, regardless of sex, age or appearance, had to be weighed. This decision was not based on any
bias against the Samoan people, but evidence that there was unexplained weight in the flights on this route.
Flights on other routes, for instance ones to Japan and Korea, were found to have no evidence of this problem.

[6] According to the CIA’s World Factbook, the American Samoa has the highest rates of obesity in the world,
with 74.6 per cent of the adult population considered obese in 2007. Samoa Air, the airline operating between
35 Samoa and the American Samoa, has weighed passengers since 2013. There would be grounds for complaint if
any of Hawaiian’s speech contained the negative labels that follow being overweight, but the airline had not
made any statements related to passengers’ physical qualities.

[7] Some people may argue that although Hawaiian did not target specific people with its study, it did separate
a population, as Atimua Migi would claim. However, it would be unreasonable to say that the Samoan
40 population should be exempt from scientific study. Hawaiian’s study ‘isolates’ the Samoan population only as
much as studies of obesity prevalence done by reputable universities do.

[8] Research published in Nature Genetics has shown that almost half of all Samoans have a gene that gives
them the tendency to become obese. In times of scarcity, these genes gave people a greater ability to retain fat
and store energy, thus ensuring the gene was passed on. Since nutrition can be abundantly found today, this
45 becomes a tendency to become overweight. There is nothing discriminatory about simply pointing this out with
the scientific method. Hawaiian’s six-month survey was motivated by an observation of unexplained fuel loss
rather than an assumption that Samoans were overweight — the airline’s study and policy are ‘not on its face
discriminatory’, declared a spokesman from the Department of Transportation.

[9] Nowadays, when more and more people understand that obesity is due to a range of factors like genes,
50 regional diet and cultural practices, it is increasingly untrue that any mention of obesity automatically carries a
negative label. Obesity is certainly a significant global health issue, but what is important is finding real and
applicable solutions to it rather than arguing endlessly over the political correctness of the label. The media
should focus on ways to improve global obesity rates, instead of overreacting to scientific terms or perceived
prejudice.

Weekly News Archive 2 © 2016 ATHENS EDUCATION

 5

55 Comprehension
1. How long did Hawaiian Airlines’ ‘survey’ last for?

______________________________

2. Why did some passengers flying from Honolulu to Pago Pago feel upset about the ‘survey’? (2 marks)
60 ____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

3. Complete the following summary based on paragraph 2. You may write more than one word on each line.
You should make sure your answers are grammatically correct, paying attention to tenses, plurals, etc.
65 (3 marks)

Hawaiian conducted the study since its fuel expenditure was greater than

(i) _________________________, and believed that the problem was due to

(ii) _________________________. Some people think that weighing passengers with their carry-on

70 luggage is an act of (iii) __________________________.

4. Paragraphs 3–4 show the responses of different people towards Hawaiian’s study. Match each of the
following speech bubbles with the correct person. Write the name of the person under the speech bubble.
75 (3 marks)

It’s wrong to say that we’re What they are doing is

I don’t believe them. Their
discriminating against the unfair to Samoans.
explanation is ridiculous!
Samoans.

80

i) _______________________ ii) _______________________ iii) ______________________

5. What is the ‘new policy’ (line 22)?

____________________________________________________________________________________

85

6. In paragraph 4, find a word that could be replaced by ‘put into effect’.

Weekly News Archive 3 © 2016 ATHENS EDUCATION

 ______________________________

7. Decide whether the following statements are True, False or the information is Not Given in paragraphs 5–
90 6. (4 marks)
Statements T F NG
i) Elderly passengers travelling to the American Samoa need to be ○ ○ ○
weighed before boarding the plane.
ii) The unexplained weight problem was found in several routes. ○ ○ ○
iii) The CIA’s World Factbook documents the rates of obesity in the ○ ○ ○
world.
iv) Samoa Air is the first airline to weigh its passengers. ○ ○ ○

8. Which word would best replace ‘grounds’ (line 30)?

A. ways
B. reasons
A B C D
95 C. levels ○ ○ ○ ○
D. channels

9. Why are many Samoans obese?

____________________________________________________________________________________
100

10. What does ‘this’ (line 39) refer to?

____________________________________________________________________________________

11. Does the writer think Hawaiian’s study is unfair to the Samoan people? Give THREE reasons to support
105 your answer. (4 marks)
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

110 ____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

Weekly News Archive 4 © 2016 ATHENS EDUCATION

10 Weekly News Archive 5 © 2016 ATHENS EDUCATION
 Hawaiian Airlines’ Supersized Controversy
115 Answer key

1. Six months (line 2)

2. Their weight was measured before boarding the plane. (lines 2–3) (1 mark)
They could not preselect seats. / Their seats were assigned by the airline. (line 4) (1 mark)
120 3. i) predicted (line 8) / expected
ii) unexplained weight (line 9)
iii) discrimination (line 10)
4. i) Jon Snook (lines 17–18)
ii) Avamua Dave Haleck (line 12)
125 iii) Atimua Migi (line 16)
5. A seating policy that requires one seat in each row to remain empty or be occupied by a child under the age
of 13 (lines 21–22)
6. implemented (line 21)
7. i) T (lines 24–25)
130 ii) F (line 27)
iii) NG
iv) NG
8. B
9. Almost half of all Samoans have a gene that gives them the tendency to become obese. (lines 37–38)
135 10. The ability to retain fat and store energy (lines 38–39)
11. No, the writer does not. (1 mark)
All passengers travelling on the route to the American Samoa had to be weighed. (lines 24–25) /
Hawaiian’s speech did not contain the negative labels that follow being overweight. (lines 30–31) /
Hawaiian’s study isolates the Samoan population only as much as studies of obesity prevalence done by
140 reputable universities do. (lines 35–36) / Hawaiian conducted the study due to weight unaccounted for in
the flights on the route rather than an assumption that Samoans were overweight. (lines 25–26 / lines 41–
42) (Any three of the above; 1 mark each)

Weekly News Archive 6 © 2016 ATHENS EDUCATION