Excess Baggage

[ian@huth]

I was watching Airline on TV and saw a gentleman arguing with the check in clerk about excess baggage. He was over the limit and was being asked for £60 to cover the cost of the excess weight. During the conversation he was told that the weight being carried by the aircraft was crucial and there was a limit on what excess baggage could be carried as it affected the amount of fuel that the aircraft needed for the flight especially as the aircraft was already fuelled for the journey.

What made me laugh was that the gentleman was rather small and slim. Also in the picture at the same time was a rather large couple, each probably weighing twice as much as the guy with the excess baggage.

Is the excess baggage charge something of a con? The airline can have no idea what the weight of a full load of passengers will be as you don't have to specify your weight when booking the tickets.

[gazzae]

When you buy your ticket you buy an allowance of baggage. If you go over this allowance you either leave it behind or pay extra. I don't see any con here.

I've also found if your nice and pleasent to the check-in personnel they will let you off the majority of the charge.

What I do think is a con is paying more for not staying a Saturday night!

[SMHarman]

US AIRWAYS EXPRESS Flight 5481

Had overweight pax as a possible cause of the accident. This was only a small turboprop.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/20/national/main554860.shtml


Another factor contributing to the crash may have been weight. The plane was judged to be within 100 pounds of its weight limit. Too much weight can change a small plane's center of gravity and make it much more difficult to fly.

Though this is not usually an issue for 737s

Pax are deemed to be an average weight, whether that average is still valid is another point for discussion, but take the fat vs thin and children an average is reasonable. Then take the max weight for all pax baggage and you get you take off weight.

Excess baggage is usually a quick buck for the airline, thats why the Easyjets of the world are often big on such charges and tight on the initial weight limits.

Tricks - make sure your carry on is at its weifht limit. Then put on your heavy coat and jumper, don't put them in the case, understand what else apart from the carry on bag you can bring on board, camera, book, ladies purse etc.

Easyjet charge £4 per kilo. This guy was therefore carrying 35kg of baggage. Nearly 2 1/2 stone over limit. Thats enough weight to make him fat too.

Another cheeky one the budget airlines do is give no baggage allowance for infants. So the stroller, car seat etc are all part of the 20kg. BA give a stroller, car seat, 10kg suitcase as part of the infant ticket allowance - on top of your own 20kg allowance.

[duncant403]

Check-ins generally let you "pool" your baggage allowance between your group, so if one suitcase is over the limit it doesn't matter as long as one of your other suitcases is below the limit by at least the same amount.

It also depends on how full the plane is - if the plane is half-empty then there's more leeway for heavier baggage.

[Jerrek]

Funny... We go by pieces of luggage. 2 pieces per person, as much weight as you want...