Overweight Luggage Enforcement?

[Mark in CA]

My wife are flying KLM from SFO to BUD in a couple weeks. She seems to be under the impression that the airlines won't charge a fee for overweight luggage is it is no more than a couple kilograms above the limit (about 10%). Thus, if the limit in economy is 23 kg, she seems to think there'll be no problem passing a bag that weighs 25 kg.

Does anyone have any experience with overweight luggage in general, and specifically with KLM? If we present a bag that weighs 25 kg, will they want to charge us for that?

[MG23]

Don't know about KLM, but it seems to be pretty random with Air Canada; sometimes I've been charged for an overweight bag and sometimes not. Given the difference between merely overweight and too overweight to carry is typically only a few kg, I'd be surprised if they had a policy to let you go 2kg over without paying.

[PAXboy]

Firstly; you have to assume that you will be sent from the check-in desk to the ticket desk to pay and then return to complete check-in.

The enforcements is seemingly random and can depend on the same factors as the enforcement of hand luggage regs:


What is their policy? (publically it's to always charge)
Have they recently been told to crack down on weight?
Have they got a new manager who wants to crack the whip?
Have they got a policy of appeasement, so as to gain customer favour and thus more customers?
Are you the sixth person in a row to take the pi$$ and so yuo get charged?
Etcetera.

The fact that the person in front of you gets away with luggage/hand luggage murder is no indicator as to what will happen to you.

You may notice that many airport checkin areas these days have 'repacking areas'. With tables and waste bins and weighing scales - so that pax can repack and get the weight down.

Also, if you DO get alllowed the overweight on the outbound leg, it does not mean that you can bring it back without paying. All of the above points apply to each leg. Just get down to the weight, it's simpler!

[Hotel Tango]

If they are pedantic about a few kilos, then there's the question of how accurate their scales are! I remember when I proved to a Delta Airlines supervisor, who wanted to charge my son excess baggage for being a couple of kgs over, that 4 of their check-in scales gave 4 seperate readings, with a maximium discrepency of just over 2.5 kgs! My son was not charged!

[PAXboy]

You can ask to see the calibration certificate and check how recent it was. But - if the bag IS overweight and you have had them cross check on multiple scales? You are not going to make it easy on yourself!

[RevMan2]

Some Departure Control systems will have a built-in tolerance of X kilos and won't let the check-in agent proceed without a corresponding xbag payment.
Some airlines will have a performance penalty clause in their handling agent's contract.
Some check-in agents might be in a good mood. Others might not. Some mightn't like the colour of your tie.
You (or better - your wife) are at an informational disadvantage.
On the other hand, assuming that your wife's right ( they usually are...), I'd keep my bag at precisely 23kg and let her turn up with whatever she's convinced she can get away with, having told her at the outset that you don't necessarily agree (for the above reasons) , but it's her decision.
It'll be your fault anyway....

[Exascot]

How many airlines weigh hand baggage? The size of some of the cases that people bring on board EK flights is quite incredible.

[Hotel Tango]

PAXboy, I shortened the entire and rather long story. It was by pure chance that I discovered the surprising discrepency on that day. Since then, purely as a matter of curiosity I sometimes amuse myself weighing my bag on various scales at various airports. The results are alarming. I have never asked for a calibration certificates (that would be too time consuming as I'm sure they wouldn't even know where to find them). My bet is that most wouldn't be that recent.

[ExXB]

HT - Depends on the country and/or airport of course. In most countries it will be civil regulation/law that govern the accuracy of scales - be they in airports or supermarkets.

In the tabloid media there are stories from time to time about how some airports' scales are out of whack and passengers are 'being ripped-off' again! But there is seldom any follow-up or 'proof' that airports/airlines/ground handlers are actually doing this.

I think like any mechanical device the probability that each scale is within 1/2kg plus/minus is fairly high. Which is why airlines give a slight tolerance.

So if your wife is 2kg over, and is unlucky to get a scale measuring 2kg over - she's going to get charged for, at least, a couple of kg. She could get a scale under-measuring, but that won't necessarily be good news - as she will expect the same for future trips.

Rhetorical question: Does she really need all those shoes?

[Hotel Tango]

Rhetorical question: Does she really need all those shoes?

I hope that was directed at the OP. I wouldn't even dare ask my wife :eek: Good thing we often fly in Business, which includes the kitchen sink allowance ;)

[PAXboy]

Hotel Tango I don't doubt that the readings vary! And well done for prooving the point. Certificates do vary country to country. In some, they have to check the scales at the start of every working week. With others - it's probably only when the airport first opened.

It's just that I'm one of those who try to minimise hassle by having the bag within limits. Once or twice I have deliberately been over and gone with extra time to pay the charge.

RevMan2It'll be your fault anyway...I conclude that RM2 either is (or has been) married. :ouch:

/Thread drift
Just yesterday I was discussing with a friend how long 'Wife given Brownie points' last. We concluded that their half-life is 48 hours and within 7 days, there is no trace that they ever existed ... :sad:

[RevMan2]

@ paxboy
Very perceptive....
I always carry the portable scale that I've used to weigh the bag (and a known weight as calibration). If the scales at check-in show a significant deviation, I weigh the bag again, show them the result and throw myself on their mercy. Which invariably works.
Mind you, you'll always come across people like TG's handling agent in AKL. Had an Y booking which I upgraded to C at the airport. Check-in agent lectured me that my bag was overweight for Y "but you're flying C now so we'll let it go".....

[ExXB]

I hope that was directed at the OP.

Actually that was directed at every male traveller being accompanied by a female traveller.

Looked over the shoulder this morning of Mrs. Ex packing for our 12 days in the sun. Eight pairs of shoes! Plus flip-flops, beach shoes, slippers or whatever. My handy scale shows her bag at 20.6kg. (I never told her that 23kg is now the default weight on network airlines).

[Hotel Tango]

On one of our recent trips to the Sun (with Condor) we were only allowed 20kgs despite paying for Y Premium. That, I can tell you, triggered a major panic attack for Mrs HT. In the end she made it with 0.5 kgs to spare. :)

[ATSA1]

I have just got back from Krakow an hour ago, and on the way out, our bag weighed 17.7 kg, both on my own scales at home and at at Bristol airport.

Yet this morning, with same stuff loaded (cheapskate only bought 2 fridge magnets!)it weighed 18.2kg at Krakow check in!

Must be a local anomaly in the Gravitational field, or very heavy fridge magnets!

As far as I know, Airlines can charge what they like for excess baggage, depending on how tight the total weight of the aircraft is...

[PAXboy]

ExXB (I never told her that 23kg is now the default weight on network airlines).
That's sailing close to the wind! The day she finds out ... :ouch:

Will shortly be taking 10 days in the sun with friends and 'a lady of my acquaintance'. As she can only arrive 3 days later, I am taking one checked case for both of us. She will travel light on the day.

Bear in mind this is a sun and sand trip to Fuerteventura with nothing more than a few visits to restaurants. You can imagine how much space and weight is going to be left in my case after she has had her go. http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/worry.gif

Of course, since I shall be collecting her stuff a day or two before, I will have the freedom to say, "There just wasn't enough spare weight to put it all in." :ooh: (I like to live dangerously) :ok:

[lomapaseo]

Move to another check in line.

[TightSlot]

For the sake of 2Kgs - wouldn't it just be simpler to comply? (Yes, I do understand that girl-packing is different to boy-packing: Man Up and tell her, She'll respect you for it in the end)















And please do come back later and tell us how the whole Man-Up conversation went.... :E

[Hotel Tango]

So, she packs to 19kgs on the home scales. Gets to the airport and weighs in at 21.5kgs. Now what?

Tip: Set home scales to a +1.5 reading at zero and hope she doesn´t notice. Better still, insist you do the weighing.

Brave words Tightslot, you surely cannot be married ;)

[TightSlot]

Brave words Tightslot, you surely cannot be married
Actually, I am married: However, I like to live out my fantasy life here on PPRuNe. Any attempt by me to limit Mrs TS's checked baggage weight would be met with icy disdain and simply ignored, possibly accompanied by a lose-lose comment such as "You want me to look my best for you, don't you - Or do you no longer care?"

[PAXboy]

"You want me to look my best for you, don't you - Or do you no longer care?" Yep. You're married. ;)

Yesteday, in conversation with the lady with whom I am going on holiday, there was further discussion about luggage. So I playfully pointed out that I could ditch anything of hers that did not fit weight or size in my case. She playfully pointed out that I would be Doing No Such Thing!!! :=

[racedo]

Actually, I am married: However, I like to live out my fantasy life here on PPRuNe. Any attempt by me to limit Mrs TS's checked baggage weight would be met with icy disdain and simply ignored, possibly accompanied by a lose-lose comment such as "You want me to look my best for you, don't you - Or do you no longer care?"

I am trying to think how you negotiate around that one :ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh: and the only one I can think of is having the credit card ready when you get charged the excess.

That would be a really good negotiating training exercise classroom scenario.

[PAXboy]

I have now remembered another lady of my acquaintence that, when travelling manages to go ultra-light. I have known her do a long weekend with a small back pack and a week with carry-on case.

She says that, ideally, she would just take a handbag. So that is a refreshing other side of the coin.

[MathFox]

My observations of the KLM checkin in Amsterdam is that they are not the strictest. But that's quite irrelevant for you because Delta handles the KLM flights in the USA. I haven't seen someone singled out there, it seems that all Americans make sure their checked bags are of approved weight.:O
(Standard "procedure" for bags that are 2 kg overweight in Amsterdam is have the passengers remove the excess, generally it's added to the carry-on.)

[YorkshireTyke]

How many airlines weigh hand baggage?

Leaving Auckland recently Air New Zealand restricted handbaggage to 7kg. and weighed it just before entering Immigration, and after having completed all the formalities at the check-in counter some distance away - Gotcha !!

My bag weighs 4 kg. empty.

Allowed to remove a laptop and carry it as a - quote - 'personal item', which promptly got put back in the bag around the corner, along with other things that I had put in my pockets, and which then weighed more than 7Kg in the overhead locker. Maybe 2 - 3 kg overweight isn't a big deal, but if 600 pax on an Airbus Super-Jumbo did the same ?? and they wouldn't even have the correct aircraft weight, tho' "average" pax weights probably takes care of that, but if the "average" also assumes the 7Kg cabin bag allowance, and all bags and pockets are heavier?

[cavortingcheetah]

I am extremely cantankerous and simply refuse to hump any bag around that weighs more than 18kgs. A 25kg suitcase is a serious lump of mass. Baggage handlers don't like those sort of weights and it's amazing how often bags of that weight get damaged or have their handles broken off. If you must travel like a circus elephant then pay the extra and spilt your weight into three bags. That way you'll at least have room to buy some casual trinkets or gold bars en route.

[Espada III]

As far as I was aware, anything over 22/23kgs is tagged as 'Heavy'? A few years ago, a 25kg bag of mine was considered so overweight we had to remove a few items and redistribute.

Frankly I don't want to be lugging anything over 20kg out of a car boot.

[PAXboy]

Since this will doubtless appear shortly in the EZY thread in AA&R, I'll just add it to this thread: EasyJet asks passengers to slim down carry-on bags - News & Advice - Travel - The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/easyjet-asks-passengers-to-slim-down-carryon-bags-8617908.html)

Effective 2nd July.

[Exascot]

...along with other things that I had put in my pockets...

You need one of these.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32684975/Barbour.jpg

I used to fly with a nav who never carried an overnight bag everything was in his raincoat pockets.

[Mark in CA]

Well, apparently they were being strict this week on our return flight from SFO. Two bags, each at about 26 kg. Wife left her carry-on bag at home. And so we were stuck with one overweight bag (after transferring 3 kg from one bag to the other).

Seems somewhat unfair to me. We had two checked bags, each at about 26 kg. Additionally, I had one carry-on bag, weight unknown, but would guess about 5-6 kg. Wife did not have any carry-on beside her purse. We got charged for one overweight bag. If we had had something to put the extra kg into to carry onto the plane, we would not have been charged overweight. And so the charge was not really for the total weight, but just how it was distributed.

Worth writing to KLM about?

[Cymmon]

Moral, don't overpack to make your suitcases overweight. Sorry but in the ticket rules and regulations.
Hand baggage is a different matter but also part of the rules, some airlines have weight limits on these too.

[Agaricus bisporus]

Moral, don't overpack to make your suitcases overweight.

It just seems so extraordinary that anyone would think to do anything else, let alone trying to justify it!

[hval]

Mrs Hval got a shock the first time she travelled with me. Carry on baggage only. An 8kg limit.

A number of weeks in different African countries where formal wear would be required in some locations, general clothes and bush clothes in others. All that along with some kit I carry that weighs in at 3kg.

A 25 litre snugpak is what I generally use.

I think she has got used to it. She does get a nervous twitch though. Mind you, the type of places I drag her to does that as well.

Which reminds me of the time there were a bunch of really miffed passengers in DAR when we were both escorted to our own aircraft, just for the two of us. I think they were miffed because we were carrying rucksacks and didn't look the part.

[radeng]

I was surprised to find that as BA Gold card holder, I can have 30kg. Just back from the US - going out, the bag was 20.2kg, which was more than heavy enough for me. 30kg would be almost unmanageable....

[Mark in CA]

I think the popularity of luggage with wheels has promoted heavier bags. :)

[Paul Wilson]

Mark, it all depends on your level of pride. I'm sure there was a plastic bag in your luggage, if only the hotel laundry ones (as far as I can see the only use of these is to keep your dirty stuff polluting your clean stuff - does anyone pay £10 for a short to be cleaned?). Get it out, fill with 6 kilos of stuff. This is now your "carry on" bag.
There is no rule that it has to be pretty.

[Nelson3]

I think you have to pay for any extra weight that you are going to carry . So if you have more weight than 23 on the balance scale (http://www.primescales.com/balance-scales/) you have to pay for that extra weight.

[PAXboy]

It depends on the airline - as always. Wizz require you to keep the case within it's measurements but, as long as it's under 32Kgs, they will take it. So if you pay for a single case in the hold but it can be up to 32Kgs.

[Shack37]

This morning at Abz I checked in (KLM) with a case that weighed 24 kgs and was offered the choice of removing 1kg from the bag or paying GBP60. When I pointed out that on my outbound flights I had paid for 2 cases and had checked in 1 there was a longish phone call from check-in to someone and I wasn´t charged.

If 1kg overweight is going to cost 60 quid then scales calibration has to be challenged.

That said, the flights were great and the CC really excellent.