Originally Posted by
oldpax
checked in our luggage at the same customer service desk and had to pay 40 GBP extra for a holdall,third piece of luggage apparently not allowed even though our weight allowance was 5k under!!!
BA no longer operates on a weight allowance. The allowance is one bag per person in economy, and any extra bags attract an extra bag charge. There are maximum weights per bag (23kg per bag if you don't want to pay an extra weight charge; and 32kg per bag absolute maximum), but the key is the number of bags.
When this allowance system was brought in, BA said that it would waive the extra bag charge for any passenger who physically can't carry 23kg in one bag and therefore has to split it across two bags - provided that the total weight of the two bags doesn't exceed 23kg. I can't quickly find a reference to this on the website, but in view of your personal details this is something you might want to ask BA about in future.