baggage Allowance Question

[Lan Ding Gere]

Hi guys,

I'm sorry if this is not in the correct section.

As airlines have their own check in baggage allowance policy, some are 20kg, 23kg and some even 30kg.

Now My wife was booking a flight from LCY to FRA on Lufthansa (who offered 20kg), then FRA to DEL on Air India (who offered 30kg). I telephoned the airline for the first leg of the journey and asked what their allowance was, which was 20kg

As the carrier for the second leg was giving more allowance, 30kg I asked the first airline (Lufthansa) if they had any concestions in place so that they could allow you to carry the same as the second carrier. As it seems a waste of nearly 10kg.

I was advised, that it doesn't matter who the other part of the flight is with, they will only give whatever the policy was.

This is where it gets wierd. When my wife booked her tickets from a travel agent in FRA for the LCY - FRA leg, which was a max of 20kg, her booking confirmation showed 30KG, for the same airline, that had earlier said their policy was 20kg.

When I went to drop her off, she did have more than 20kg in her checkin case. The lady at checkin saw that the case was over and advised that my wife will need to pay excess as the limit is 20kg. My wife then showed the confirmation, which had 30kg on and the lady at checkin just let her baggage go through after looking at the confirmation

Her ticket was booked through a travel agent and not direct from the airline.

My question is this, how can a travel agent override the max baggage allowance, when the airline has already stipulated what their allowance is ?

On the whole, my wife got to utilise her max 30kg with Air India and with Lufthansa.

sorry it's a bit long

[Old Smokey]

The Short Answer - An airline ticket is a contract between the airline and the passenger. Whatever is on the ticket must be honoured (even if a mistake has been made).

I'm sure somebody has the long answer.

Regards,

Old Smokey

[Lan Ding Gere]

Hi smokey.

thanks for your reply.

This was one of the things that my wife was debating on.

As AI were giving 30, she needed to make sure that she found a carrier who would also give her 30 for the first leg. She spoke to the agent regarding this, so don't know wether the agent just stuck 30 on the booking.

surely the staff should know what the max limits are and should not accept anything heavier.

Still think about how it can be done though

[MarkD]

LDG

Some SH routes if connecting *on same ticket* may offer higher baggage limits than if terminating.

Example:
EI ORK-LHR is normally 20kg in Y.
However, BA LHR-YYZ is "2PC" (2 x 32kg)

A through ORK-LHR-YYZ ticket will therefore have 64kg total (max 32 per piece). This seems to apply to transatlantic due to IATA rules.

As you were advised previously: check the ticket as issued!

[Lan Ding Gere]

They were actually booked as two totally seperate flights booked at different times

LCY - FRA on Lufthansa
FRA - DEL on Air India

the whole journey was not booked as one with a connecting flight.

My wife had to claim her luggage at FRA and then walk over to the AI check ion counter

[Engine overtemp]

What the hell did she need 30Kgs of luggage for?

[sixmilehighclub]

Engine O -

Honestly! What do you mean what does she need 30kg for? For shoes, make up, spare tops, more shoes.....

[Lan Ding Gere]

You got it in one sixmile high !! LOL

[bealine]

surely the staff should know what the max limits are and should not accept anything heavier.

Sometimes, if no one's watching, we do bend the rules a bit!

My pet hate is heavy cabin baggage because of the safety aspects (which I won't bore you with, as the subject has been laboured here many times). If I enforce the rules and make someone check in their trolley bag, I seldom charge any excess (unless the passenger has seriously overweight baggage problems!)

However, pax must be aware that baggage weights are limited to each individual ticket - so, strictly speaking Lan Din Gere, your trouble and strife could have copped for 10 kgs excess charges on the LCY-FRA sector.

Example:
EI ORK-LHR is normally 20kg in Y.
However, BA LHR-YYZ is "2PC" (2 x 32kg)

A through ORK-LHR-YYZ ticket will therefore have 64kg total (max 32 per piece). This seems to apply to transatlantic due to IATA rules.


Under the IATA agreement, the 2 piece Transatlantic allowance only applies if connecting flights are within 24 hours. A businessman travelling New York - London, stopping in London for three days, and then carrying on his journey within Europe would only be allowed 20 or 23kgs allowance on the European sectors.

However, as mentioned previously, the "ticket" is the contract and if "2-PC" is shown on the ticket, then that is what we accept!

Electronic Tickets are a whole different ball-game!!!

[1DC]

Engine O/Six mile

after about 30 years of trying I have finally persuaded Mrs 1Dc that we don't have to have a seperate shoebag, everytime we fly..

On the baggage thing, I was recently advised that providing you have a paper ticket the baggage allowance on all sectors is the maximum allowed on any one sector. E.g., if you arrive in LHR with 30kg on a business ticket and transfer on to a domestic flight you can retain your 30kg allowance, or, if you arrrive ex USA with two heavy bags you can carry the allowance on to your domestic flight. So far I have been able to do this without a problem.
Hope it isn't going to change when e tickets are the only way to go..