Maybe you can clarify

[Lan Ding Gere]

I flew back from Delhi at the weekend with my wife and two children and am totally appauled at the service we received with a very well known airline.

When my wife and children flew out a few weeks before me, they were all allowed their allowance of 20kg per suitcase (x3) and 6kg each for hand luggage. When they checked in at LHR, we asked at checkin whether we could let the hand luggage go into the hold, as it would have been too much for my wife to carry with a 4yr old in tow and a 1yr old in a pushchair. There was never a fuss created as the hand luggage was within the allowable size and weight.

Coming back, we had 4 suitcases weighing in at 80kg and we had two sports bags within the size allowable which weighed 20kg between the four of us out of a maximun of 24kg.

The problem is this, although the sports bags were within the size, we had approx 10kg in each and within the size allowed for two people. we asked if we could let these go into the hold as carrying two children and hand luggage would be a nightmare. We were told, that if we wanted to let these go into the hold, we would have to pay excess baggage, or if we didn't want to pay, we would have to spilt the two bags into four and we could take them on board !!!!

Are they out of their minds ? We were told that because there are four passengers there must be four bags. The reason we we combined two passengers weight into one bag was to make it easier for us, as we were still within our weight limit and size of bag. We had averaged the weight for two people into one bag.

Leaving us no choice, we had to pay excess baggage to let the bags go into the hold, although in reality the weight was of the hand luggage. We had to pay 16000 rupees, which works out roughly £250 for something that we are allowed as part of our allownace.

As mentioned, we never had this problem outbound and the checkin staff here were understanding and providing that the weight and size of the bags was within the guidelines, it wasn't a problem.

QUESTION.

Is this normal procedure to charge passengers who wish to let their hand baggage go into the hold. I mean whether it is carried or put in the hold, it is still going on the same plane ?

Hope to hear your views on this.

LDG

[Parapunter]

I often travel abroad carting a Paraglider, which weighs about 18Kg but comes in an unwieldy rucksack. It invariably has to go via the outsize baggage belt. I cringe when I check in, since I find there is absolutely no consistency across airlines, check in agents, airports or any point in the travelling chain. Although I've never been stung for excess, I've witnessed friends in the same queue get charged with lighter equipment when I've sailed through!

I just wish there could be a common policy across the industry, so that I didn't have to rely on the old Punter charm every time I check in - it doesn't get me very far, I can tell you.

[rsoman]

Well , on my way to England from India (but not on the airline you have taken), one of my friends travelling with me was asked to do the samething, lighten up the hand baggage as it was overweight.
In your case, although theoretically you are within the limits of the total baggage allowance for handbaggage, it is the individual weight and size which counts and I guess safety is one of the reasons.
Also as far as I understand, the liaibility of handbaggae and check in baggage are different.
However , generally the airlines are quite flexible in giving some leeway for excess baggage and since you had just 20 kg extra with four revenue pax, it should generally have been allowed.
But finally it comes down to the staff in question at the check in desk and if they chose to be inflexible , you cant do much as I guess they are within the regulations.

Regards

[Departures Beckham]

As stated above, and I'm sure as you realise, your bags must be within the airline's weight restriction to be carried onto the aircraft.

You are charged by your airline for excess baggage to cover the extra costs they incur. Extra baggage results in greater fuel costs, greater handling costs at the airport, extra insurance and longer ground time for an aircraft.

With regards to charging extra, I basically allow passengers to spread their TOTAL weight across their total luggage. Once you go over this I'll charge. As I said, this is MY policy, but the book does say that ANY amount over the checked luggage allowance should be charged for, so yes, the check-in staff were within their rights, but perhaps they could have made an allowance if they wanted to.

[Lan Ding Gere]

Thanks for your comments guys.

Not sure if I mentioned, but what we were charged for was not excess baggage, it was our carry on luggage, which totalled 20kg for the four of us, which was still below the allowable of a maximum of 24kg, that we wanted to put into the hold rather than take with us, due to the fact we have two children, pushchair, small bag with baby stuff like milk and nappies etc. we wanted to make it easier.

Is it normal for airlines to charge excess baggage on anything that is requested to be put in the hold, even if it is 4kg bag in addition to the hold luggage.

Basically, we were within our weight limits for our suitcases and hand baggage. The only difference here was that we wanted our hand baggage (again within weight limits) to be put into the hold

[SLF]

LDG

My understanding is that is a 10kg bag falls on a pax head, the airline is liable, but if a double whammy of 2 x 5kg bags does the same thing, they're not!

I've had to split carry-on hand baggage to separate a computer and clothes, so that the carry on weight was within the limit.

Of course, attempting to charge you as they did was inexcusable, and I'm sure bealine will investigate for you when he surfaces...;)

[bealine]

Hmm.........LDG, what can I say?

Firstly, the subject of Excess Baggage is always emotive and the inconsistencies of whether or not a passenger is charged infuriate airline staff and passengers alike. Unfortunately, all airlines accept that Excess Baggage complaints are going to happen and, without the hard evidence of check-weights etc, if you write to the Customer Relations people, I'm afraid you'll get a sympathetic but unhelpful standard reply! (Regardless of which airline "had you over.")

From the check-in agent's perspective - it's not long since us at LGW were threatened, cajoled and brow-beaten into charging every penny of excess baggage due to the airline. We had "checkers" at the aircraft side weighing baggage and reporting check-in agents who had not charged sufficiently (or not charged at all!) and these agents were being threatened with dismissal! (Failure to charge the correct amount could be construed as fraud/deception etc and all that old b*****ks!)

Fortunately, big brother no longer watches our every move, but we are reminded that the airline is not "out of the woods" yet.....even though we have returned to making miniscule profits.......and that we need to ensure that "Caesar gets what is due to him!" However, I don't suppose it'll be long before another Project Manager (BA seem to have hundreds) launches another "Excess Baggage" initiative so their salary can continue to be paid!

Unfortunately, LDG, the checking in of Cabin Baggage is one of the "oldest tricks in the book" used to avoid excess baggage charges. What often happens (Lagos, Islamabad and Accra were particular destinations where this trick was used at LGW) is that someone pleads "cos me mum's elderly" or "me wife can't carry her bags" to get the Check-In Agent to accept the Cabin Baggage as additional checked baggage. Result 30 odd Kilos of Hold Baggage (against the 20kg allowance).

Mum, Dad, Aunty Flo and all the relatives are waiting around the corner to say bye bye! As they hug and kiss for the last time, another two pieces of Cabin Baggage mysteriously appear which are taken to the gate! The net result is that the passengers have defrauded the airline!

Unfortunately, because this is an "everyday" occurrence it makes us very cynical! In your case, you were being genuine - even though you should never have a cabin bag of more than 6kg anyway - but I guess the check in agent assumed there were more cabin bags hiding round the corner!

Now, quite apart from the financial implications, we also have safety concerns. Our fuel requirements are calculated upon the weight of the aircraft and its load. Passengers we agree have a notional weight something like Men 80kg Women 70kg and children 45 kg.....we try to be reasonably accurate with Baggage weights and, of course, we know exactly the weight of the cargo.

If too many passengers sneaked excess baggage on to our aircraft, then in extreme cases it could result in aborted take off (even a 747 has to be quite finely balanced) or the aircraft has to divert because insufficient fuel has been uplifted through no fault of the Captain! Both of these scenarios have occurred in the past, I assure you!

What I think is needed, and many of my colleagues agree, is for IATA to get the airlines together and thrash out a stupidly, simple fares structure, including a "cabin baggage only" fare for the business traveller(so that everyone understands precisely what they're buying and exactly what restrictions there are) and a truly International baggage allowance.

The reason most regular travellers to Africa and Asia try to fiddele the system is that they see pax to the USA and Caribbean enjoying the 2 large pieces (32kg each) hold allowance, when they only have 20 kg (or 23 with British Airways). If a compromise was agreed (cos 64 kg is one hell of a lot of baggage!) of say 2 pieces at 40kg (max weight of one bag 25kg) regardless of destination, our Asian and African travellers would not feel so hard done by!

Sorry to be so long-winded, it's the hope that, somewhere, a senior airline manager may sit up and take notice that spurs me on!