Baggage Allowance

[newswatcher]

If I travel longhaul, say to Florida, there is a substantial difference in my baggage allowance. A scheduled carrier will let me carry up to 64kgs, whereas a charter will restrict me to 20kgs.

I can't see that this difference is purely to do with the difference in the number of pax carried, so do the charters deliberately set a lower gross weight purely to lower the cost of fuel used? Or do the charters have some sort of freight deal on the side?

Just curious.

[wing_nut1]

Its all to do with the size of the aircraft and how it trims.
When i am doing load control for a flight getting it to trim with pax and bags is always a challenge. if you have a larger plane like a 737 etc its got more power and bigger holds so you can have heavier bags, but with a small plane (in my case a dash 8) they have small holds and are heavier at one end. They put a 20 K limit on it to try and 'purswuade' pax not to bring huge bags otherwise it puts the trim out on the small aircraft and you have to leave bags behind or kick pax off to get it to balance (pax kicked off is an extreme last resort by the way)

Hope thats some use, post a reply if ya need any more advice on the matter:ok:

[marlowe]

Newswatcher. The trouble is that pax always want to bring bags into the cabin that are clearly to big or to heavy,aircraft have holds but these seem to be used less and less. An example being that this week i was senior crew on a evening BRU from MAN and after having boarded the passengers, i was presented by my crew with 15 large trolley bags that would not,fit in the lockers or under the seats when i presented them to the dispatcher he admitted that the hold of the A/C only had 4 checked in pieces of baggage!!! Passengers always moan when there is no locker space but they also moan if they are surrounded by luggage. ITs also a safety issue as well. IF there are any check in people or dispatchers reading this thread please remember that cabins are for people AND reasonable amounts of hand baggage and holds are for everything else!!!

[newswatcher]

Thanks guys. Forget the hand luggage, I was just interested what goes into the hold, and wondering whether the "package" price would rise by much if charters increased their max allowance.

[slim_slag]

In Europe, the only large bags I see as hand luggage appear to belong to the crew. In the US they let 22x14x9 inch bags on as hand luggage, they use the same planes, have a faster turnaround, and it seems to work just fine.

[bealine]

In the US they let 22x14x9 inch bags on as hand luggage, they use the same planes, have a faster turnaround, and it seems to work just fine.

I don't think you've been on the same aeroplanes as me then!

Enormous carry-ons blocking the exit rows, last pax on get their bags taken off them 'cos there's absolutely no locker space for the "tail-end" Charlies.

I defend the CAA's cabin baggage policy unreservedly, as would anyone who has witnessed the after-effects of clear-air turbulence. I witnessed this a couple of years ago when a returning flight from Alicante landed at LGW - blood everywhere!

Without exception, all the injuries were from Cabin Baggage spilling from the overheads - God knows what we would have seen if we had the US allowances!!!

[slim_slag]

No dispute that clear air turbulence causes death and injury.

According to the FAA (http://www1.faa.gov/index.cfm/apa/1327), people not wearing a seat belt is a major cause of death and injury.

In the 16 years between 81 and 97, there were 3 deaths and 80 serious injuries due to turbulence. Now call me callous, and with due sympathy for the dead and seriously injured, I don't think that's too many.

Of the 80 passengers who were seriously injured, approximately 73 were not wearing their seat belts while the seat belt sign was illuminated.

At least two of the three fatalities involved passengers who were not wearing their seat belts while the seat belt sign was illuminated.

So given the statistics, how can you say that "without exception" they were caused by luggage? I'd expect the vast majority of the injuries you saw to be caused by non use of seatbelts.

I get very annoyed when I see people not wearing seat belts, especially when the sign is on. My major fear of an in flight injury is the drinks trolley, another passenger, or a flight attendant landing on my head. Even a bottle of duty free gin which is not regulated at all can cause a nasty whack, I don't worry about 14x9X22 inch bags that are wedged into the overhead locker.

Now people who try to carry three of the damned things on, they should be shot :)