BA Hand Baggage Allowance - Really?
Paxing All Over The World
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 10,842
Likes: 328
From: Hertfordshire, UK.
I certainly understand travelling with high value items - and you follow the rules to keep them with you. As I have said befoe, it would require EVERY carrier and EVERY airport to follow the rules without favour - and that is never going to happen.
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 499
Likes: 7
From: Back on The Island.
HT... unfortunately the lack of common sense firstly lies with those pax who turn up with massive roller hand baggage. Admittedly the check-in/gate staff should control this also. The other gripe I have is the pax at the rear of the a/c who walks down the aisle and dumps their hand baggage in a locker towards the front, depriving the pax seated there of the space. It's modern day selfishness.
Harrumph.
Harrumph.
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 79
Likes: 2
From: Germany
HT... unfortunately the lack of common sense firstly lies with those pax who turn up with massive roller hand baggage. Admittedly the check-in/gate staff should control this also. The other gripe I have is the pax at the rear of the a/c who walks down the aisle and dumps their hand baggage in a locker towards the front, depriving the pax seated there of the space. It's modern day selfishness.
Harrumph.
Harrumph.
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 340
Likes: 22
From: On BA58/59
In November I used the new T5 auto luggage drop facility, flying to JNB. You plug in your ID/Booking Ref, drop the luggage on the scale and a machine prints out the baggage tag for you, which you attach to your luggage and then hit the send button.
After doing my main bag (22.8kg) I was offered the chance to check in a second bag, so did indeed get rid of my carry-on so as to avoid the upper deck bag scramble on the A380.
What I now wonder is whether I could have checked in a second "cabin bag" at 23kg? This would put BA's overall luggage allowance closer to EK and QR
The auto facility included a credit card machine ready to squeeze a bit more revenue from the unwary.
The area was manned by a very nice Customer Chappie who was ready to help. Whilst system did work, my only comment to him was it was a shame to lose another element of human contact in the travel process.
After doing my main bag (22.8kg) I was offered the chance to check in a second bag, so did indeed get rid of my carry-on so as to avoid the upper deck bag scramble on the A380.
What I now wonder is whether I could have checked in a second "cabin bag" at 23kg? This would put BA's overall luggage allowance closer to EK and QR
The auto facility included a credit card machine ready to squeeze a bit more revenue from the unwary.
The area was manned by a very nice Customer Chappie who was ready to help. Whilst system did work, my only comment to him was it was a shame to lose another element of human contact in the travel process.
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 970
Likes: 54
From: uk
In November I used the new T5 auto luggage drop facility,
The first of our two bags went through OK, 18 Kgs. Put the second one on the scale, dear me, 24.5 Kgs, please pay £65.00. Called over a charming staff member, but she could do nothing, it's a case of "computer says no". So we cancelled the transaction, grovelled about to transfer a few Kgs to our hand baggage, and sent the case on its way.
This is where the human contact, aided by some common sense, would normally have meant the two cases being accepted by a human bag drop operator or check-in agent, certainly with BA at T5, in a hangover from pooling days.
The exercise of transferring weight from one bag to another is pointless and stupid.
The ethics of demanding £65 for an additional 1.5 Kg is another matter. If an airline believes that it is acceptable to punish its customers in this way may God help it, because I won't. It might look clever on some bean-counter's spreadsheet, but all it does for me is confirm what I sadly suspected, that BA under its present ownership and management is in a race for the bottom. When I was on the payroll, admittedly decades ago, the management may have been inefficient, but at least they were decent and understood how to retain customers. The present bunch seem determined to lose them.
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 17,701
Likes: 2,046
From: Reading, UK
Avoids nasty surprises.
https://www.ukdj.co.uk/tools-c8/engi...e-travel-p6530
Joined: Jun 1999
Posts: 3,423
Likes: 1
From: world
Be aware of an experience I had several years ago (with Delta Air Lines) in Tampa, that 3 scales adjacent to each other displayed 3 different weights. The one used at check-in showed over, the other 2 under. After calling a supervisor, and proving the point, no more was said and the suitcase was duly accepted at no extra charge. So, the gadget above (depending of course on its own accuracy), can be a reasonably good guideline. We have something similar in our home (only for my wife's suitcase)!!! 
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 694
Likes: 1
From: US/EU
I generally just step onto the bathroom scale without and then with the suitcase. I've found these scales consistently under-report the weight by 2-3 kilo compared to readings at the check-in counters. Just coincidence? 
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 284
Likes: 23
From: Canada/Malaysia
...poooof...too easy...
https://www.netflights.com/useful-ti...owances.aspx#V
https://www.netflights.com/useful-ti...owances.aspx#V
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 970
Likes: 54
From: uk
BlankBox, yes, thanks, we knew what the allowances are. And we had weighed the bags on the bathroom scales, both under the 23Kg even allowing for error with the scales. The tip we learned is to put the heaviest through the auto bag drop first, so that if it's overweight you can cancel the transaction and transfer stuff to a lighter bag. (Once you've labelled it and confirmed that, the bag disappears.)
My real gripe is the excess charge of £65 for 1.5 Kgs. I have been on the other side of the counter in the past, handling BA inter alia, when people turned up with hugely excessive hold baggage, and happily charged them for it, sometimes on BA's behalf. But I could never in all conscience have asked for £65.00 per 1.5Kg on any flight, let alone the short-haul one we were on the other day. It is simple extortion, and BA should be thoroughly ashamed.
My real gripe is the excess charge of £65 for 1.5 Kgs. I have been on the other side of the counter in the past, handling BA inter alia, when people turned up with hugely excessive hold baggage, and happily charged them for it, sometimes on BA's behalf. But I could never in all conscience have asked for £65.00 per 1.5Kg on any flight, let alone the short-haul one we were on the other day. It is simple extortion, and BA should be thoroughly ashamed.
Paxing All Over The World
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 10,842
Likes: 328
From: Hertfordshire, UK.
BA are just doing what everyone else is doing. Being 'decent' does not get you customers any more.
Unfortunately, across the last 20 years, the public have regularly confirmed that the 'headline' price is what catches them. Also, a very large number of people now book through search engines - these ONLY look at the headline price. Sometimes the pax do not realise there is a tech stop or full transit until after they have booked. Earlier this year, friends of mine did this travelling on BA and then found they had booked the chepaest option without a checked bag. As they were going to a wedding in Italy, they needed full suitcase allowance and had to add in later. I don't know if the total was then more than they would have paid if they had done it all direct.
Unfortunately, across the last 20 years, the public have regularly confirmed that the 'headline' price is what catches them. Also, a very large number of people now book through search engines - these ONLY look at the headline price. Sometimes the pax do not realise there is a tech stop or full transit until after they have booked. Earlier this year, friends of mine did this travelling on BA and then found they had booked the chepaest option without a checked bag. As they were going to a wedding in Italy, they needed full suitcase allowance and had to add in later. I don't know if the total was then more than they would have paid if they had done it all direct.
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 889
Likes: 3
From: UK
I had the auto check in problem as illustrated here. Computer says 65 quid. I removed bags went to Club check in which had a long queue. But it paid off when dealing with a sensible human being who weighed same bag, tagged it and wished me a pleasant journey!
I now avoid auto check in unless no alternativei (Easyjet Gatwick) as you can’t reason with a machine.
I now avoid auto check in unless no alternativei (Easyjet Gatwick) as you can’t reason with a machine.
Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 144
Likes: 34
From: Southampton
I have been flying Lufthansa to Germany recently, and its cheaper to fly business class to avail oneself of a 2 x checked in bag allowance, than it is to pay the additional cost for the second bag as an economy passenger. As I am frequently traveling with a Peli case full of tools, the auto check in machine and bag drop off is a waste of time for me.
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 970
Likes: 54
From: uk
ImageGear, I'm still puzzling over why sorting out your baggage weight at the check-in counter is no different from stuffing stuff into your pockets, or trouser legs, or round your neck in the corner grocery shop, an activity more commonly known as "shoplifting".
Joined: Oct 2002
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 8,201
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From: London UK
I'm afraid to say that TWA were particularly well to the fore in the UK with this, as those in the travel trade at the time may confirm. Group of colleagues on a business trip London to an Orlando convention, way off any TWA route, were routed by the agency via Chicago AND St Louis on TWA, as if it was the only option (which is what they were told when I, being aware of TWA practices and indeed their current incentive as detailed in Travel Trade Gazette, pointed out the dogleg and the existence of cheaper direct flights). They were then told they "had" to go through Chicago to clear customs. Guess what, they missed the connection and overnighted in St Louis, grossly disrupting the trip.
Last edited by WHBM; 29th December 2018 at 10:26.
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 970
Likes: 54
From: uk
Paxboy, I'm sure they have. From the early '70s onwards, we only weighed people for Islanders, DC3/SC7s with a full load, occasionally F27. Thrust-supported contraptions such as BAC1-11/B737/VC10/L1011/B747 etc could take care of themselves with assumed weights.
What I was getting at was the way IG wrote about sorting out the weight of each bag as equivalent to shoplifting, which puzzled me.
What I was getting at was the way IG wrote about sorting out the weight of each bag as equivalent to shoplifting, which puzzled me.
Last edited by old,not bold; 30th December 2018 at 17:42.