The luggage weighting game

[Diving Dubai]

I think it was a Fiji Airline that weighed passengers and luggage, and if your overall weight was above a threshold you got charged more

Not sure that would catch on in the US though

 

[TMHeimer]

Are there any general statistics showing that adding baggage fees has lowered ticket costs? My totally uneducated guess would be no.
As for fees based on total weight (all bags plus person) not catching on in the States (or Canada of course), makes sense to me. But--give it time.
Then there are the "Airport Taxes"--interesting subject to google. How did "maintenance of the facilities", Customs, Security, etc. survive before there were airport taxes?
My recent airport tax (Canada has one of the highest) was about what I paid for the plane ticket a few years ago.

 

[chillyinCanada]

When I went to Hawai'i we were doing a lot of shore diving and it cost around $8-9/day to rent weights so that's about $200 (almost two weeks) for two people. If I can manage to fit them in and not be overweight then I'll bring them along sometimes. If I'm going someplace where I'll only be boat diving then they supply the weights anyway. This is, of course, the amount of weight needed for tropical locations and a thin wetsuit. If I had to bring 50 pounds of lead then I'd probably just buy it used on Craig's list or a swap meet, if available. Recently I bought some weights and gave them away at the end of my trip--it was cheaper than renting them and my friends got some free weights.

In addition to just dive trips we are considering renting a place (probably Cozumel) and we'll probably bring some weights with us, but maybe not all in one trip. The first time I ever flew on an airliner was to Maui and I had about 18 pounds of weights in my carry-on. I got to keep my weights and made it there and back but TSA did not like it very much. I guess that's how they get you--they may not weigh the carry-on but they sure do X-ray it so you can't just get away with not paying for the checked bag.

TSA doesn't care what your bag weighs, only what's in it.

It's the air carrier that's concerned about the weight.

 

[Schwob]

My personal view on air travel, and I've done a lot over the years, is never check anything you're not prepared to lose. If in the rare occasions your bag gets lost/ broken into have nothing that you aren't prepared to replace

I share that view 100%.

 

[wnissen]

The only two flights that have weighed:
1. Air France from SFO. They were strict! I was about to throw away some of the magazines and newspapers I had for reading material to get the last kg, but they relented. Next time I didn't stop at the check-in counter and they didn't weigh, but I also typically travel with a 21" rollaboard that is slightly smaller than the template, so it looks like it's underweight.
2. Kenmore Air puddle jumper in western Washington state. For obvious reasons. They didn't make us turn off our cell phones, though.

 

[scubadiver888]

I would say that 99% of the time it is not an issue. However, I just came back from Cayman Brac. Going to the island and coming back, there was a weight limit and a price to pay if you were over. I was over but they didn't charge me any overage fee.

The problem however was that coming home. To get to Cayman Brac you have to fly to Grand Cayman then take a smaller plane to Cayman Brac. When we were coming home, 100% of the people were divers. A large number of us were over the weight limit. They still did not charge us for any overage fees. They did find that with passengers and luggage, the plane was too heavy. So they had to pick 12 random pieces of luggage to come off the plane. The extra pieces of luggage would be flown to Grand Cayman later. When asked, the luggage would arrive at Grand Cayman at 3:30pm. Our connecting flight was at 2:40pm.

We got to Grand Cayman and had to arrange for 12 pieces of luggage to get delivered later. The missing luggage would arrive in Grand Cayman at 3:30pm on Cayman Airways. Our connecting flight was with Westjet. When we talked to customer service, they were good enough to send our luggage on a different flight later in the day for no charge. However, one person who was missing luggage was driving 380 km to get home. The missing luggage would arrive something like 10 hours later in Toronto. So the person from up north had to wait around Toronto for 10 hours for her missing luggage or she had to make arrangements to have the luggage delivered to her home, at her expense.

Bottom line, if you are taking a small aircraft then connecting to a completely different airline (Cayman Brac is one, I think Dominica is another) then overweight bags might be an issue.

 

[60plus]

It is now becoming more of a problem in UK / Europe. Ryanair now weigh carry on luggage and have reduced the permitted weight and size. There are more generous allowances if you book priority boarding but this costs more. I have no doubt that some of this is being caused by the airlines wanting to make more money but quite a number of passengers are to blame also. They have been abusing the limits and then struggling to get it into the overhead lockers slowing boarding to the detriment of other passengers.

 

[TMHeimer]

It is now becoming more of a problem in UK / Europe. Ryanair now weigh carry on luggage and have reduced the permitted weight and size. There are more generous allowances if you book priority boarding but this costs more. I have no doubt that some of this is being caused by the airlines wanting to make more money but quite a number of passengers are to blame also. They have been abusing the limits and then struggling to get it into the overhead lockers slowing boarding to the detriment of other passengers.

Sorry, I place none of the blame on passengers. The airlines charging ANYTHING for checked bags brought this whole carry-on stuffing thing on. Plus of course, you've always had winter coats going in the overheads. Everybody is gunna bring what they need for the trip one way or another, no matter what it's packed in. The weight the plane carries and fuel it uses will be the same as decades ago when you got 2 free checked bags. The airlines, though, will make more money. The response to this in UK/Europe will eventually come to North America, just like the US' idea of checked baggage fees eventually came to Canada (we know stuffed overheads are probably as big of a problem on this side of the ocean). Give it time.

 

[drk5036]

I’ve flown a lot in Asia, especially on low cost carriers. They all have 7 kg max weight allowances, which includes carry on bag and personal item. Multiple times I’ve had both of these items weighed, both at check in and at the gate.

Airlines that did this include:
Air Asia
Lion air
Jetstar
Cebu pacific? (Can’t remember it that was the one...)

 

[60plus]

Headline flight prices are extremely competitive as are holiday packages. This is one of the reasons why some of the airlines have low headline prices but then lots of add ons. Some allow as little as 7kg hand luggage then any more has to be paid for say up to £35.50 for 20kgs for a 4 hour 25 minute flight. On the other hand there are some real bargains about such as a 2,000 mile flight to Lanzarote from UK for £39 that includes 10kg hand luggage and 22kg hold luggage. I guess the airports charge a fee for checking in hold luggage. Several of the flights I have been on in the last year have collected "excess" hand luggage from passengers as they walk to the plane and put it in the hold for no extra fee.