Baggage fees.. Tightening the Screws

[LivBlue]

Personally I think it's silly. We all have X things we need to take with us. Now instead of putting it all in our checked bag we take a lot of it on the plane with us in our carry ons. Like I put my and my buddies's BCD, fins, and wetsuits in one checked bag. We then took our regs, cameras, clothes, medicine, and other things in our combined carry ons. What logic are the airlines following that this solution works best for them? I don't see why having us carry all this on works better for them. We checked one 45lb bag and then carried on 30-40lbs on each. Some of the divers in our group had their boat bags full of gear as their carry ons ect. Just seems like carry ons are getting out of control because of the outlandish baggage fees.

 

[azscubadude]

We have the digital travel scales too and they have come in handy many times. We've found them to be very accurate.

I purchased one of these floor scales (Royal makes it, Google it for Amazon) at Sam's Club, less than $50.00 if I remember correctly. It has a total capacity of 400 lbs worth of gear. It has come in very handy. The digital readout comes off (it's wireless) so you can put it anywhere. For weighing large bags (full) it works great. Or you can place a Rubbermaid bin on the scale then zero it out using the tare button then load your gear in the bin before loading it in your bag, much easier than packing and unpacking the bag.

When I bought it I wasn't sure how accurate it was so I weighed a 10 pound weight on the scale and then took it over to FedEx and weighed it on their scale and it was spot on. I still take the small hand held with me for weighing bags on the way home in case of wet clothes and any extra shirts or gear I might have purchased but for home this is perfect !!

 

[sharky60]

American charged us for our "second bag" for the first time this April.

I heard on the radio that American is going to replace thier entire fleet...I guess the next thing will be a "new plane" fee..."Oh Mr. Passanger, I see you are flying on one of our new planes today, that will be an extra $10 each way!"

...if I could drive to Coz, I would.

 

[sharky60]

I purchased one of these floor scales (Royal makes it, Google it for Amazon) at Sam's Club, less than $50.00 if I remember correctly. It has a total capacity of 400 lbs worth of gear. It has come in very handy. The digital readout comes off (it's wireless) so you can put it anywhere. For weighing large bags (full) it works great. Or you can place a Rubbermaid bin on the scale then zero it out using the tare button then load your gear in the bin before loading it in your bag, much easier than packing and unpacking the bag.

When I bought it I wasn't sure how accurate it was so I weighed a 10 pound weight on the scale and then took it over to FedEx and weighed it on their scale and it was spot on. I still take the small hand held with me for weighing bags on the way home in case of wet clothes and any extra shirts or gear I might have purchased but for home this is perfect !!

View attachment 97866

I just use the 'ol bathroom scale. Either try and balance the bag directly on it, or weith myself first :shocked2: then pick up the bag, weigh us both and do the math...I'm usually VERY close. I just try and make sure my calculations are around 45lbs. max., this gives me enough leeway on the top side.

It's coming home when I'm standing in line at the Mexican counter shifting stuff from one bag to another to make the weight work out...why don't they just give each passanger 100lbs. max. for 2 bags, rather than making it so both bags have to be under 50lbs. each?

 

[budaman]

Heck, I've gotten to the point of comparing Econ vs 1st Class... with the extra baggage allowance of 1st Class the gap is closing

We fly Continental to Cozumel, so I don't know if any of the other airlines have a comparable program. If you get the Continental President Club Credit Card you get the following benefits when you pay with the card.

Elite Status with the same baggage allowance as 1st/Business Class
Bypass the long security lines at many airports that have an Elite Access line along with boarding after 1st Class.
You also get access to the President's Club Lounges.
Better selection of seats
This also applies to I believe 2 others traveling on the same itinerary.

The one drawback is it has a $375/yr fee, but if you travel regularly, it pays for itself, if not for the savings in baggage, but the convenience it enables on the flight.

Mike

 

[azscubadude]

We fly Continental to Cozumel, so I don't know if any of the other airlines have a comparable program. If you get the Continental President Club Credit Card you get the following benefits when you pay with the card.

Elite Status with the same baggage allowance as 1st/Business Class
Bypass the long security lines at many airports that have an Elite Access line along with boarding after 1st Class.
You also get access to the President's Club Lounges.
Better selection of seats
This also applies to I believe 2 others traveling on the same itinerary.

The one drawback is it has a $375/yr fee, but if you travel regularly, it pays for itself, if not for the savings in baggage, but the convenience it enables on the flight.

Mike

I've got the same card.. doesn't work that way. You get everything you mentioned except you get the first two bags free but pay for overweight or oversized bags. I paid in March even after showing my card and asked today by calling twice and talking to two different agents. They looked it up. Overweight pays extra even with the Presidential Plus card (according to them). If you know differently let me know so I can triple check.. again !!

 

[budaman]

I've got the same card.. doesn't work that way. You get everything you mentioned except you get the first two bags free but pay for overweight or oversized bags. I paid in March even after showing my card and asked today by calling twice and talking to two different agents. They looked it up. Overweight pays extra even with the Presidential Plus card (according to them). If you know differently let me know so I can triple check.. again !!

My bad.....looks like they have changed that. When we first started using it we had a 70lb. limit. We haven't exceeded 50lbs lately, because we're getting tired of lugging a bunch of bags. Looks like the fee has also gone up to $395
now. Still beats the long security lines....last trip down I went a day later than my wife(she has card) and I'd forgotten how spoiled I've become!

I've been wondering though, what people are taking to get over 50lbs. We usually take our Oceanic rolling duffle with both BCD's, fins & wetsuits, plus a few clothes & don't exceed 50lbs. Regs, masks & camera equipment go in our carry-ons. We will usually pack in a soft sided gym bag in there also. That way we can check one of the rolling carry-ons if we pick up too many souveniers, on the way back.

 

[Aigtbootbp]

Why are you being rude, do you not think you are heavier than a 110lb 15 year old girl that pays the same fare, annoying.

No problem with her at all, increase her weight allotment to the same as mine and the 300lb'er. Heck, let her share her allotment with her family even. Maybe her 300lb parents could use the extra poundage.
However, I would still appreciate it if I am able to use the entire seat I paid for and not have to involuntarily share it with others.

ETA;
I do use a electronic scale at home but I want something to take with me for the return flight. Packing a big digital scale kinda defeats the purpose of maximize my packing as efficiently as possible.

 

[iztok]

I fly exclusively Star Alliance carriers as I am Star Alliance Gold. It works well as I get 3rd bag of 50lbs free. I carry all my gear (except tanks and weights) and no issues.

Just last time I flew CLT-YYZ and BUF-CLT with camera + lights, SS BP (2 wings - single and double), drysuit, 2 sets of regulators, fins, gloves, hood etc... and week worth of clothes. All came just under 100lbs for check-in as I take BP and can light and camera in carry-on.

 

[Doubler]

It is cheaper just to ship an additional bag but then again I don't understand why you can't get your bag to 50 lbs. All my dive gear ( Oceanic Probe BCD, Aeris X3 fins, mask, 3mil wetsuit) less regulator and clothes comes in at 49 lbs. My Canon DSLR housing and strobes in my Pelican box weighs 50 lbs. Regulator, laptop and camera go in carryon.