Beware Of Airline "weigh In"

[lori saxman]

A short time ago while at MCO I was fined $25.00 for luggage that exceeded the airline's (Northwest Airlines) weight limit, which I believe was 50lbs per item. (My luggage was @ 62lbs) I was very rudely told by the NWA ticket agent to either unpack 10lbs. of my luggage or pay the fine. Well, needless to say, I was not going to make the HUGE line of people behind me wait so I could unpack "10lbs." of clothing (plus my other bag was already filled to the brim!) So I had to pay ! Just a word to the wise for all fellow DIS travlers, pack lite, or do as I did-- This is a great excuse to purchase some addtional new luggage. That way I can "spread my weight around"


Can't WAIT For Our Upcoming DCL Adventure July 22!!!!!!

 

[dclwdwlover]

Thanx for the info. I have recently begun flying again & was wondering about the weight limits for our upcoming trip. This helped.

 

[dis4me]

Lori that stinks. We had the same thing hapen to us when we flew from LAX. It was self chekcin so we checked in They they tolds they would not take our bag.Unfortunately he didn' offr for us to pay to take it. He told us we could either dispers the weight or leave the bag. We would up finding a cardboard box that they let us tape us and put the estra weight in there.
Definatly will weigh my suitcasees if I am not sure now.

 

[glindamood]

There are both weight and size restrictions on all airlines - be sure to read the fine print on your ticket or check your airlines website for particulars. I know that NW changed even more if you bag exceeds a certain size as well. I have one that I think is very boarderline that I might just take to the airport for an official it is OK or not OK. It was purchased before the restrictions took effect. I was told once that the measurement goes from the ground to the top of the bag so it includes the wheels as well.

Then again, it may be a good thing if I can't fly with it - I could easily get 75 pounds in it.

 

[Empire Day]

Southwest is 70lbs. We have to weigh one of ours everytime we fly as it is the biggest case you have ever seen just last week returning from AZ it was at 67lbs and I have had people in front of me in line have to try and repack right there on the floor the poor lady was removing clothes and stuffing her purse and carry on we felt so bad for her

 

[CRB#33]

Oh yes there are size restrictions now also.

Before my first trip to WDW several years ago, I bought the monster of all suitcases. You know, the ones that have the expandable side.

USAir has measurements that you must abide by or you will pay extra, regardless of weight. My suitcase maximizes those guidelines before expanding it . They also have a 50 lb. weight limit.

 

[Jeanny]

Yes, make sure you check your airlines restrictions as to weight AND size of your luggage and the # of pieces each passenger can bring/check in/carry on, etc. And don't forget to take into consideration how much each piece of luggage weighs to begin with! That's one of the reasons I like SouthWest, right now, they allow 70 lbs, my daughters' luggage weighed 62 lbs coming off of the ship. We were sweating it for awhile!!

Most airlines allow you to check in two pieces of luggage, it may be worth it to bring two each, rather than one big one each.

 

[makaylee]

Sorry, The reload page came up so I didnt think the post went through

 

[makaylee]

Just another warning to all of you. My mom just flew in for a visit and we were told by Delta that soon all airlines were going to 50lb limits because of FAA regulations. So if your airline currently allows 70lbs make sure before you fly next time that it hasn't changed.

When we flew AA in May 2 of our bags were over, we thought there was a 70lb limit. One was just slightly over so we disbursed the weight in that one, but the other one was over quite a bit so we just payed the $25. AA wasnt snotty about it, but we were a little upset because last time we flew it was 70lb so we even weighed our bags at home to make sure we werent over. Fat lot of good that did.

 

[Amberle3]

That's why I LOVE my "suitcase". It weighs almost nothing, and it's very distinctive. No one has EVER mistaken one of my suitcases for theirs!

I use army parachute bags (I'm told it's what they use to store parachutes in) that I purchased from the army surplus store. I think they were less than $10 each. When packed full they hold a tremendous amount. They're soft-sided, so if they're not full they don't take up as much room. I typically fold one up inside the other and use it as additional space for the way home. The bags have a sturdy zipper and then a flap that covers the zipper and snaps shut. I use cable ties to secure the zipper pull to a loop on the bag. I assume the bags can be hooked to something, they didn't have straps when I bought them but I did later purchase straps for them.

Because they're just a plain army green, I used fabric paint and decorated them. One has pastel flowers, and one has various Disney characters. I figure it's highly unlikely that anyone else is going to have bags like that.

And should something spill on the bag, you can toss it into the washing maching! And I figure that anything that's built to withstand the potential of being tossed out of an army airplane ought to be able to withstand airline's baggage handlers. I bought my first one in 1991 and it's still doing great.

I can post a picture if anyone is interested.

 

[gottaluvEeyore]

This may be a stupid question, but here it is anyway...

Isn't it that the reason airlines have weight limits for baggages is because airplanes have a limit as far as how much weight they can hold? If this is the case, isn't it scary that we are given the option to pay $20 for exceeding the weight limit? How many passengers on each flight opt to pay the fine and how many choose to take stuff out of their suitcases? Are they (airlines) even able to keep track of how many suitcases that exceed the weight limit are on each flight?

I was just wondering about this. We have hard-sided suitcases and they are already heavy even before we put anything in them. I always pack way too much stuff so thanks for the heads up.

Teresa

 

[MarkRG]

To make an even more comvoluted thought from that one, ok, they are unpacking their checked bag into a carryon/purse/garbage bag/whatever. It's still going on the plane. If it was just a weight restriction for what the plane can carry, they should be weighing everything including the passengers and their carryons.

I can tell you why they are imposing this. The extra weight costs them more in fuel to fly the plane. They are using the excuse of this rule to enforce everyone to pay for the additional fuel cost.

 

[rae519]

The airlines are so picky about luggage weight but what about passenger weight?????

One flight the woman in the window seat had to weigh over 300 lbs, putting her in her seat and most of my husbands. There were no other seats available, and he had to sit half on the seat and the rest in the aisle while the stewardess kept telling him to sit in his seat. IF she didn't want to deal with the overweight passenger then she should have gotten her supervisor or the pilot. He paid for a whole seat, not a portion. This woman should have been required to pay for TWO seats due to her size.

And by the way, I'm fat, but at least I fit in my seat!

Rae

 

[graygables]

They actually are considering weighing passengers and requiring anyone over a certain weight (I heard 250 lbs) to purchase extra seats. Right now, many airlines have a COS (Customer Of Size) policy where a person is basically "eyeballed", then asked to purchase an extra seat. Nearly everyone does, otherwise they will be denied boarding and the embarassment of that is worse than the ticket. There was recently a lawsuit where a man of "normal" size sued the airline for making him sit next to a "fat" person which caused him discomfort.

BTW, my mom recently came for a visit and her 49# bag was stickered as a "heavy item". I think the luggage weight thing also has to do with workers not having to lift people's kitchen sinks everyday (mom...)

 

[WDWCrazzyCunninghams]

I thought the weight for suitcases was restricted because people have to lift, er ah, throw them on to the plane. I know I would rather throw a 50# bag, then a 70# one. This becomes cumbersome for us...I think. The boys are just barely old enough to pull their own suitcases, so instead of 2 suitcases and 2 carryons, we will now have at least 4 suitcases and 2 to 4 carry ons. Hhmm...I guess this means instead of having 140# checked, I might have up to 200# checked! Wow. I have to agree though, what difference does it make whether that 10# extra is checked or in my carryon? We had to do this with Steve's shoes. All I could picture is my undies all over the floor of MCO! I guess that's another reason to pack everything in ziploc bags!

 

[rae519]

Originally posted by graygables
They actually are considering weighing passengers and requiring anyone over a certain weight (I heard 250 lbs) to purchase extra seats. Right now, many airlines have a COS (Customer Of Size) policy where a person is basically "eyeballed", then asked to purchase an extra seat. Nearly everyone does, otherwise they will be denied boarding and the embarassment of that is worse than the ticket. There was recently a lawsuit where a man of "normal" size sued the airline for making him sit next to a "fat" person which caused him discomfort.

Excellent policy! I'm way under that mark and shrinking daily!!!

The airline gave my husband $50 compensation for his "discomfort" during that 45 minute flight - but there was no excuse for it to have ever happened in the first place.

Rae

 

[tvguy]

AA told us when leaving on our 12-27-03 DCL trip that the limit, starting January 1, 2004 would be 44 pounds per bag. There were 4 of us, and we had just 3 bags. One was over 44 pounds, the rest well under. They laughed when I asked if we could average the weight. They told me in Sacramento it had nothing to do with total weight of baggage per passenger, but how much the baggage people had to lift per bag. Coming back we were careful to distribute the weight, but didn't have to pay since we checked the luggage in at the Port, and it wasn't weighed.
So it may be a worker safety/union issue.
Anyone here work for the US Postal Service? I hear they union bans them from lifting over 25 pounds. 25 years ago when I was a TV photographer I weighed the equipment I had to carry, camera, tape deck and wood tripod, it weighed 65 pounds!!!

 

[makaylee]

Originally posted by rae519


And by the way, I'm fat, but at least I fit in my seat!

Rae

LOL Rae, You crack me up! I'm also fat (size 18) but, as of now I still fit in my seat without loping over the side. But if I do lop over someday you can believe I would pay for two seats! Your poor husband.

 

[rae519]

WE do make a good pair, don't we?!!!!!! Considering the average size of the American woman is 14, we aren't doing too bad! Come on down and I'll get you a nice row of stalls to muck out - that will give you weight loss if nothing else does!!!

IF you hear my horse groan, then we know I'm too fat!!! He might want to ride me!!!

Rae

 

[makaylee]

Originally posted by WDWCrazzyCunninghams
I thought the weight for suitcases was restricted because people have to lift, er ah, throw them on to the plane. I know I would rather throw a 50# bag, then a 70# one. This becomes cumbersome for us...I think.

This makes sense, but if its true they need to give the extra $25 to the poor people who need to life the suitcases. I would bet they dont.