Beware Of Airline "weigh In"

[rae519]

Originally posted by CAMICKEY
This young lady was only going to Las Vegas for one night and one day. 82 lbs for one day, one night and part of the next day. Mike

And pray tell what else was in the luggage? Jimmy Hoffa????
NO, on second thought, I don't think I want to know.

Rae

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

I flew to Washington DC mid March and was so suprised about the 50lbs limit. I knew they had limits but I thought 50lbs was way low, so I snuck up to the counter and my bag weighed 54lbs and I almost panicked because I didn't want to pay $25 and I was the only passenger, thankfully the lady let is slide.

Coming home I made sure to empty out all items I didn't need and thanfully the weight was exactly 50 lbs, the lady mentioned that if it would have been any more I would have had to pay. Thank goodness I didn't have her for the first flight!!!

That tip was a business trip, I don't know how I could make the 50lbs weight limit going to Disney and bringing back all the souveneirs.

 

[CAMICKEY]

Rae - Well here was a list of her shoe assortment that I could see.
Hiking boots (why at Vegas), sandals (2 pair), flats (I think you call them this), water shoes, heels, and a pair of tennis shoes. My wife and I still get a chuckle. I can't believe she asked the guys behind her to shove it into their suitcases. You should have seen this. Just one halarious sight and we were not the only people laughing. As this was taking place, the line behind us kept getting longer and longer. - Mike

 

[txtara]

My husband is an airline employee...after years of "throwing bags" he threw out his back....10 years of pain....2 surgeries and lots of pain injections he is finally doing well.........I can understand
why they have done this...and as employees we are not exempt from the weight limit....returning from our last cruise in March we had to do the old switcheroo...one of our bags was over...what a pain but I understand why........also another reason for all of this
is weight restrictions....if the weight and balance is off on the aircraft luggage will be left behind....as in....wont be there when you get there.....We worked in a small station with small aircraft for awhile....I think we held back more bags than we sent!!!I know it is a bummer....whenever I pack now I have to stop and weigh it at least 3 times...

 

[makaylee]

Originally posted by SandraLee


I guess the problem is not with the weight limit, but with the passengers *knowing* about the weight limit.

I agree, not knowing about the weight limit is the problem. They need to post it more clearly on the websites or on the tickets if you dont use etickets. Our problem was the last time we flew before our cruise the weight limit was 70lbs, so we made sure we didn't go over that. Well, we were faced with a $25 fine because no one told us the limit had dropped to 50lbs.

On the other hand I can see why they impose the fine, because I wouldn't want to lift 70lb bags all day either, but what I wonder is what they do with the money they get for the bags that are over? Do they give it to the poor person who had to lift the bag? I can't be sure since I don't work for an airline, but I would guess no.

Again, this is a good rule (that's what unions are for)because no one should have to lift that much weight all day, but they need to advertise it better.

 

[ExecuMom]

We had a similar experience with having to pay USAir money ($125) for overweight luggage.

This year on our cruise, we stopped at Target near port to buy another small suitcase to put overflow in. This way we didn't have to lug it down to FL, but had it for the trip home. We were lucky to find one that matched our existing set, and it wasn't too expensive either.



Michele

 

[Grumbo]

I have to admit I usually check for the weight restrictions but didn't realize that if there were three of us it couldn't be spread over the group. eg 20 kgs for each of 3 so thought I could have two bags with 30 kgs in each. Good to know for future trips.

What gets me though is that if you have a few lbs or kgs over you can STILL have it on the plane. You just have to pay through the nose. It kind of goes against the safety, worker's health reasoning. Seems more of a cash grab, but then again I'm cynical so could be wrong

Cheers,
Grumbo

 

[Amberle3]

Originally posted by Grumbo
What gets me though is that if you have a few lbs or kgs over you can STILL have it on the plane. You just have to pay through the nose. It kind of goes against the safety, worker's health reasoning. Seems more of a cash grab, but then again I'm cynical so could be wrong

I think the reasoning is to provide an incentive to NOT go over the limit the next time. And probably to have the passenger tell all their friends about it so that they in turn don't go over the limit.

I mean think about you - you could spend $$$ on advertising and let people know that the weight limit has changed and not allow any overweight bags, or you could not advertise it, charge the passenger more for overweight bags, and the word still gets out through word of mouth AND you've made money in the process. And with the way the finances are for the airlines at the moment, they can use the money.

I also think that part of reason for allowing people to pay extra is to avoid the massive scenes that would arise if people were simply not allowed to take their overweight bags. I mean what do you do with the stuff that you take out of it if you don't have someone waiting at the airport to see you off? Have you ever watched Airline? Can you imagine how abusive some of these people would be if they were told they simply could NOT bring their luggage with them at that weight?

 

[Grumbo]

I totally agree that the reason for the weight restrictions is legitimate. That said however as an earlier poster pointed out when you have 6 passengers travelling together as a family for instance that are permitted 50 lbs each, and have three bags that are 60 lbs each and made to pay a penalty THAT imho IS a cash grab.

Cheers,
Grumbo

 

[NancyDVC]

And I thought that I was the only one 'repacking' in the airport. On our March trip to WDW my bag weighed 53 lbs. I asked the skycap to weigh my friend's bag and it weighed 44 lbs. (She is a much better packer than I am. I tend to add things at the last minute 'just in case I might need them'-another sweater, shirt, shampoo etc. But never shoes!) I took a few things out of my suitcase and repacked them into hers.
The sky cap said fine after a few items and we avoided the fine. On the way home we were prepared. We had the totes nag that we take to bring home the laundry in thereby allowing room for things we buy and I bought a small duffle to pack other things in. Low and behold they never weighed anything.
Maybe that was because we were behind a group of cheerleaders and their chaperones who had more bags than I could count plus all their trophies, which together weighed over 50 lbs I'm sure and they carried on. Now I'm sure that none of those trophies fit under a seat or in the overhead bins!
Now I have to figure out what to leave home rather than what to take on out cruise!

 

[ruvidu]

Domestic US Overweight Pieces
Over 50 up to 70 lbs 25.00 USD 39.00 CAD
Over 70 up to 100 lbs 50.00 USD 77.00 CAD
Domestic US Additional Pieces
1st - 3rd 80.00 USD 123.00 CAD
4th - 6th 105.00 USD 162.00 CAD
7th and subsequent 180.00 USD 277.00 CAD
Oversized Pieces
63 - 160 Inches 80.00 USD 123.00 CAD

I have checked 4 different airlines on the net and each had a very similar table to the one listed above. It also states that if you are using multiple carriers that each carrier can impose the overweight fee.

American Airlines offered this explanation:


Why is There a Free Baggage Allowance?
The standard free baggage allowance is the maximum number, size, and weight of bags that each customer is allowed with no additional charge. We have based this allowance on extensive studies of variables that influence the maximum capacity of baggage on an aircraft. These variables include size of aircraft cargo compartments, dimensions of the doors, fuel requirements, typical number of passengers on board, and government regulations. Our evaluation resulted in the establishment of a standard free baggage allowance that is applied to all flights.

Now you know.

Russ

 

[nasmith]

Of course, the obvious solution would be to pack less

I travel alone with my 4 yo frequently - and have a hard time trying to carry around alot of luggage AND a sleeping 50 lb. 4 yo (Always happens when I least want it to...) so have become a master at packing light. Last trip - we had a grand total of 29 lbs. between the 2 of us....

I find the biggest helps are to find lighter suitcases (or duffles) as some of the big ones can easily weigh15 lbs by themselves! (Thats 30% of your weight limit for pete's sake!) and to limit the number of shoes that you take (Okay - i've got closets full of them too - but they weigh a ton (Big feet ) so I now try to find pairs that do double duty - no pair goes that can only be worn with one outfit, etc.

As far as to why the airlines are imposing this weight limit - it's because they are broke (except for SW) and are trying to save a few dollars - not only on fuel costs, but on health insurance for their employees, and disability insurance/workman's comp as well (that prob. costs them a lot more than a few lbs. worth of fuel)--because back injuries are the leading cause of injury at work and can often injure them for life.....

Personnally - I believe the over-weight charge is much more fair than their $100 reservation-change fee- that only takes someone a few clicks of a computer to do - and I don't see that costing them much money at all....

Jill (A SW flyer when at all possible)

 

[rae519]

ATA will be changing from 70 lbs to 50 lbs on June 1, 2004.

Rae

 

[jodifla]

I firmly believe this is nothing but a cynical cash grab by the airlines.

The airlines don't care about the people flying (if they did, they'd advertise the weight limits) or the people working for them (if they did, the would have done this years ago!)

 

[ruvidu]

The airlines don't care about the people flying (if they did, they'd advertise the weight limits)

As i posted earlier, every airline has the baggage limits, Size and Weight, posted on their web sites.
I am just curious as to what more they could do.