VIRGIN DECREASE baggage allowance from 1st April

[catherine]

We also just booked on Sunday and I am quite happy with the 23Kg. Although for me that is not the point. When people book a package they take everything into consideration and for some peole that includes the amount of luggage that they are able to take. I don't see how Virgin can change this for people who have already booked and paid for their trip. I just wonder what Virgin would do if people started to cancel their bookings, because they are not getting what they paid for!!

 

[tartangirl]

just got off the phone to virgin

we booked sunday, our weight will be 2times 23kg 2 cases each

I said I wasnt happy at all with this, their advice to upgrade to pe both ways so we still get the 32kg per case, as thats what pe will get, so we have upgraded both ways to the tune of £490 each!

If PE passengers can take a bag weighing 32Kg then the reduction to 23Kg per bag cant be health and safety. I see no reason why any one bag would be limited to 23Kg.

I agree with the above remarks that 2x23Kg is still an awful lot of luggage and way more than we could take. The problem for me is the limit to 23Kg per bag (if that is the case). We take 2 large cases for the 4 of us. Going out we pack an extra couple of bags for the return journey. I can see me having to do some careful packing coming back (and buying a set of scales) to keep both cases under the 23Kg limit although overall we'll be nowhere near our limit.

I would be interested to know if baggage allowance is part of the T&C. If it is then people should be allowed to cancel without penalty - not much help for those about to fly.

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

I'm sure 23k each per case will be more than sufficient - just asked the household and we can't remember what our bags to Florida normally weigh. Whilst we've often had the bright orange HEAVY stickers on our cases (most times because we usually take a case each and DH and my cases are large).

However, pause for thought for passangers other than to Florida . . . what about passangers like us - flying VA to San Fransisco next Friday for a few nights there, then on to Lake Tahoe skiing for two weeks. Ski clothing and winter woolies weigh a heck of a lot more than shorts 'n t-shirts

And that's not including my ski equipment, boots, etc. And our friend's boots (and the skis he will be bringing home).

I shall be contacting VA and VH tomorrow . . . please don't let it be the dreaded call centre again, had to ring them last week when all the tickets arrived, but no itinerary and directions as to get to Tahoe. They couldn't even understand when I was saying T-A-H-O-E No offence intended at all, but why, why, why do big companies do this (ok, ok, we all know it's money ).

 

[Claire L]

Don't forget this allowance is the FREE allowance if you go over it you will get charged, but this is per piece and is roughly £70, so compared to a PE upgrade not a great deal to pay when PE is often £285 each way.

Claire

 

[Lindy Loo]

Good point Claire... This is an offical guide price for an extra bag £70... or just a guess. Ive been trying to get through to virgin to double check, but no luck.

cant do PE as flight is full.............. cant really afford to do it anyway!

 

[Claire L]

Good point Claire... This is an offical guide price for an extra bag £70... or just a guess. Ive been trying to get through to virgin to double check, but no luck.

cant do PE as flight is full.............. cant really afford to do it anyway!

From the VA website -

The following charges apply to the specified routes for each extra piece of baggage you wish to check in over your free allowance*:

Between Boston/New York/Washington DC and UK
Departing UK - GBP60 per piece.
Departing USA - USD100 per piece.

Between Orlando/Miami and UK
Departing UK - GBP70 per piece.
Departing USA - USD115 per piece.

Between Los Angeles/San Francisco/Las Vegas and UK
Departing UK - GBP90 per piece.
Departing USA - USD140 per piece.

Between Caribbean and UK
Departing UK - GBP75 per piece.
Departing Caribbean - USD115 per piece.

Between Bahamas/Cuba/Jamaica and UK
Departing UK - GBP75 per piece.
Departing Bahamas/Cuba - USD115 per piece.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Claire

 

[Lindy Loo]

Claire Thank you soooo much.

As you know from my previous rants, we booked over 16 months before we fly ( oct 06) however I still havent got it in black and white that Virgin will honour the baggage limit they stated when I booked and paid for the trip. Although most of the threads seem to imply Virgin will honour this, if the ticket was booked before the 1st April. that said the last couple of people stated they booked Sunday, and the new allowance is being used???

This way if we are over.......... we will at least still be able to take on the plane ( had visions of having to "loose" a case at gatwick ??!!)

So as long as the case is under 23kgs its £70, like you said cheaper than PE!

 

[mushumadness]

be carefull with over weight we were one case over they didnt way it, just charged us $180 (bearing in mind this case only had wdcc items in it and didnt weight much at all), which we knew wll at least we knew we would be charged, the people in frount of us a few years ago checkin in at dtd were actually throwing things away from there case to make it lighter

plus booking pe isnt just the weight for us, its the experiance, extra room etc,
we were already going out pe it just tipped the scale to return pe.

 

[Scottish-Helen]

Virgin are just following all the US carriers on this. Compared to the 23kg and one piece rule for the rest of the world, or 20kg for a charter it's still very generous. My case normally weighs around 20 - 22kg and then it's very very heavy. I'm not a shopper but how much stuff do people actually buy that they need 64kgs anyway????

 

[TraceyL]

I don't need 64 kgs - 46kgs will be more than enough but I can't fit 4/5 cases in my car instead of the 2/3 we usually take between 4 of us. It's not about the weight - it's about the logistics !

 

[mushumadness]

well dbf just saw this thread and he didnt know about what virgin charged for extra luggage he says its not worth pe, so guess whos cancelling it tomorrow!

he says he doesnt car if we have two extra cases and get charged $200 its better than 490 each (we have had communications problems obviously lol)

cant believe it, cancelling both ways argh, to the tune of ££ i dont know

 

[mikki.young]

If you go charter you expect a low allowance. If you go scheduled airline, like Virgin or BA, you expect the full allowance. American Airlines have always had a lower allowance for internal flights but not for transatlantic ones before.

Have BA changed as well? If they haven't then maybe Virgin are going downmarket and getting more like a charter flight.

PS just looked at BAs site and no mention of a reduction from 32kg for a transatlantic flight. However they do also mention a company that will transport your luggage from USA to UK and vice versa so you don't have the hassle - probably cheaper than all upgrading to PE. They are https://www.firstluggage.com/index.aspx

 

[TraceyL]

Virgin have changed the announcement slightly

From 1 April 2006 we are making some changes to the baggage allowances on our flights.

On transatlantic, Caribbean and Nigerian routes, we've adjusted the allowance for Economy class to 2 pieces at 23kg per piece, Premium Economy and Upper Class remain unchanged

Link

That will help me as we're flying back PE anyway (thanks heavens for £50 upgrades ) Just have to pack carefully on the way out.

 

[mushumadness]

we're still downgrading chris is having none of it,

he says I have plenty of baggage space as he rarely buys things to fetch home

 

[Lindy Loo]

mushumadness... so sorry to hear you story. What a bummer..... still trying to look on the bright side... cancel PE save ££££ and spend $$$$ in Florida.

When did you book? We booked in Aug 2005 for Oct 2006. I am waiting for them to confirm, but rumour has it, they will still HONOUR the 32kgs per person. So ask them what they will do for you. ???

could you go PE on the way home only???

Big spinkle of pixie dust!!

 

[Night-train]

We booked in May 05 for travel in Oct 06. Like many others we chose Virgin because of the 64kg allowance as we are quite heavy shoppers when Stateside. I find it detestable that only us lowly economy travellers are being forced to accept this change. As has been said before, it is not a H&S issue if it is not being implemented right across the board, and coupled with the huge jump in the fuel surcharges is quite a blow to stomach for those of us who scrimp to afford it all in the first place. It begs the question, who is Economy Class economical for?? Looks to me like the balance is slowly being tipped in favour of the carriers now rather than the 'carried'!! I have emailed Virgin to clarify this ruling regarding pre-April bookings and also took the opportunity to inform them that this may well be my last time using their services if they continue to erode our perks at the rate they are!

Very annoyed to say the least!

 

[mushumadness]

lindy loo, that is a good way to look at it, theres no doubt that I could be a little over weight on the way home but I am prepared to pay, Chris wont upgrade either way now,

We booked sunday morning and there was no sign of the baggage info changing.

I have strongly considering cancelling and going back with TCD, Infact so strongly I am going to ask virgin what the costing would be, I can go sunshine first on tcd for £300 less than what the virgin trips costing us. there luggage is 40kg per person (not limited to bags) and for an extra case I didnt pay anything last year.

Looks like virgin are no better than tcd, so why pay more

 

[catherine]

Anna if Virgin charge you the extra £10 fuel surcharge (which I'm expecting, as we booked on Sun too) you can just cancel your booking and get a full refund!

Personally I would phone Virgin and confirm that you can only take 23Kg if you booked before April 1st. If that is the case and that doesn't work for you then I would tell Virgin that I'm cancelling the booking and I expect a full refund!!

 

[Chris and Pooh]

We are also travelling with Virgin for the first time to Orlando on April 28th, we have previously used many other airlines in the past and to be honest I do not find a 23kg /case a problem, however each to their own. We normally go with one case inside another then fill up with goodies whilst we are out there, what I did not realise though was how little the allowance for hand luggage is compared to USA airlines. Virgin = 6kg American Airlines 18kg. This could make a big difference to some!!

 

[mushumadness]

catherine thanks for the advice I rang virgin and cancelled without charge this morning (had to send a fax in to confirm i was cancelling as well)

we have re booked with tcd, better price and we arnt limited to bags so I can spread the weight about and we are going sunshine first, still costing us less than virgin so I am very happy