Baggage Allowance

Jonathan · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 185

OK, one lesson I learned the hard way the last time I was in Europe... when it comes to airline tickets, especially on the newer discount airlines, read the fine print!!! Seriously, they have very restrictive baggage allowances and they take them very seriously. And its not just checked baggage that they screen/weigh... carry on too! :shock:

I'd never had a problem with this in the U.S.A. so didn't really pay attention to it... until I ended up having to payt more in excess baggage allowance than for my actual ticket when flying from Copenhagen to Bologna (via Brussles)! :shock: :evil: :cry:

Laura · Joined: 16 May 2004 Posts: 446 Location: San Francisco

This happened to a friend of mine who was spending the past few months in Europe, travelling around and DJing. She finally shipped a big box of records home because she was going over the baggage allowance most of the times she flew and so was spending waaaayyyy too much money on the overage fees.

By the way, in the US if your bag fits the carryon DIMENSIONS (size), it's fine to bring it on board. But in Europe, some of the airlines also weigh your bag! So, if your bag is the allowable size but too heavy, they will still make you check it. This happened to me when I was flying from London to Barcelona on British Airways. I had a bunch of books I had bought in my carry on and it went over-weight! Fortunately, they don't weigh your "personal item" (i.e., purse), so I put enough of the books in my tote bag to pass the weight requirement and so was able to carry everything on. Oh, and just because you've been weighed and passed as okay at the check-in counter, it doesn't mean you're safe...British Airways checked and weighed people's bags again at the gate itself!

cocodrilo · Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 494 Location: Western Japan

Wow! Guess I've been lucky in this respect, not having excess baggage fees slapped on me. I tend to distribute the stuff pretty evenly throughout my check-in luggage and my carry-on but they did try to zap me once at SFO(San Francisco) a few years back. I simply transferred about 10 videos from the bag I was checking in to my carry-on(which was practically empty) and I was fine.
Nowadays, people are carrying unreasonably large "carry-on" bags with wheels that I often see being turned away from boarding gates. I have never been "measured" but don't bring items that large onto the plane to begin with.