Airline investigating after excess weight charges "go straight in official's pocket"

[webfact]

Airline investigating after excess weight charges "go straight in official's pocket"

 

video screenshot

 

A Singaporean woman passenger leaving Don Mueang believes she may have been robbed after she witnessed an airline official pocket 2,000 baht.

 

Channel 7 news reported that the woman was with several others at Bangkok's second main airport on Sunday. Her bag was found to be eight kilos over weight something that she disputed as she had weighed it at the hotel they had come from.

 

She wanted to put the excess weight in carry-on luggage but this was forbidden and she was charged 2,000 baht for the excess.

 

This was paid but to the passengers' surprise it looked like they had been unfairly charged with the money being kept by the staff.

 

The airline was not named as is customary in Thailand but they apologized for the distress suffered by the passenger and promised an investigation.

 

The story broke on the Facebook page of "Bernadette Yeo".

 

A Channel 7 News presenter said something was clearly amiss in a story the news media said was of international significance.

 

Source: Channel 7 News

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-03-27

[4MyEgo]

I will wait for the movie until I decide as this is not a thing Thai's do, especially at airports where passengers are leaving never to be seen or heard of again 

 

[midas]

I always ask for a receipt

[chuang]

Airline not named..but you can guess by the color of the staff's uniform...

[SneekyPete]

8 minutes ago, chuang said:

Airline not named..but you can guess by the color of the staff's uniform...

NO Kidding!

[Lupatria]

She risks to be charged for tarnishing the country's squeaky clean reputation and sued by the airline for defamation.

[trainman34014]

Rule No1....Weigh your own baggage before you leave and DON'T carry excess weight.

 

Rule No2.... if they tell you your baggage is overweight, look at what the scales say, it's right there in front of your face at the check in desk.

 

Rule No3....Demand that your baggage is re-weighed on different scales if you are not happy and ask to see a Manager or Supervisor of the Airline.

 

Rule No4....No matter what the outcome of a dispute you should always contact the Airlines Head Office Complaints Dep't when you get home and explain your problems at length, as you do actually have 'rights' where air travel is concerned.

 

Can't understand why people get caught up in these situations, if people weren't so stupid there would be no way for the scammers to take money from anyone.

[jacko45k]

So many things need to be bought to the authoities attention and all they want to do is insist gimp masks are worn.

[hathairat2711]

Fly like a bird.

[phuketlive]

1 hour ago, chuang said:

Airline not named..but you can guess by the color of the staff's uniform...

haha yes, nok air busted.

[wvavin]

Nobody is surprised this incident happened in this place as it is a well known corruption country.

[midas]

2 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

Rule No1....Weigh your own baggage before you leave and DON'T carry excess weight.

 

Rule No2.... if they tell you your baggage is overweight, look at what the scales say, it's right there in front of your face at the check in desk.

 

Rule No3....Demand that your baggage is re-weighed on different scales if you are not happy and ask to see a Manager or Supervisor of the Airline.

 

Rule No4....No matter what the outcome of a dispute you should always contact the Airlines Head Office Complaints Dep't when you get home and explain your problems at length, as you do actually have 'rights' where air travel is concerned.

 

Can't understand why people get caught up in these situations, if people weren't so stupid there would be no way for the scammers to take money from anyone.

Based on all this publicity I would say the Singaporean lady should still be able to get her money back

[ukrules]

I always weighed my own luggage before I leave so I would know if they're wrong and believe me if they're wrong I will tell them.

[sawadeeken]

I have bought a travel scale.......... It weighs just a few ounces........ can order online (mine from Amazon in the US) ......... from $6 to $10........

Edit to add...... I find my 3 different ones very accurate with airline scales.........

Edited March 27, 2018 by sawadeeken
to add comment

[Knocker33]

Jeez is there anyone not on the take in this place

[Rimmer]

A baiting/flame post has been removed

[janclaes47]

39 minutes ago, Knocker33 said:

Jeez is there anyone not on the take in this place

 Short answer : NO

 

More comprehensive answer : None

[TEFLKrabi]

I’ve often seen staff give me change from their own purse then settle up later. I’m sure it works both ways. Where else would she have put the money while standing in a busy queue. Maybe the passenger was not culturally aware. 

[ksamuiguy]

NO!

 

[anon537687643]

Ah Nok Air! A few stories of them in the past ! Dumped that cheating airline a long time ago


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[asiaexpat]

So much of this report seems unlikely and raises questions. Anyone traveling from DM airport knows the routine for checked baggage does not include customers handling bags once presented to checkin. I have witnessed many people at the counter removing things from checked baggage and placing it in carry on bags so this story has many holes in it. Facebook is great way to get attention and possible refunds from airlines even when making up stories. 

[rickudon]

Hmm, I have paid excess baggage at Swampy (I was overweight after an international flight, then swapping to internal). But they discounted the amount AND it was not paid at the counter - i was given a bill to be paid at the ticket office. Tedious, but at least doing it that way does make corruption harder. It was only a couple of hundred baht, so i wasn't complaining. 

[laocowboy2]

On 3/27/2018 at 2:23 PM, Knocker33 said:

Jeez is there anyone not on the take in this place

Probably not

[observer90210]

The portable travel scale is a good idea as mentioned above by a poster and many hotels/guest houses also have scales either in the bathroom or the lobby.

 

Also good to check as often when flying into thailand from abroad many airlines give a basic allowance of 30 kgs, but if you must carry on your journey with an internal flight, the weight drops to 20 kgs. Many can get trapped,  if the luggage is not directly checked-in to the final destination from the initial port of embarcation abroad.

Edited April 1, 2018 by observer90210

[Daffy D]

On ‎3‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 10:27 AM, webfact said:

Her bag was found to be eight kilos over weight something that she disputed as she had weighed it at the hotel they had come from.

[tifino]

 they'll put up a show, and come down heavy on the uniform

 

he'll Weigh up the Odds, and get away with a Wei

 

 

anyhow, I always use a digital scale for a better indicated accuracy for comparison,

and carry a spare CR2032, in the case,  just in case

[impulse]

If there's any question in my mind about a check-in bag being overweight, the first thing I do in the departure area is look for an idle check-in stand and weigh my bag. 

 

It's handy to have a small, hand held scale before even leaving for the airport, but that's one of 100 "handy things" to clutter up my bags in the age of phone chargers, charging cables, power adapters, extra SD and USB chips, portable hard drives, tiny action cameras, etc.  Pretty easy to forget something.  So the scale at an empty check-in stand is a good back-up plan, before getting to the front of an impatient queue of irate passengers.

 

Oh, and anyone who thinks they're somehow immune to ever being scammed just hasn't traveled enough.  Or not recognized it even after it happened.

 

Edited April 2, 2018 by impulse