What Is The Story With "excess" Baggage

[torrenova]

I just noticed on an airline today that 5kg of prepaid baggage was going to cost Bt800 on a ticket that cost Bt999 and included 15kg of baggage already and the weight of the human cargo and his carry on bags. This is on a couple of hours flight.

On Jet Airways from LHR to BKK last year, they wanted to charge me £26 (Bt 1300 or so) per kilo of excess baggage when the one way fare (even including taxes and stuff) was about £250.

So if I weigh 100kg and carry on 20kg more in duty free and carry on baggage, I effectively fly for £250/120kg which equals about £2 per kilo. Nevermind any food, drinks, and service I may use (baggage does not get service !).

So why is "excess" baggage priced, after you remove food and taxes, about 20 times the cost of transporting a human ?

Also, I presume airlines and pilots have an average weight for each human. I know that will be on averages but what happens if you are the odd couple and he is 120kg and she is 40kg but she has 20kg "excess" baggage ? Why on earth should she pay when her total will only come to half her partner's ?

I can understand paying for all baggage. That is fair. But charging 10 to 20 times the cost of transporting the human is wrong. Has anyone in the UK ever taken this to through the UCTA (unfair contract terms act) ?

Also, why is damage to baggage based on how much it weighs ? What has that got to do with cost ? My diamond ring weighs nothing but costs far more than the tins of beans I am carrying in my suitcase !

Please add anymore Q&A and let's hope someone in the know can answer or has the XYZ's do so !

[Naam]

charges for excess weight are based on a several decades old IATA rule. at that time it was agreed that for 1kg excess weight 1% of the official full fare first class price is charged. as this price is artificially inflated (hardly anybody pays full fare) the discrepancy compared to transporting a human is huge.

[PhilHarries]

charges for excess weight are based on a several decades old IATA rule. at that time it was agreed that for 1kg excess weight 1% of the official full fare first class price is charged. as this price is artificially inflated (hardly anybody pays full fare) the discrepancy compared to transporting a human is huge.

A couple of years back 7kg of excess baggage cost me over 30% of my one way fare KUL to LHR .

I would have assumed that a one way ticket would be as close to full fare as you can get but maybe I'm wrong. I didn't buy the ticket nor did I ultimately pay the excess so I didn't really care.

btw the stupid thing is that I could have taken 7kg out of my check in bags and took it carry on and been charged nowt. I'm sure there is logic in there somewhere but it just doesn't compute.

Maybe the answer is for each piece of self loading freight (aka passenger) had to pass over a weighbridge at check in and the allowances/charges are based on total all up weight. They'd have to allow get out clauses for people with medical problems who are overweight but there's no reason why it can't be done.

[jackr]

Emirates are charging something like 50 quid per kilo over at the mo

[ozfarang81]

it's just revenue raising. Suggest you either become 'Gold' in the alliance for double baggage, or, book business class, for double also

Most of the low cost carriers have a prepay service which offer much more reasonable overweight fee's which is nice. Otherwise, just stop travelling with so much CRAP! how much stuff do you really need!

[IMA_FARANG]

I just noticed on an airline today that 5kg of prepaid baggage was going to cost Bt800 on a ticket that cost Bt999 and included 15kg of baggage already and the weight of the human cargo and his carry on bags. This is on a couple of hours flight.

On Jet Airways from LHR to BKK last year, they wanted to charge me £26 (Bt 1300 or so) per kilo of excess baggage when the one way fare (even including taxes and stuff) was about £250.

So if I weigh 100kg and carry on 20kg more in duty free and carry on baggage, I effectively fly for £250/120kg which equals about £2 per kilo. Nevermind any food, drinks, and service I may use (baggage does not get service !).

So why is "excess" baggage priced, after you remove food and taxes, about 20 times the cost of transporting a human ?

Also, I presume airlines and pilots have an average weight for each human. I know that will be on averages but what happens if you are the odd couple and he is 120kg and she is 40kg but she has 20kg "excess" baggage ? Why on earth should she pay when her total will only come to half her partner's ?

I can understand paying for all baggage. That is fair. But charging 10 to 20 times the cost of transporting the human is wrong. Has anyone in the UK ever taken this to through the UCTA (unfair contract terms act) ?

Also, why is damage to baggage based on how much it weighs ? What has that got to do with cost ? My diamond ring weighs nothing but costs far more than the tins of beans I am carrying in my suitcase !

Please add anymore Q&A and let's hope someone in the know can answer or has the XYZ's do so !

The reply from NAAM is correct. The IATA rate stipulated for excess baggage is 1% per kilo of a full first class fare. Been that way for years.

For the airlines your baggage is just dead wieght. YOU pay for your transportation, the baggage is just for your convenience (little value to the airlines, but the weight burns extra fuel which costs the airline MONEY). They don't expect you to carry half your household goods around each time you fly. 20Kg is the normal international allowance for coach fare (yes some short haul flights take it down to 15 Kg). On international flights if you fly business class it is usually 30 Kg. Depending on the fare...it can be worth the extra cost to get that 30 Kg before the excess baggage starts. Most airlines will give you a break on the actual weight they charge you for. But if a flight is almost totally full, they enforce the baggage requirement more strictly.

I once had 45 Kg on a coach fare ticket. They gave me the 20 Kg, and charged me for another 15 Kg excess. If you add that up it only comes to 35 Kg....the other 10 Kg was a 'freebie'.

Bottom line for the airlines....your luggage uses up fuel and costs them money....so you have to pay for it.

[SeaVisionBurma]

Bottom line for the airlines....your luggage uses up fuel and costs them money....

... and excess luggage checked in by the pax reduces the amount of available weight/space the airline could otherwise use for transporting paid commercial air freight for revenue. Not all modern aircraft were designed with maximum payload as the optimum design factor. Airbus A340 is one that comes to mind....