Excess Baggage At Don Meung

[Hikage]

Hello all,

Any experiences when checking in baggage at don meung and being over the limit?

I'm gonna be taking about 26KG on singapore airlines with a limit of only 20KG. Do you think this will be questioned and 6KG charged (which is about 700B per KG). I'd prefer not to have to pay this.

I'd like to hear what everyone thinks about this and your experiences with trying to sneak aboard those extra few kilos, especially with singapore!

Regards

[Rooo]

I always fly Singapore Airlines , they are very generous with their allowances , should not be a problem.

[stephanbkk]

It has nothing to do with the airport. Each airline is different. Singapore Airlines is very generous so you should have no problems. Try flying AirAsia - They will get you every time and I beleive they only give you 15K! They got me a few weeks ago going to Kuala Lumpur.

[TokyoT]

Stephanbkk is on the mark - excess baggage fee is all about the airline not the airport. I have no experience with Singapore Airlines in BKK but they (SA) are generally pretty customer friendly on this point.

I have had to pay excess weight fees on United, Northwest, and Thai Airways. NW used to give me some slack due to elite FF privileges but they have changed this policy for all use cattle car customers (coach class) and are not being pretty strict about weight.

The really interesting thing is that on one trip I had a considerable amount of paperwork in the bag a intended to check. When they (NW) weighted it and told me I would have to pay extra (one kg over). I opened the bag took enough paperwork out (and put it in my carry on) then I did not have to pay for excess weight. Go figure – the plane still had to carry the same amount of weight – I just had to lug it myself and not the baggage handlers.

[Steve2UK]

The really interesting thing is that on one trip I had a considerable amount of paperwork in the bag a intended to check.  When they (NW) weighted it and told me I would have to pay extra (one kg over).  I opened the bag took enough paperwork out (and put it in my carry on) then I did not have to pay for excess weight.  Go figure – the plane still had to carry the same amount of weight – I just had to lug it myself and not the baggage handlers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And I had the exact opposite checking in with EVA in London. Suitcase was already 25 kg, so I had put some heavy paperwork and books in my carry-on bag before leaving home. At check-in, they weighed my carry-on bag which turned out to be a bit over 7kg - and asked me to transfer some heavy stuff to the suitcase which then weighed about 27kg. No charge.

Better logic than in TokyoT's example, I guess - given the safety factor of putting heavy stuff in overhead lockers.

I generally regard 23/24kg as very unlikely to trigger a charge. 25kg and I get nervous

One aspect that might help: most airlines give you extra leeway if you can say that some weight is sports-related equipment? Don't know if that could apply to what you've got.

Edited June 13, 2005 by Steve2UK

[duke69]

THE TRICK IS:

MAKE A SEPARATE BOX/carte/bag and declare that they are sport equip. or music instruments.

99% of the time they don't check and those stuff are FOC

[tuky]

My wife and I flew out of BKK the other day with Thai. We had two ceiling fans each weighing 13 kilo. and our two suitcases (well, all my kit was in my carry on bag, she has two suitcases full of somtam supplies) weighing 57 kilo for the both. Thats 83 kilo between us. Not a word was said and we happily checked in.

[IMA_FARANG]

Hello all,

Any experiences when checking in baggage at don meung and being over the limit?

I'm gonna be taking about 26KG on singapore airlines with a limit of only 20KG. Do you think this will be questioned and 6KG charged (which is about 700B per KG). I'd prefer not to have to pay this.

I'd like to hear what everyone thinks about this and your experiences with trying to sneak aboard those extra few kilos, especially with singapore!

Regards

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Guessing you will be ok with Singapore as they often easy on limits. However if it is a long-haul flight and plane is full you could get bit.

I once saw a Chinese buisnessman from Singapore actually get into a fight with a Thai check-in cleark. She inisited he had to pay overwieght charge on a flight to London. He had arrived on Singapore Air from Singapore, stayed 3 days in Bangkok, and was going on to London. He had almost 35 Kg luggage. He got very abusive with the check-in cleark. Used a few obscene Chinese/English/Thai words on her. Finally she had enough. She started to come over the counter. From what I was told the general idea was that she was going to remove his "male parts" and make him swallow them. She probably weighed only about 45Kq at best, but she looked like she wasn't joking. A security gaurd grabbed her and held her. Never mess with those pretty little Thai girls when they get really angry.

Edited June 14, 2005 by IMA_FARANG

[sadman]

I had the same experience with Eva in London. They asked me to remove items from hand luggage to the suitcase, and then let it on. There is also a health and safety issue for UK employees - they aren't supposed to lift luggage items of more than a certain weight (which is about 4kg, judging by British labour).

I tend to attach a label saying "fragile - please throw underarm".

[bkk_mike]

I tend to attach a label saying "fragile - please throw underarm".

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'll agree with an earlier poster - long haul, you'll generally have no issues unless you go more than 10kg over. (I've been hit with 2kg excess baggage on BA when I had 32kg, and a supposed limit of 20kg).

Similarly, I know people who get asked to pay excess baggage on Thai (from experience at Heathrow anyway) - get let off on the first 10kg overweight. (have still seen someone pay £1,400 in excess baggage charges... - on expenses as it was equipment for work.)

If you're only going to Singapore though, that's not long haul, so you might have issues.

One thing I'm surprised so few people do is join the frequent flyer program. If nothing else, silver on Thai (one return to London on a ticket with mileage accrual is enough) gets you 10 kilos of extra baggage allowance on your next flight. I'm sure Singapore does something similar. (won't help this time, but would be useful next time).

[grahamb]

Air France looked quite strict last night when my sister in law and her husband checked in. To be honest, some of the people checking in were taking the p1ss with the amount of weight they expected to get in a 20kg limit.

My sister in law and her husband were 6kg over the limit and still had one bag to be put on but the check-in lady told them not to. That bag happened to be about the right size for hand baggage so they took that way - she didn't seem to worry that strictly they had 1 hand baggage too many and gave them a hand baggage tag for it. She also didn't charge them for the 6kg

I find that generally remaining calm and not acting as if you are over the weight limit does the job - if they can 'pretend' you are not over the limit, they often will. If you obviously look over the weight limit and show it, they often have to acknowledge that... Of course, if you're trying to get 40kg on economy (or 83kg including ceiling fans ) this may not work...

[Crushdepth]

When a friend (Thai) left for the states, she turned up at the counter with 80kg of luggage on an economy ticket. I was horrified, but she just smiled sweetly and they wagged a finger at her and said "now don't do this again..." but she didn't have to pay.

I am considerably less attractive, and the bastards bill me every single time. I think it has a lot to do with how much they like you. So smile a lot and be very polite.

[Nignoy]

The really interesting thing is that on one trip I had a considerable amount of paperwork in the bag a intended to check.  When they (NW) weighted it and told me I would have to pay extra (one kg over).  I opened the bag took enough paperwork out (and put it in my carry on) then I did not have to pay for excess weight.  Go figure – the plane still had to carry the same amount of weight – I just had to lug it myself and not the baggage handlers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And I had the exact opposite checking in with EVA in London. Suitcase was already 25 kg, so I had put some heavy paperwork and books in my carry-on bag before leaving home. At check-in, they weighed my carry-on bag which turned out to be a bit over 7kg - and asked me to transfer some heavy stuff to the suitcase which then weighed about 27kg. No charge.

Better logic than in TokyoT's example, I guess - given the safety factor of putting heavy stuff in overhead lockers.

I generally regard 23/24kg as very unlikely to trigger a charge. 25kg and I get nervous

One aspect that might help: most airlines give you extra leeway if you can say that some weight is sports-related equipment? Don't know if that could apply to what you've got.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Got to agree with the comment about EVA air in Don Muang, generous to a fault, we took our disabled mate to don muang on thursday to fly back to LHR he was well overweight with 2 pretty large wooden elephants(what can you do the sales lady was such a sweet thing )and they let him through no extra weight charge, so a tip get a white stick and dark glasses and fly eva air

[tso310]

Just picked up my wife's ticket (economy) on Thai for next Saturday to be told the baggage allowance was 30kg and not the usual 20kg + the usual 10kg for being silver status.

[joinme2leave]

get yourself a golf bag! Even IF you do not play golf it is a nice little trick to have some extra luggage. Last flight (NG) I used to pack my golf bag with more than 10 kgs extra stuff (not golf related) - total golf bag weight was something 20 kgs - no problem at all......

[Steve2UK]

get yourself a golf bag! Even IF you do not play golf it is a nice little trick to have some extra luggage. Last flight (NG) I used to pack my golf bag with more than 10 kgs extra stuff (not golf related) - total golf bag weight was something 20 kgs - no problem at all......

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Interesting. Until recently, I used a large scuba kit bag (though that wasn't that obvious from the outside) with wheels, extending handle etc. I think I may go back to using it along with my flash new wheelie suitcase........