baggage charge dodging on Thai airways?

[pachoderm]

Hi there folks, back to Britain for a while soon with a bit of extra weight in the bags.

Two separate Thai airways tickets. Chiang Mai-Bangkok, Bangkok-London.
Thai Airways info told me I could check my main suitcase all the way through to London, from CM - great.
I looked into shipping Thai Cargo for extra bag, but too expensive ($200) for what is in it.

I have a carry-on case that will be way over (15kgs) and a camera bag (7kgs).
My question is how stringent are Thai Airways with the carry-on bag weights?
I hear they can be fairly lax, so long as it fits in the overhead bin.
I have seen people with ridiculous size of carry-on suitcases. Mine is the right size but HEAVY.

My thought was that if at BKK they decide my carry-on is too heavy, that I might be able to get away with checking it as a bag, without any of the outrageous charges for international flight excess baggage weight. ($55/Kg)

I also have a multi-pocket jacket that I can load up with lots of stuff if necessary.

Basically my intention is to go over the 20kg economy allowance to 22kg. Should get away with this?
Carry-on 15Kg.
Camera bag 7kg
Misc 4kg in my jacket - plus more if they make me trim down the 22kg.

Well it all depends upon who you get at check-in I suppose?
Anyone care to share their experiences on this?

thanks for your attention!

[tingtong]

Apart from why the hell you carry so much staff with you...

The carry-on if regular size as you say, wont be much a problem...I am regularly over the 7kg or whatever some airline limit is. You shall be OK with the camera bag too. Just try not to let their staff see that there are heavy items.

I also believe that normally when wight limit is 22, you can get by up till 25kgs on the checked baggage. Most case they flexible enough with 1-2kg extra, and normally that is enough.

And finally, just revise a bit what you taking home with you, might be surprised what some of my friends packed, from sea shells to white sand in bottle, stones to brochures etc...not really life changing properties to haul around...

[mesquite]

Agree with tingtong. I've flown Thai long-haul many times and they've never weighed my carry-on.

I know that some airlines weigh carry-ons and can be real finicky about bending the rules. Thai is passenger-friendly in this area.

Just don't strain your back lifting all that weight into the overhead.

[jobin]

Yeah, don't strain your back. Get one of the attendant girls to do it.

[mesquite]

Yeah, don't strain your back. Get one of the attendant girls to do it.

Or he could just be careful while he put his luggage in the overhead.

[taff33]

British airways-23 kg in the hold,and 23kg carry on,and cheaper tickets than Thai.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[Konini]

I think on all but the budget airlines, you are allowed a carry-on plus one, and many budget airlines let people take what they want. We do a lot of flying, and I honestly can't remember the last time I saw somebody being spoken to about their hand luggage. The plus one is for laptop bag, handbag, or suit. A larger bag for your camera, into which you can stuff all sorts of things, wouldn't attract any interest. Occasionally on budget carriers, where you're not really supposed to have the plus one, our laptop bag has been almost as heavy as our suitcase. Having said that, we rarely carry any hand luggage if we can avoid it, just my handbag which at a big stretch will fit my purse, phone, passports, tablet, kindle and ipod. We have on occasion had to go onboard stuffed to the gunnels, but it's rare and there has always been a reasonable excuse for our doing it. Many people take so much with them every time they travel, I often wonder if it's just because they can. I have to admit I can get ticked off when we are unable to find a spot in the overhead bins for the laptop, often our only hand luggage between two of us, because everyone else has two or three bags.

If you're worried about it, put the bulk of the weight into the smallest bag. Staff occasionally give big bags a sideways look, but small ones are usually ignored. A 15kg wheel of parmesan cheese fits nicely into our very petite man-bag; the trick is making it appear that it isn't heavy.

I doubt you'll have a problem, and you'll probably wonder what you were worrying about when you get to the gate and see what your fellow passengers have with them.

[mesquite]

British airways-23 kg in the hold,and 23kg carry on,and cheaper tickets than Thai.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

I just checked BA's website and it says, "We offer one of the most generous free hand baggage allowances of any airline ..."

I would have to agree, as it goes on to say 1 carry-on and 1personal bag, each of which can weigh a maximum of 23 kg.

So that's a total of 46 kg or over 100 lbs of carry on luggage.

I'd have to buy more stuff!

[uptheos]

Can't understand why people still sponsor old fashioned Thai airways with over inflated prices. If flying direct EVA and BA beat Thai hands down Probably taking a Thai girl who insists on it, so laden with food and it's Thai so it must be the best.

Qatar, always give a good price deal, modern fleet with an hour and half change over in Doha. 30 kgs allowance.

Bangkok Airways to Swampy 30kgs and use of their lounge, with their free flyer bonus card.

[mesquite]

Can't understand why people still sponsor old fashioned Thai airways with over inflated prices. If flying direct EVA and BA beat Thai hands down Probably taking a Thai girl who insists on it, so laden with food and it's Thai so it must be the best.

Qatar, always give a good price deal, modern fleet with an hour and half change over in Doha. 30 kgs allowance.

Bangkok Airways to Swampy 30kgs and use of their lounge, with their free flyer bonus card.

Thai's frequent flyer program, Royal Orchid Plus, used to be top notch if you obtained Gold status, which was easier to keep than on other airlines.

However, no more. You are right that Eva is the way. BA sounds great as well.

[Ricardo]

Do you have a frequent-flyer card, with another Star-Alliance airline, which might entitle you to an extra 10 kgs of hold-luggage for free ?

Store the heavy pull-along under-the-seat, so you don't have to lift it up, into the overhead-locker ?

Next time use an airline with a 30 kg allowance for hold-luggage, and use Bangkok Airways CNX-BKK, their frequent-flyer card gets you an extra 10 kgs right from your very first flight with them !

[eyecatcher]

Can't understand why people still sponsor old fashioned Thai airways with over inflated prices. If flying direct EVA and BA beat Thai hands down Probably taking a Thai girl who insists on it, so laden with food and it's Thai so it must be the best.

Qatar, always give a good price deal, modern fleet with an hour and half change over in Doha. 30 kgs allowance.

Bangkok Airways to Swampy 30kgs and use of their lounge, with their free flyer bonus card.

I regularly alternate qatar, ethihad,emirates as their prices are always similar.....but this time I just realised the chink in qatar and its at doha, their new crappy terminal.

Yes, 90 mins changeover, sounds perfect but not if your flight in is more than 20 mins late

Qatar planes park in the desert a 20 minute cobus ride to the terminal. Add that to another 20mins before you actually get out of the plane and that leaves you in panic. I was at my bkk gate 25 mins before the flight but refused......remember again its a 20 min drive to the plane.

I learned a lesson after waiting 7hr for the next one........not to go to doha again.....its too stressful.

Other than that I usually carry a back pack, no one ever notices it and never weighed, though the english check in agents are awkward sticklers sometimes....most other people are relaxed.

[taotoo]

Can't understand why people still sponsor old fashioned Thai airways with over inflated prices. If flying direct EVA and BA beat Thai hands down Probably taking a Thai girl who insists on it, so laden with food and it's Thai so it must be the best.

Isn't BA economy seat pitch 31" or something? Don't think I'd want to endure that. That said, I haven't been on Thai for a while - maybe it's no longer 34". I like EVA in all classes.

Qatar, always give a good price deal, modern fleet with an hour and half change over in Doha. 30 kgs allowance.

Bangkok Airways to Swampy 30kgs and use of their lounge, with their free flyer bonus card.

I think Qatar makes sense in business class as it can be good value. Not sure it's worth the hassle in economy though.

[kentb21]

Can't understand why people still sponsor old fashioned Thai airways with over inflated prices.

Bangkok Airways to Swampy 30kgs and use of their lounge, with their free flyer bonus card.

Agreed! Why would anyone support Thai Air if they have any other option? I know I won't fly with them again unless I have to. My family has had numerous issues with TG including last summer a cancelled booking after tickets were paid for because TG said a passport number was not in the record (which it was, but even if it wasn't, WHY didn't they just email or call us and ask for it??), but the final straw was last August when Thai Air refused to honor my written international business class ticket contract that clearly showed I was allowed 70 pounds/32 kilos in each of 2 bags on my entire journey, but charged me $100 to fly from Samui to BKK because they said it was a domestic flight and didn't matter that I was traveling on an international ticket.

I have traveled this same itinerary almost annually for the past 25 years and never had any problem checking bags on a stopover of an international ticket. I am well aware that a domestic flight has lower baggage limits when it is NOT part of an international itinerary. TG held me hostage at their check-in counter for over an hour, embarrassing me by holding up the cue behind me while calling the head office in Bangkok to check on their "rules", bringing in supervisors, then making me walk to the ticket office and talk to another supervisor while she also called Bangkok head office and also United Airlines, all the while keeping me from relaxing in the business class lounge. They refused to allow me to check into the flight until I paid their $100 ransom fee. As it was almost 30 minutes til my flight departed I said "What is it going to take to get on this airplane?", and their answer was "Sir, the only way you're getting on this airplane is if you pay the $100 baggage fee!".

So I paid it with my credit card and when home I took up the issue with TG customer service (a misnomer) who after months of back-and-forth communications that clearly proved my case including documentation from United Airlines that confirmed everything, Thai Airways refused to refund the $100 that they stole from me. Out of the principle of the matter because I knew I was correct, I wasted so much time on this to no avail from TG, so after I had attempted to resolve the issue with the merchant as required, I then filed a dispute of the charge and my bank credit card refunded it because my written documentation proved my case.

Thai Air either could understand proper English or more likely was too concerned about saving face so they outright refused to admit they made a mistake. Thai Air is not family friendly or customer service friendly!

So good luck with your overweight bags....

[mesquite]

Glad you got your refund via the credit card dispute process, kentb21. For some reason Thai is becoming more chickensh*t in their service. I, too, have given up flying them, after being a Thai Air Royal Orchid Plus gold card member for many years.

Edited April 17, 2014 by mesquite

[wooloomooloo]

So good luck with your overweight bags....

Pay for the excess in advance or send by courier. It's not difficult.

I frequently have to endure one greedy tourist taking up the entire overhead locker with their junk and far in excess of 7kg. Don't worry about the rest of us, just worry about yourself and all is well.

[fantom]

I too am fed up with passengers trying to fiddle the system by cramming obviously overweight and oversize bags , even backpacks, into overhead lockers. Apart from being mind numbingly inconsiderate there is also a very real safety concern

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[uptheos]

Can't understand why people still sponsor old fashioned Thai airways with over inflated prices. If flying direct EVA and BA beat Thai hands down Probably taking a Thai girl who insists on it, so laden with food and it's Thai so it must be the best.

Qatar, always give a good price deal, modern fleet with an hour and half change over in Doha. 30 kgs allowance.

Bangkok Airways to Swampy 30kgs and use of their lounge, with their free flyer bonus card.

I regularly alternate qatar, ethihad,emirates as their prices are always similar.....but this time I just realised the chink in qatar and its at doha, their new crappy terminal.

Yes, 90 mins changeover, sounds perfect but not if your flight in is more than 20 mins late

Qatar planes park in the desert a 20 minute cobus ride to the terminal. Add that to another 20mins before you actually get out of the plane and that leaves you in panic. I was at my bkk gate 25 mins before the flight but refused......remember again its a 20 min drive to the plane.

I learned a lesson after waiting 7hr for the next one........not to go to doha again.....its too stressful.

Other than that I usually carry a back pack, no one ever notices it and never weighed, though the english check in agents are awkward sticklers sometimes....most other people are relaxed.

Strange, I've used Qatar a few times and once my flight was a bit late but they did hold the ongoing flight (40 minutes).

[kentb21]

I just noticed wooloomooloo's and fantom's comments from April. IF my checked bags (not carry on Fantom) were oversize or overweight, pre-paying or courier might be an excellent suggestion, but the whole point of my post is that they were not overweight, as they were the same bags allowed on my entire international ticketed journey, of which this was a stopover on. My ticket contract I attached to my previous post clearly shows what my baggage limits on each stopover of my journey were, and mine were well under them, but good ol' Thai Air refused to honor the contract.
And I second your opinion on people stuffing too much carry on baggage in the overhead bins.

[CNXBKKMAN]

 

Can't understand why people still sponsor old fashioned Thai airways with over inflated prices. If flying direct EVA and BA beat Thai hands down Probably taking a Thai girl who insists on it, so laden with food and it's Thai so it must be the best.
 
Qatar, always give a good price deal, modern fleet with an hour and half change over in Doha. 30 kgs allowance.
Bangkok Airways to Swampy 30kgs and use of their lounge, with their free flyer bonus card.

I regularly alternate qatar, ethihad,emirates as their prices are always similar.....but this time I just realised the chink in qatar and its at doha, their new crappy terminal.
Yes, 90 mins changeover, sounds perfect but not if your flight in is more than 20 mins late
Qatar planes park in the desert a 20 minute cobus ride to the terminal. Add that to another 20mins before you actually get out of the plane and that leaves you in panic. I was at my bkk gate 25 mins before the flight but refused......remember again its a 20 min drive to the plane.
I learned a lesson after waiting 7hr for the next one........not to go to doha again.....its too stressful.

Other than that I usually carry a back pack, no one ever notices it and never weighed, though the english check in agents are awkward sticklers sometimes....most other people are relaxed.
 

 
Strange, I've used Qatar a few times and once my flight was a bit late but they did hold the ongoing flight (40 minutes).

Qatar are keen to hold flights back for connecting passengers. I flew out of Manchester 2 hours late with a 50 min connection at Doha. No worries the Bangkok flight was still waiting.
If you Join the Qatar frequent flyer scheme normally after your first flight your on an extra 10kg. Use them a couple of times and its free lounges everywhere when you get to silver level. Great airline.
I have not used Qatar since January but I believe there new mega terminal is open Hamid International. Remote stands and there old terminal should be fading out.

[CNXBKKMAN]

British airways-23 kg in the hold,and 23kg carry on,and cheaper tickets than Thai.


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

 
I just checked BA's website and it says, "We offer one of the most generous free hand baggage allowances of any airline ..."
 
I would have to agree, as it goes on to say 1 carry-on and 1personal bag, each of which can weigh a maximum of 23 kg.
 
So that's a total of 46 kg or over 100 lbs of carry on luggage.
 
I'd have to buy more stuff!

The BA hand luggage policy is very generous but you have to fit your 23kg within the small dimensions of the hand luggage policy. To get the full 23kg you need to be carrying gold bars.

[Chicog]

Upgrade the CNX/BKK leg to business, and then check your bags all the way through.

 

By the way, I flew out of Bangkok (int'l) last night and there was a security bloke just after the desk at the gate weighing everyone's hand luggage.

 

I just showed my pointy end boarding pass and walked past him.

 

But be warned.

 

 

Edited August 2, 2014 by Chicog

[Frank James]

I'd like to put in a good word for Korean Air, flying directly out of CNX to Seoul, for good connections to any number of N. American airports. They don't seem to get all bothered about bags and  weight, and their staff, both on the ground and in the  air, are great people. I don't know about their service to Europe, have never been that way.

 

Taking the BKK link out of the flight is the greatest plus of all.

[Guest jonzboy]

My 20 satang's worth.  Some mention of EVA in some earlier posts, a nice airline, but as I recall, they only allow 20kg in economy and premium economy.  BA is the best for anyone travelling with lots of baggage.  For economy, you get 23kg, plus you can buy an extra 23kg bag for about £30.  If you are in premium economy you get 2x23kg as standard, plus you can buy the extra 23kg bag.  However, other than that, BA has nothing to offer for me.  I travel Emirates.  Enjoy a two-hour stopover in Dubai, and you get 30kg allowance for economy.  

 

Avoid lack of overhead space by getting on board soonest.  If you make the upgrade on a frequent flyer program, this often allows priority boarding amongst other perks, so loyalty can pay.  Emirates "silver" gives business class lounge access at Dubai !!!  Make that a three-hour stopover...

[kjhbigv]

British airways-23 kg in the hold,and 23kg carry on,and cheaper tickets than Thai.


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

 

And if you upgrade to Premium Economy, you can double it to 46kgs. Last time I flew with them managed to get an upgrade for 120 quid one way....maxed out my 46kgs! 45.3kgs from memory! Nice new, boxed shiny mountain bike and childs pram bought over amongst other stuff.