Luggage Limits

[hamish_mctavish]

When my parents left Glasgow (Scotland) with Emirates they had all of their luggage and hand luggage weighed on the scales at check-in.

At BKK the also had all luggage including hand luggage weighed at check-in flying Thai Air to Chiang Mai.

I have never had my hand luggage weighed at BKK.

Has anyone had similar treatment with either Emirates or Thai Air, either from UK or return?

Thanks

[londonthai]

economy - 20 kg main luggage, 7 kg hand

business, first - 32 kg

Edited January 4, 2007 by londonthai

[Aussietraveller]

Emirates - Yes.

Last 2 flights were with them.

Weighed everything. Got a lecture.....etc...etc....

Never had hand luggage wieghed on any other airline.

[libya 115]

Yes! Emirates are very keen on luggage allowances. It seems to be their 'fad'; I once had excess in my hand luggage and had to take items out and stuff them in my pockets.

Now I check that my hand luggage is dead-on 7kg so they have no excuses.

Regarding economy checked baggage the limit is 20 kg but if you are a skywards silver card holder you get the business class allowance of 32kg.

Always pack you pockets with dense items, carry heavy books in your hands, and have a large A5-type style wallet for extras.

Emirates usually turn a blind eye to upto 4kg over the allowances.

Plus, beware of tricking them, a mate of mine left heavy hand luggage with me while he checked in; he was stopped at the gate, they have eyes like hawks, looking for a hand-baggage checked sticker/tag.

[rak sa_ngop]

Yes! Emirates are very keen on luggage allowances. It seems to be their 'fad'; I once had excess in my hand luggage and had to take items out and stuff them in my pockets.

Now I check that my hand luggage is dead-on 7kg so they have no excuses.

Regarding economy checked baggage the limit is 20 kg but if you are a skywards silver card holder you get the business class allowance of 32kg.

Always pack you pockets with dense items, carry heavy books in your hands, and have a large A5-type style wallet for extras.

Emirates usually turn a blind eye to upto 4kg over the allowances.

Plus, beware of tricking them, a mate of mine left heavy hand luggage with me while he checked in; he was stopped at the gate, they have eyes like hawks, looking for a hand-baggage checked sticker/tag.

As a silver/gold Emirates Skywards member I have never had my hand-luggage weighed on check-in. I have brought over plates, books and other heavy items over 7 kg as hand luggage but the trick is to pack into a small bag and carry the bag as if it were light so that you are not stopped at the gate.

[markuk]

i have never had my hand luggage checked by any airline including a flight with emirates last month in which caase i only had hand luggage.

[londonthai]

I would imagine all depends whether the flight is fully booked or half empty. They will be more fussy if they know they are overbooked and people waiting in a standby

[andy1308]

I have not had my hand luggage weighed with either Emirates or Thai - only with Qatar twice last year.

One thing I will add is that if you attain Silver Status with Thai's Royal Orchid scheme, which isn't that difficult if you are making a couple of trips each year, then you get an additional 10 kgs over and above the standard 20 kgs limit in economy class.

I hope this helps.

[Spee]

I have never had my hand luggage weighed at BKK.

Has anyone had similar treatment with either Emirates or Thai Air, either from UK or return?

I've never had my bags weighed with Thai Air and don't fly Emirates. But British Airways and American Airlines, with whom I do fly a great deal, have been pulling these shennanigans for the past couple of years. It is a racket to squeeze more money out of people flying coach.

It's a double standard. You can check in two smaller bags of 15kg each for no charge, but can't check in a single bag of slightly more than 20kg without a surcharge. For those like me, who often travel with a large bag to accommodate clothes, gifts, etc., keeping the bag under 20kg is darn near impossible (especially now that liquids like shampoo, shaving gel, etc. can't be carried on board.

For me, because I fly on BA and AA so much, I am able to talk my way out of the charge about 50% of the time. But that extra $25 bucks, when I do get saddled with it, really pisses me off. I wish they would just set the airfare properly and let people take what they want to take.

{{One aiside note with Thai Air ... It is relatively inexpensive to buy a business class seat for domestic travel. This not only gets a larger baggage allowance but a bigger seat and better services. I try to fly Thai business when I have to fly domestically. For me, it's well worth it.}}

[gpt]

The only airline that we have had trouble is GulfAir when we flew to and from BKK to Muscat, not only did we have to pay excess but had to buy another bag at the airport to put the 5kgs excess in! They would not accept any luggage over 20kgs.

[tuky]

I haven't been through there in a long time but Perth Airport (Aust.) were the worst I had come across for weighing and also making sure your hand luggage was under the recommended size.

Azerbaijan airlines were the worst I have flown with. Foreigners were only allowed one carry on bag under 7kg (Ex Dubai) and they had staff walking around at the gate stopping foreigners only, whilst the locals took all manner of stuff onboard, I kid you not I saw a guy with a new bumber for his Lada trying to get in the overhead compartment and end up leaving it in the isle. Others would have to make two trips to get all of their bags inside the cabin. Remember this is an international flight

Then waiting for luggage at the carousel was always highly amusing, side fenders for a Lada, a set of wheels and tyres, Lada windscreens, Lada seats, doors, boxes jammed full of mars bars, you name it I saw it come through there.

[ProThaiExpat]

I think we need to keep in mind that there is a direct relationship between weight and fuel usage and the costs attendent thereto.

Trying to be as generous as I can with Emerates, I attribute their tight enforcement of weight restrictions to the fact that they are usually the least expensive ticket available in tourist class.

My first overwieght problem was with Quantas, however they were British Airways agents doing the checking.

In Sydney, Emerates check in is done by a private vendor from Scotland, the name escapes me, and so their motivation is different if they were company employees.

At 23AUD a kilo overweight, Emerates can make a bundle if you choose to pay the overage. Jetta, a carrier of overweight baggage charges 2.30 AUD a kilo for students and 3.40 AUD a kilo for standard, but there is about 80AUD extra charges for pickup at your home in Sydney and taxes, insurance, etc.

They fly your baggage on many different carriers and pick up can be easy or hard, depending on the carrier used.

All my suitcases have been jettisoned and I only use canvas type bags that weigh 2 kilos or less.

I also bought one of those lightweight hand held baggage scales online and it is great in avoiding overweight baggage charges.

Edited January 8, 2007 by ProThaiExpat

[Ricardo]

Guess they were not worried that the plane might have been over-Ladad ?

Also note that Etihad give you 30kgs allowance in economy (they call it Coral-class) as standard ! A pretty good deal IMHO. Last trip I put 36kgs in the hold, without a problem, plus my carry-on. Nice to know that the new-kid-on-the-block considers customer-satisfaction and repeat-business more important than a cost of a few pence per-kg per-flying-hour in extra fuel.

[Johpa]

When my parents left Glasgow (Scotland) with Emirates they had all of their luggage and hand luggage weighed on the scales at check-in.

At BKK the also had all luggage including hand luggage weighed at check-in flying Thai Air to Chiang Mai.

I have never had my hand luggage weighed at BKK.

Has anyone had similar treatment with either Emirates or Thai Air, either from UK or return?

Thanks

In the past, I have had some Thai Air folks at the Domestic terminal try to charge us overage fees based upon domestic flight weight allowances rather than international flight allowances. We had arrived around midnight and were taking a noon flight the following day up to Chiang Mai. The rules do/did allow for a 24 hour transit in Bangkok, but you will need to show your ticket receipts and boarding passes, although I have had to argue my point more than once even with the documents. I have never had to weigh carry-on luggage, now that would be a first.

[maimeepom]

Just to cheer all the regular BA travellers up.

The "world's favourite airline" is revamping all their baggage allowances on February the 13th 2007.

Thus the maximum weight of any bag in any class will be 23kgs.

In steerage, The longhaul excess rate for a second bag, will be £120!

club will be allowed 2 bags

first class - 3 bags

I quote from the BA leaflet. " we are simplfying our baggage policy to make it easier to follow"

nothing to do with trying to replace the billions deficit, missing from the pilot's pension scheme then?

[ovenman]

In the past, I have had some Thai Air folks at the Domestic terminal try to charge us overage fees based upon domestic flight weight allowances rather than international flight allowances. We had arrived around midnight and were taking a noon flight the following day up to Chiang Mai. The rules do/did allow for a 24 hour transit in Bangkok, but you will need to show your ticket receipts and boarding passes, although I have had to argue my point more than once even with the documents. I have never had to weigh carry-on luggage, now that would be a first.

Did you fly to Thailand with TG or with another airline? I've never had any hassles when connecting from NW to TG in Bangkok although admitedly it has been a couple years since I've done that. The airlines have become tight about allowances as of late.