Beware excess baggage
 

:(:frown:just returned from our first trip back to the UK since leaving some 15 months ago, no problem at all leaving Calgary with a bag each and as well as a bag for the cabin.

We returned via Newcastle to Gatwick and were charged an extra 7kgs costing us 95 GBP. (must be the chocolate and DVD's we bought, so OK)

However at the check in, at Gatwick, we were informed we were 26kg over, when I pointed out we had been only 7kgs over in Newcastle and asked how was there now an additional 19kgs, there was no response apart from that will be 260 pounds.

We asked about an upgrade as advertised above the ladies head on the board and were told that these were only for people going to Vancouver, people going to Calgary obviously have to travel in cattle class!!!!!

OK we were over, and were prepared to pay something, but one set of scales stated 7kgs and the other 26kgs, so please be aware that Gatwick appears to be charging people over the odds, judging by the amount of people who were in the que to pay behind us, we flew with Thomas Cook through Canadian Affair.

Re: Beware excess baggage
 

That's interesting, our visitors weighed their baggage themselves at home, to check they were about right (we all knowm this is a rough indication), they flew from LGW too and they had to pay an extra 100pounds too.

Re: Beware excess baggage
 

We flew Thomas Cook through Canadian Affair last week.

Our cases were definatley just under the limit, the check-in woman (who couldn't smile for fear of cracking her face :eek:) then weighed our hand luggage, which was just over the 5kg allowance and charged us excess baggage on that. We both had 6 kg each, so she said, so she charged £20 :(

Re: Beware excess baggage
 

At least you werent 50kg over like me when I came one way :eek: boy you have to laugh :rofl::rofl:

Re: Beware excess baggage
 

Am planning to go to the NE using Newcastle as a base. However, I am flying KLM to Amsterdam, from and on return to Toronto in October. Had considered
using AirTransat/Canadian Affair/Thomas Cook, but on line when I went to pre-book a seat , a single, when I chose an aisle seat, where there were two seats together, I was told I could not do that since it would leave one single seat, and that was not allowed. I checked with a travel agent and the same message came up on her computer. At which point, I said forget it and I went with KLM, a regular flight which was cheaper than AT/CA/TC. Had I gone with AT, I would have had to sit in the plane at Exeter for close to 1 1/2 hrs ( have done it before, ). Granted, I do have to change planes in Amsterdam. About an hour or so to do that , but in the same terminal it should not be a problem
All this being said, I have a bigger baggage allowance than I would have had with AT/CA/TC. Not a huge difference, but bigger.
For those who have always travelled AT/CA/TC as I used to do, perhaps it might be useful to check out other airlines to see where there are better deals, either price wise or baggage allowance wise

Re: Beware excess baggage
 

wow, im really shocked, id have asked to see the scale calibration certificate and or to avoid holding up the line, ask to use another set of scales. they must have an alternative available ( pretty sure its the law) i got stung £40 once and never again, esp since when i got to the other end i weighed it on two diff sets of scales and i was under the limit.

am flying with AC/TC so will let you know in 2 weeks

Re: Beware excess baggage
 

... they dont weigh people do they *gulp*:fingerscrossed:

Re: Beware excess baggage
 

Propping your toe under the scale works wonders....as does putting your first bag on so quickly that the previous persons luggage is still on the scale so they don't count the weight of the first bag :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Re: Beware excess baggage
 

Excess baggage really annoys me.

They make you pay for being a kilo or so over, yet people who weigh twice my weight, use up a seat and a half making, their fellow passenger uncomfortable does not get any penalties at all!! :frown:

Re: Beware excess baggage
 

my hand luggage was near 15 kg, so when i arrived at checkin to get my papers out, i emptied the bag on the floor so she couldn't see it all and put my jumper over it all and stood up holding my papers, she then weighed my had luggage and i promptly put it all back in the bag.

Re: Beware excess baggage
 

I agree, our hand baggage was only 1kg over each and they charged us.

Then of course I could go and buy loads of duty free and take that on the plane, no excess charged on that!

Re: Beware excess baggage
 

excellent! that made me laugh....

My brother just went back to Spain and had to leave a lot of stuff behind with me as he used my husbands digital fishing scales and was overweight. When he got to the airport he was under by 10kg (between 2 of them) so its true fisherman always lie......

Re: Beware excess baggage
 

The thing to be aware of when having a connecting flight on a different airline, is that what is OK or only slightly over weight on your first airline (eg BA) can be completly different to the one you connect to (eg TC). Scheduled airlines tend to have higher weight limits that the charters so this is probably where you were caught out. No excuse for the check-in agent not explaining that to you though. :thumbdown:

Re: Beware excess baggage
 

was it clarified with TC/ CA about the laptop bag?
im planning on ramming my laptop bag with o much crap that i can just put it down and they wont weigh it? same with my hand luggage!
i went premium to get the extra KG as i thought 30KG would be more than enough. however it doesnt even come close!

Re: Beware excess baggage
 

I've flown twice Toronto-Manchester this year with Canadian Affair; Air Transat earlier in the year and Thomas Cook last week. Didn't have a problem with either. Bags were quite a bit under going and coming back one was slightly over but one was under and they didn't even mention it. Not sure about the carry-on hand luggage, I've never had that weighed by any airline.
The charter airlines like Thomas Cook do have a crappy allowance though, only 20Kg compared to more like 32Kg on scheduled airline flights, I guess they are trying to keep costs down, the more wieght the more fuel they need etc. which is why they charge excess fees allegedly.
I got hammered once when we went for a longer vacation and my wife bought a tonne of books, but that was fair enough as we were way over.
When I moved to Canada I used the excess baggage instead of shipping some stuff. I had an extra 20 or so Kg of stuff I wanted to bring asap rather than wait for a container and it was cheaper to pay KLM something like £70 for an extra piece of luggage with the full 32Kg allowance than it was to ship the same weight with Fedex etc. in a box they would have smashed to pieces.
Another thing is they have health and safety laws now about the maximum weight of a single piece of luggage and what a baggage handler can safely lift without injuring themselves so I think they have rules about that too, it was cheaper to bring an extra piece of luggage than pay the excess per KG weight for an existing bag.