scrubbedexpat099

They ate all the pies?

Pulaski

It did to Flight 5481.

scrubbedexpat091

US airlines typically use standard weights for passenger luggage and passenger weights and not actual weight.

Actual weight is used for mail and cargo however.

They count the bags then multiply by what the standard weight is and presto you have your weight for bags.

Canadian airlines use standard weights as well.

Pulaski

While there are plenty of fat gits around, if you take 200+ people at random, or close to random, the average weight isn't going to vary much. But if you put, say, a pro-football squad on a plane that carries only 100 passengers your average weight per passenger could be 20-30 pounds adrift.

scrubbedexpat091

For a football team on board airlines have different standard weight for those players which are higher weight.

There are also different weights for military bags and passengers if a large number are flying on the plane.

Weights in winter are different as well vs summer. Heavier in winter.


Airlines will also have the plane broken into zones which why sometimes you see an airline employee when a flight is lightly booked come on a move people around. Sometimes too many end up in one zone and not enough in another.

When we had only 1 or 2 in first I would sometimes have to upgrade folks to add weight to the front if I didn't have enough bags and cargo to put in the belly.

Smaller regional jets we had to at times put sand bags or boxes of magazines in the tail hold to balance correctly.

markonline1

Certainly at Heathrow, the lower weight limit for hold bags was a health and safety thing for the loaders. You can get a way with being a little over, but not a lot. I'm sure that is the case with most airports/ airlines now.

Rete

I'm not usual so rude ... but darn if, pay the extra charge already. Get a GoFundMe page if you are that hard up financially or rethink coming to the US and what you are bringing.

audio

Simple, if the limit is 23kg and you are over, be prepared to pay the piper.
Why expect anything else?

petitefrancaise

I wonder how much the suitcase weighs on it's own? Might be worth buying a lighter one? My mum bought one that was 8kilos when empty. After several diagreements with airline staff at check in (most notably flybe - their baggage limit was 15kg so she couldn't fill it and be within weight limit) she bought a lighter one.

This duffel bag is cheap enough and weighs 2lbs
http://www.target.com/p/outdoor-prod...k/-/A-14610410

REI do some duffel bags that are good quality, huge and fold down really small, they weigh almost nothing. Quite useful just to keep in a suitcase just in case.

scrubbedexpat091

According to google 8kg is 17.637 pounds. What kind of suitcase was she using for it to weigh so much empty?

petitefrancaise

Well, the OP is preparing themselves aren't they by asking what our experiences have been. I think it's been an interesting thread so far - thanks to markonline and jsmith I've learned a bit more about planes and weightings.

After years of going to/from france on low-cost airlines, it became a bit of a game to see if I could actually get on the plane without paying extra........

There is going to be an extra cost if they are over the limit right now. The challenge comes with figuring out the best way to minimise that cost. I'd weigh the suitcase first and buy a new cheap light one if that would get me under the limit ($30) If that's not possible then pay for the extra baggage allowance before checking in ($100) and personally, I'd be reluctant to risk waiting and seeing because paying out $300 would really pee me off.

petitefrancaise

big, hardsided with wheels and handle.

something very similar to this one but I have no idea which brand
https://www.luggagepros.com/delsey-h...-trolley.shtml
this one is 12.5 lbs and it took me 30 seconds on google...

Pulaski

We have one of those - bloody obnoxious thing.

Before we got married I met up on a business trip in Chicago with the then-future Mrs P. We swapped empty for full suitcases and she left me (dropped me off and set off home in her car) with that case that weighed 80lb at check-in!!!

After some aggressive repacking I got it down below 70lb, which BA allowed on the ORD-LHR route, and I was left with a carry-on that must have weighed over 30lb, but it wasn't checked, or even questioned.

petitefrancaise

I used to take ryanair from carcassonne to east midlands airport. They were horrible, just horrible. I think they got done in the end by french consumer protection people. Their french site was not as clear as the english site and they used to take great delight in charging people I think it was €45 if the passenger hadn't printed out their own boarding card because it wasn't clear on the .fr website that you had to do this.

On the other end, from east midlands I once bought some books/magazines in the departure lounge which were put in a duty-free bag. I went to the gate and the woman there told me it had to go into my carry on or I would be charged. In my carryon was a load of GF bread for my son which I couldn't buy in France at that point, it would all have been squashed except that the person behind me offered to take the duty-free bag past the old witch....literally, 50 yards towards the plane. UGHHH.

scrubbedexpat091

You didn't say what kind of bag it was or even hint as to what kind it was, so there was nothing for me to search, I did try heavy luggage empty weight and got no useful results so I asked you.