GeoffM

Airline X states 20kg baggage allowance; of the agencies where I can find the baggage allowance, they also state 20kg, all roughly about the same price for several flight options. Yet I've had a quote from another travel agent stating 30kg - and the same price. Seems a bit fishy to me but they have emailed me confirmation of the baggage allowance they're offering. Any ideas?

Guindalf

All airlines vary in the amount and weight of checked baggage. If it's an American based airline, check the allowed weight in pounds as that's what they use and a Kg figure will be a conversion.

Southwest allow up to two checked bags for free, but other than that, domestic airlines charge upwards of $60 per bag!

Bob

Yeah, each airline is different, so check directly with the airline.

At a ball park, I'd say 30 pounds in weight is a general average, but some are in total, some are per case.

Check what the hand luggage limit is too.

Depending on how busy the flight is, you might get lucky and be allowed to carry more weight before they charge excess baggage. BA are usually pretty good about that, or they were in the past. Excess also wasn't to badly priced, but can take some time to sort out so you'd want to check in as early as possible if you're considering that route.

Wibblypig

Every airline is different! Check their website...and then check it again right before you travel, Virgin changed their hand luggage requirements right after we flew over here in September and dropped being able to carry a laptop on top of normal hand luggage which caught out a friend travelling a few weeks after us!

For hold luggage it was about 22KG and 6KG for hand luggage, although when hubby flies around the US it's 50lb for hold luggage (although the dimensions vary depending on the airline) and 50lb for hand luggage PLUS another piece of hand luggage, so he usually has a small suitcase and a huge rucksack both as hand luggage.

GeoffM

Thanks all, but the question was more about how an agency offers more baggage allowance than the airline itself, on the same flight and fare code, and at the same price. Is this difference common?

Wibblypig

I have always been under the impression that it was down to the airline, but it's possibly worth double checking with both as maybe they have some sort of agreement between them?!

londonights

Some agencies have deals with the airlines on luggage like some give more allowance to students etc

GeoffM

Decided not to risk it as I had a bad feeling about it, and went with an airline that advertises 30kg baggage allowance instead. This isn't for a trip to the US so the piece system doesn't apply. Thanks anyway.

tonrob

Major airlines tend to be 50lb (23kg) with overweight baggage possibly allowed (for a fee) up to 70lb. Premium cabins often wave the fee (e.g. BA Club World, First).

Some of the LCCs/Toytown airlines have lower limits.

If the fare code etc. is the same then I wouldn't trust an agency's info if it differed from that of the airline. I would assume that the airline on check-in would simply look at the fare code (and maybe flier status, if any) and determine allowance associated with that - regardless of the ticket purchase method.

In the student example above - I wonder whether this would show as a seperate fare code and this would trigger the increased allowance? Otherwise it could be difficult for check-in staff to kep tabs on what ticket agencies had specific deals, as any given airline's tickets could be potentially be sold by literally dozens (or perhaps hundreds?) of different sellers.

Probably a good question for Flyertalk.

Guindalf

I would be VERY wary of any agency offering a bigger allowance than the airline. Any overage fee is due at the airport and failure to pay may result in you or your luggage missing the flight and you may end up with a fight with the agency to get a refund when you get back.

We got hit with an overweight fee when we returned from Seattle following a cruise. An extra bag would have cost us $25 (plus the cost of the bag - $30 on the ship - which we would have had for future trips), but the overage was $90...and we were only about 5 pounds overweight!

GeoffM

Ah yes, like Singapore, Cathay, Malaysia, Thai, Asiana, JAL... (all 20kg)

In the good old days of paper tickets you used to get a box that indicated baggage allowance. Maybe it still exists albeit in electronic form! But yes, there was a bad smell about this agency.

I did pose the question on there. No answers.

I looked up the cost of an extra 20-30kg on some of those airlines above. The cost was skywards of $1000! Prices of $50 per kilo were common.