Luggage allowances (changes)

Hi everyone,

Another question for my forthcoming trip (Wednesday 20th - hurrah!).

I've noticed on some of the literature with my tickets that luggage allowance for economy passenger to the USA is now a max of two pieces per person at 23kg per piece. (If you booked after 1st April '06). Did it used to be 28kg per piece or was it 25kg?

The literature implies that if any piece is over the 23kg that you will be charged an excess baggage charge. Let's say for example that you had one case at 30kg and another at 10kg. Would virgin seriously try and charge you for that? Seems slightly unfair to me but hey what do I know . . .

[Neil]

It is an interesting question Steg....looking on the VS website and over some other topics discussed on here, I can't find an exact answer to your question.

The VS website baggage section states, 2 pieces of luggage per pax each weighing upto 23kg, so if you take it literally then yes you should get charged, but.. I imagine and from personal experience with other carriers, as long as the total weight of the 2 bags came to max 46kg then you would get away with it.

If this is something that you think is going to affect you why not give VS a quick call and see what they say, will confirm it one way or another (and then let us know on here for future ref!!)

Neil:)

[mitchja]

It did used to be 32Kg per bag but was reduced to 23Kg a few months ago, from the VS web site for economy bags:

On Transatlantic, Caribbean and Nigerian routes we operate a piece system of allowance for checked in baggage.

Two pieces of luggage per passenger, each weighing up to 23kg (51lbs). When added together, the three dimensions of any piece of luggage must not exceed 158cm (62in).

So, no they will not allow one case at 30Kg and the other one at 16Kg giving a total of 46Kg for both cases. Each case will need to weigh up to a maximum of 23Kg.

A lot of the baggage changes have come about due to health and safety/manual handling regulations.

Regards

[Neil]

Thanks for clarifying that James, if the difference in the bags was small, say 26kg and 20kg would the check in staff make them re-pack/charge them or for such a small difference would they just 'turn a blind eye', so to speak?

Neil:)

I recall a discussion, either here, on another board or with friends (wine currently dulls my memory! ) of a family of 4 having to buy additional suitcases at the airport and having to repack since they had sensibly only packed two suitcases up to the 32kg Health and Saftey limit per case, but were than subject to the maximum of 23(?)kg per bag of the airline.

Being the cynic that I often accuse myself of being on here, it is just another subtle scam to make more money from the unwary.

And of course, if you are clever enough to spread your luggage allowance through enough bags to avoid the airlines excess charges, you'll then need to spend more on a larger rental car to fit all the bags in! [V]

[Nottingham Nick]

Originally posted by steg76
Let's say for example that you had one case at 30kg and another at 10kg. Would virgin seriously try and charge you for that? Seems slightly unfair to me but hey what do I know . . .

If you have ever tried to lift a 30kg case and manhandle it onto a conveyor belt / luggage trolley, you will see why H&S regs have set a 'per bag' limit. [8D]:D

Nick

In follow up to this I did ring Virgin Atlantic who confirmed that if any of the individual bags are over 23kg then there is a set excess charge of £20.

EDIT - That's £20 per piece that is over the limit.

PS - Call me a cynic but if this is all to do with Health & Safety then surely £20 going to Virgin Atlantic isn't going to do the poor baggage handlers back or neck any favours is it;)[?]?

[Nottingham Nick]

Originally posted by steg76

PS - Call me a cynic but if this is all to do with Health & Safety then surely £20 going to Virgin Atlantic isn't going to do the poor baggage handlers back or neck any favours is it;)[?]?

No, but I would imagine that part (possibly a small part) of that money could be paid to a special handling company, who would take charge of the overweight bag.

I seem to recall from previous threads on the same subject that the limit is set by BAA, rather than Virgin. Also, that that baggage handlers / check in staff have the right to refuse to lift bags over 23kg.

Nick

Originally posted by Nottingham Nick


No, but I would imagine that part (possibly a small part) of that money could be paid to a special handling company, who would take charge of the overweight bag.

I seem to recall from previous threads on the same subject that the limit is set by BAA, rather than Virgin. Also, that that baggage handlers / check in staff have the right to refuse to lift bags over 23kg.

Nick

All of which i would understand and agree with... if the rules were the same for every route.
To Asia, the rules are 23/30kg per person, packed however you like up to the maximum H&S limit of 32kg per case.
And all that happens if you have a "heavy" case is that a "heavy" sticker is put on it and it disappears off down the same baggage belt.
So quite how they can justify the differences in rules between routes, other than back door profiteering, I don't know.

I suppose routes to the US are popular family destinations, where you are more likely to have a family pooling their allowances into fewer cases. Hey, catch them off guard and slap an extra £20 on every bag they have 1kg or more over 23kg, even though they have diligently packed within there overall allowance.

Original posting deleted as (per Attitude's post below) it was in the wrong thread.

[Neil]

Jeremy - that link is for the hand luggage changes, did you mean to post a link about checked luggage changes? not heard of any planned changes or have I totally missed something[?]

Thanks Attitude. I have gone and put it into the wrong place. I will re-place it.

It's true that the 32kg allowance is imposed by BAA for H&S reasons. However I think all the airlines are cutting back on the free luggage allowance - "cost savings". BA and all the US carriers have also cut back their free allowances for US routes.
Coming back from SFO last week, the checkin staff didnt seem aware of the new regs though. According to the VS website, you're still allowed 2x32kg in Premium. The checkin girl was quite snippy about our cases being 26/26kg each, as we joked about running off to do some more shopping and making the most of our 32kg allowance. She said it was only supposed to be 23kg, but she wasnt going to charge us anyhow. (er - thanks?!). It would be helpful if VS would communicate the correct allowance properly. If I recall correcly, there was some confusing messaging displayed at SFO too.
Even so, £20 for an additional 9kg on US/Nigerian routes is quite cheap. Compare it to 1% of the full W one-way fare per excess kilo, as it is on other routes... that 9kg will end up costing you quite a bit more than £20! Have you not seen "Airport" when they give them bills of several hundred £££ for overweight luggage. (And I think the Nigerian routes are some of the worst. I remember flying to Zambia all the time in the 80's - some of the stuff carted onto planes was ridiculous! Friends in Zimbabwe used to refer to Air Zimbabwe as "the airline with the roof racks").