**Excess Baggage In Depth Information**

[reddare]

Hi John

My wife and I will soon be flying with "Easyjet" to Krakow Poland. As we are only going for Four Nights our baggage will be under the permitted amount, which amounts to one case. As the booking was done "On-Line" (two passengers together), in which case there is no option for one person to pre-book and pay for one luggage allowance, in which case I am forced to pay for two lots of cases, but I will have have no luggage. Would I be permitted to claim a refund on the non existant second case?

Thanks for any advice.

[jillyfirkins]

Found this really informative thanks.
I have been hunting on the website to see if I could find if my particular grouse had been covered and yours is the nearest.
I have been attempting to book a last minute to Hurghada with Thomas Cook Holidays to find that they only allow 15kg luggage per person with an additional 5 kg available to purchase for £30! (It was not clear whether every member of the party had to purchase the exra baggage allowance or if the charge was for the whole party).
However what is really niggling me is that the carrier in this instance (Koral Blue Airlines) actually allows 20 kg baggage per person so TC are charging £30 for what is effectively a free allowance.
On principal I am not booking this holiday and will not use Thomas Cook unless they change their policy.

[taddyman]

We have just returned from Tenerife and flew with XL Airways, when we checked in to come home we were 6kgs over and was charged 54€ for it. There was 3 of us and only 2 had hand luggage which wasn't checked, as we boarded the plane we noticed that some passengers had 3 or more pieces of hand luggage plus bags of duty free booze of which will be put into the over head lockers ( very health and safty awarness im sure). I was led to belive you could only have 1 piece of hand luggage to take onto the plane. The air lines need to get their act together and respect the people that make them rich,as some one has already stated us brits are to soft and should stand up to the airlines, a better way would be to stay in England if only the weather was reliable this would ****** them up big stly.

[jd1]

when i booked our holiday to turkey and paid for the xtra luggage alowance and i am pleased i did they charge £8 per kilo and would only take cash a couple before us were 7kilo over but they even weighed they buggies but when on transfer the rep explained the details of dalaman and advised us to use empty check in desks to weigh our luggage and adjust them if possible so if your given this option use it

[HW John]

Reddare,

Give easyjets call centre a ring and explain the situation, they may be able to help you.
If you leave it till the airport then speaking from other airlines experience the answer is no.

I did have the option of selecting 1-4 cases with 4 passengers but didnt look too much into it.

Easyjet have a great policy and still allow 20kgs luggage when most low cost carriers are down at 15 and 17kgs.

Cant say how helpful they will be though as this is my first time flying with them and ive never dealt with them before.

Keep us updated on what happens!

[PoppyCFC]

I really wish I'd read this before we left for our holiday! We have just got back from Valancia and flew with Ryanair. I paid £16 for an extra bag assuming it automatically gave you another 15kg. Now I know why people say read the small print! We were stood at the check in gate desperately trying to empty the spare case and fit as much weight in to our hand luggage to reduce the charge. I must say though the charges are absolutlely extortionate. We managed to get away with combining the total weight of our family's 6 bags on the outward journey and not paying anything but coming back the check in staff would not allow this and we were charged 30 euro for being 2 kg over, one girl infront had to pay 75! 15kg is not a fair allowance anyway, hence the need for the extra bag in the first place. When you think about all the things you need to take for a weeks hoiliday it adds up pretty quickly. It has been a joint family desicion not to fly with Ryanair again after this episode, the flights may be cheaper but if you get stung with a baggage charge it may well work out to be just as expensive as an alternative airline. I would much rather know what I'm paying from the beginning, have a slightly more reasonable baggage allowence and be able to take everything I want with me without having to worry about getting to the airport and adding another godness knows how many pounds to my holiday bill!

[Dom123]

Hi John, I have just returned from holiday with my family (8 people) & on the outbound journey we were charged a whooping £164 for being 23kg over our allowance. We had 1 piece of hand luggage between us.
I asked for my cases to be returned as we had 4 new backpacks in the cases to use on excursions & trips to the beach, this was refused.
I could still see our cases, they had not gone anywhere & the check in girl refused to bring them back.
I reluctantly paid the money & have since written twice to Thomass Cook.
Still waiting on a reply....
It's obscene & very frustrating to actaully see at first hand what these big companies seem to be getting away with.
I will not let this go & will pursue to the end.
Dom...

[HW John]

Hello Dom,

If they were still on the belt next to the agent then i can see no reason why they couldnt pull them back. But if they were beyond that and onto the main belt then due to health and safety check in agents cant pull them back.
It seems you probably got an agent with an attitude that typifies one so common in the aviation industry and its a shame. Although what the airline says they have to do so she may have just been following rules on not to allow it because of the greedy airline.

Thomas cook's policy is 15kgs unless you have purchased extra. I find it totally stupid personally seen as Jet2 give you over 20kgs included in the price! Infact im unfortunately flying thomas cook in a couple of weeks with a basic 15kg allowance which is hardly sufficient for a week's shopping trip to turkey but with the price being the same as at the airport i hardly find it worth it to prebook but im taking large hand luggage anyway and old clothes that i can leave out there and stock up with new.

Im sorry you got stung for that amount. Thomas cook's customer service is absolutely dire, but you should receive a letter within 28 days from them probably giving a reason or saying they are looking into it.

Dont be suprised if you dont get anything as compensation apart from a possible apology.

All the best
John

[HW John]

A futher update to this is now apparently Thomas cook has/is going to stop allowing passengers to pool their baggage allowance. Not confirmed yet but could be well within the pipeline. Just a friendly warning as they are well within their right to do so

[R.E.Ritchie]

Wish I'd read all this before flying to Malaga with Thomson. Their information about baggage allowance is very ambiguous and we(four of us), were stung for 99euros excess baggage on our return trip!!! Many others were being charged too...we were NOT happy bunnies! Why can't all the airlines have a standard policy for baggage allowance, instead of being so different?
The whole thing is a mockery anyway, when you can buy as much as you want from the airport shops, taking your baggage way over the limit. It's just a money making scam by the airlines in my view.