AIR FRANCE- 2nd baggage fee starting NOV 1
 

I just received and email from Air France that starting Nov.1st, there will be a $50 fee for a SECOND checked baggage going and 5o euro on return.

I prefer to think of this as an encouragement for people to pack more sensibly rather than as a punishment. :)

KLM too of course :(. 20% reduction if you book-in and pay for your baggage online.

Kerouac it cuts down on the shopping possibilities on US trips :(.

...or try to cram more into their carry-ons. I took an Air France flight last week from Paris to Amsterdam and carried 50 lbs of carry-on luggage with me. (Not trying to save money - trying to simplify travel/not risk a lost bag.) Plenty of room for my bags on the Airbus, though! Boeing planes I was on on this same trip had far less overhead bin space...

Yep, another good reason to pack lightly. It's not that hard to do and now you have extra incentives to do it.

((H))

I wish they's also clamp down on oversized lugguge squeezed into the overhead bins.

They have sometimes weighed my carry-on on full flights. I don't remember what the limit was (something like 10 or 12kg), but I was well under it.

I have to go to Cairo on Alitalia (another Air France-KLM subsidiary) in a couple of days, and I will be taking only carry-on baggage again, because the trip is only for 5 days.

I got worried when I saw the e-mail notice until I read the press release. It applies to flights ticketed after November 1 rather than flights taken after that date, so I should be OK when I fly back from Paris November 20 with my gym bag full of dirty laundry. I always take an empty gym bag so I can make room in my suitcase for purchases. Sometimes I need the space, sometimes I don't. Depends on a bunch of things including the state of the dollar.

I am a light packer but heavy shopper. I do exactly what Nikki does....a $50 charge to check that duffel might make mailing dirty laundry back an better option!

cigalechanta I agree! people seem to carry more and more stuff onto planes and cram it into the overhead lockers. I've even had someone remove my small camera bag from a locker so they could fit their three(!) bags in. I was not a happy passenger.

As far as I'm concerned they can start weighing and measuring carry-on on all flights where they charge for an extra checked bag at the same time as they start charging.

I blame Delta for this of course. ;)

Yes, I have often travelled with an extra empty bag to fill on the return flight, depending on where I'm going. I may have to rethink Air France flights in the future.

I'm appalled

Not surprising. I think we can assume that everyone else falls in line by the end of the year. I suspect we will be down to 1 bag for trans-Pacific flights soon, as well. As I've noted on other threads, this is actually closer to the normal Air France policy, which is 20kg for a trip from Paris to Hong Kong, for instance.

Note that Air France is waiving the second bag charge for SkyTeam Elite members. So all you Delta Medallions can still check 2 bags for free.

kerouac.. good luck with Alitaia.. 5 kg carry-on!!!!. A friend just came back with them and they are cracking down, too.

I laugh at the notion of switching to another airline. This will be the norm. Get used to it. If you want to avoid the charges, then you should concentrate on making elite status. There will not be any airlines left offering 2 free bags when all is said and done. Lufthansa is the only major carrier left and they won't hold out much longer.

I've found that it's easier to just pack lighter. Another option is to mail stuff back, I've done this on many of my trips and I just pack everything in a big box, take it to the post office, and mail it using the cheapest option. It makes it easier to travel, too, if you are going from city to city by train and don't want to carry things you buy.

Another option is to try to get elite status with your preferred airline -- that's something that I've been trying to do for the past three years and have not achieved because I haven't been "loyal" to *A. There's a slight irony in this -- who would be loyal to an airline if that airline constantly comes up with ways to rip off their customer?
;-)

It doesn't necessarily encourage more sensible packing-- with the new rules, if I want to check in my little 19" bag plus a tote bag (of whatever didn't fit on the way back), I'd have to pay extra, while someone who starts out with one enormous 27" suitcase would get to check that for free.

Maybe I'll just go back to my big 24" suitcase again.

re <<Kerouac it cuts down on the shopping possibilities on US trips>>

But Hetismij you get the better deal-- you only have to pay $50 going back that direction, while we'd to pay 50 euros which is nearly $75 now.

True Fifi, but I have to find a lot of bargains to make it worth while :).

It's not that bad since it's only for the second bag. I admit sometimes I've had two bags just because it was free, but the second bag was small and I could have fit it in the other, if I had to. It's kind of an odd policy in some ways as it encourages people to have larger bags, rather than two smaller ones, which is what I did. I know they have a weight limit (equiv around 50 pounds), but you could easily have two small bags less than that which you'll now have to put into one bigger one.

no, it won't make it cheaper to mail laundry home, try checking out the postal rates for that, it's hardly cheap.

I agree with Mille Fifi about bag size. I think the second bag charge is discriminatory against women. I can't manage larger than a 21 inch if I'm on trains, lifting the bag up a couple of flights of stairs, etc. so I bring a 21 inch and a small soft-sided tote for toilet articles. Total weight for both bags is much less than 50 lbs. It looks like I'll also have to go back to a 24 inch and struggle with it. I also don't like to put liquids with my clothing in the event of leakage.

I got an e-maiil on this yesterday. Ticks me off. On my last trip to Paris I had a 21" bad with a small duffle bag packed in it for bringing souveniers home. I checked both of them on the way home just because I didn't feel like messing with them and it was a direct, non-stop from CDG to SFO. I have a large purse I use for travel that can hold a ton of stuff, so I guess in the future, coming home, I'll check the 22", have the duffle for carry on, and then my purse for any overflow. It will work, but it still ticks me off because now I have to think about it. LOL

It's true that it may not be cheaper to mail stuff home, but it certainly would reduce the hassle of carrying it to the airport after having to lug it through trains/trams/busses and still have to pay $$ for checking it.

I've mailed boxes back home from Prague to California, it costed me around $30 for large box containing a queen-sized aerobed.

Internationally I believe the fee is $150 for the second bag.

$150, wow then that definitely makes it cheaper to mail stuff back home.

No lincasanova on transatlantic flights it is $50 from the US and €50 from Europe on Air france/KLM. The same on NWA/Delta.

Continental is $45 for the second bag unless you pay for the flight using a Continental credit card.

That $50 is for bags over 23 and under 32 kgs. If you send an additional piece, according to their website that still says you can take TWO pieces (between madrid and chicago), for example, each additional piece is 200 USD or 150E.

Why are we seeing conflicting info? Please link where you saw that. I can't seem to copy what I just wrote here from their site.

I see Delta's policy cleary as you state it .. $50 for second 23 kg. bag. But I am confused by Air France's website.

The AF policy is pretty clear to me. These are two different policies, the number of bags and the weight restriction (which they had before). Here is the press release, it is clear, I think:
http://www.airfrance.us/US/en/local/...neID=140ufnqvd

I got an email, also, but if that doesn't work, just go to the "press release" section on their front page, bright red box bottom left corner. I don't even see anything priced at $150.

I've mailed boxes to the US from Paris and I think it was 40 euro for a medium sized box (def. less than 23 kg), and that is the regular postal service. Prices in Prague are a lot cheaper, as I have mailed stuff from there also -- but they take months.

Lincasanova, this is the Air France press release:

http://www.airfrance.us/US/en/local/...condbagfee.htm

in the press release..

"....Beyond the second checked bag, additional bags of the same maximum weight will be charged 200 dollars or Euros.**"


..here is the confusion to me on their website, which still has the old 2 bag allowance. It says the same as above: "$200/150E for any additional 23 kg bag. "

Glad to see it is only $50. Thanks for posting the press release.

my boxes from Prague took only 3 weeks!

nancicita, are you back from your grand tour?

One of my 10.2 kg (22.7 lbs) boxes costed me 1000 czk (58 USD as of today) to ship, 15 days, from Prague (via FRA, airmail) to Los Angeles. I mail it home about two weeks before my flight back, and then by the time I get home, my boxes arrive within about a week. Not too bad if we're going to get charged for overweight luggage/ second luggage anyway.

hi yk!

I've been back from my grand tour about two months ago...trip was very exhausting as usual. I'm on my way back in six weeks; hopefully one of these days I'll be able to write a little trip report. There are too many trips for me to keep track right now! Take care. ;-)

all flights to Europe from Oz ie for economy allow only 1 checked piece . It's only to US that we can take more!!!
US travellers have been spoilt for many years.

"all flights to Europe from Oz ie for economy allow only 1 checked piece ."

This is incorrect. You are allowed 20kg on Australian economy airlines, and it can be in more than one piece of checked on luggage.

A modest proposal: When they quote a ticket price, add $100 each way mentally. Then, use that amount to cover excess baggage, and consider any leftover as a discoumt. Oh, subtract out the cost of in-flight food and beverages and blankets, etc. Then you'll probably wind up even.

It's just like the vicious airlines raised their prices instead of adding fees. The price would end up the same but not offend us into all these "oh, gosh, another fee" posts instead of "Oh, gosh, they raised prices again" posts. My pocket is lightened the same amount either way.

If $100 each way is not enough, add $125.