W9London

The email I got says
<i>Our vision for London Heathrow Terminal 5 is to create the best possible airport experience before you fly. With this in mind we have announced a new simpler checked and excess baggage policy, which will come into effect on 13 February 2007.</i>

Excuuuuuuuuse meeeeeee. T5 is not supposed to open till <b>March 2008</b>. So why the h*ll the new baggage policy have to do with T5?

I guess I'll be switching my Asian trips to CX--still gets the same tier points, no limits of # of bags.

clarkgriswold

Their fare to Ethiopia from London is $50 less than Ethiopian airlines right now, but then they want $240 for my second suitcase? Yes, I'm reading it correctly, and no, thank you, I won't be flying British Airways.

eri

British are so nasty concerning carry-ons, and now the 1 bag restrictions. I try to avoid them whenever possible. On top of that Heathrow is one of the most expensive airports if not the most. Arriving or Just transitting costs 240 dollars per person. If people will start to avoid British, this may deter other airlines doing the same.

Sue_xx_yy

&quot;Nor does the website say what happens if you transfer from a US/Canada flight to an Intra-Europe flight which has the one-bag rule, or if you stop over for a couple of days in the UK.&quot; (posted by gardyloo)

gardyloo: the BA website says &quot;for any connecting journey on BA, the most generous allowance will apply.&quot; Since the asterisk that robjame refers to appears by the shorthaul section as well as the longhaul section, this seems to suggest that the 'most generous' policy for flights connecting on to an intra-Europe flight will be the one in effect for routes to/fr US, Can, etc.

As for stopovers, BA's website defines a Connecting flight as &quot;a subsequent flight providing onward travel on the same ticket.&quot; So if your stopover is clearly detailed on the same ticket/contract of carriage as that which took you transatlantic, sounds like it is considered a connecting flight, in which case the rule above re 'most generous allowance' applies. (We book separate tickets, so we would clearly not be considered to be connecting, but shorthaul passengers, as I said before.)

CarolA

A few thoughts.

All that luggage costs MONEY to fly. So what BA is doing makes perfect sense. We want &quot;el cheapo&quot; airfare. (Think about it, I can fly cheaper to Europe now then my mother could when she was my age) I think that BA is only leading the way and if they make it stick plan on others to follow!

richardab

Once I add all my beauty products, books and stuff it is very easy to get a bag to 50lbs. What about shopping? I would assume that a lot of Brits come to NYC and go wild because of the exchange rates.

Like everyone else, I carry one big 50 pounder and a empty type duffle to shove all my shopping into.

Personally, I woulkd pick the airline with the better polcy!

richardab

After they give all the new rules standardizing bag regulations across the &quot;entire&quot; network it says,

&quot;*World Traveller customers travelling to or from the US, Canada, Caribbean, Nigeria, Brazil and Mexico will continue to be allowed two checked bags in line with the local government regulations.&quot;

But it does not state those &quot;regulations&quot;.

rkkwan

Some of you definitely don't live in the UK or Europe.

Who's BA competing against in their home market? easyjet and Ryanair.

Let's look at check baggage policies of those airlines:

easyjet - a piece free, up to 20kg/44lb. After that, it's 5GBP/kilo. Maximum weight of each piece, 32kg.

Ryanair - no free checked luggage. 3.5GBP for each piece up to 15kg/33lb, if paid when buying ticket. 7GBP is paid at airport. Excess is 5.5GBP(per kg I assume). Maximum also 32kg per bag.

So, what are you guys complaining about?

Christina

exactly... I am not one of these minimal packers -- I take 5-6 pair of shoes (oh the horror of it for those who say you should have only one pair or two at most), several books, etc. And yet I have never reached a 50 lb. weight on my luggage (the largest bag I ever take is 25&quot.

This will inconvenient those people who are moving house or something -- I see them in line with these suitcases so large I didn't even know they existed, and I can't imagine what they are doing (maybe 3-4 times the size of mine). I think they aren't usual personal vacationers.

As for British citizens going to the US to buy tons of things cheap -- I guess BA decided it wasn't their mission to provide transatlantic cargo space so someone can save a few pounds on some clothes or beauty products or whatever.

robjame

&lt;&lt;Personally, I woulkd[sic] pick the airline with the better polcy!&gt;&gt;
Richardab - now since you specifically said Brits to NYC - what airline has a more liberal baggage policy?? (econonmy - 2 bags @ 50 lb each)

alanRow

Most of the non-Americans will just say &quot;so what&quot;, it's not much different from what we had before.

Live with it - it'll come to American Airlines soon enough though as long as the US Government keeps subsidising them (isn't that Socialism BTW) they'll want to keep costs high &amp; income low as long as possible (isn't that Socialism as well?)

kleroux

My husband is a large man and his clothes weigh more than mine. Even with a light weight suitcase, it will still limit drastically what he can pack. Its also going to limit the American &quot;goodies&quot; I bring for my daughter and granddaughters who live in the UK.

rkkwan

kleroux - No airline is weighing the customer and the clothes they are wearing, at least not yet. So, your husband just needs to wear all his clothes in layers on himself and stuff all the pockets with things.

Problem solved.

robjame

I guess my posts have not been clear.
If you are travelling from US to UK or in fact any Europen destination, BA allows you two (2) bags of 50 lbs each in economy.
I think you will find this the same or better than every other carrier.
Travel from UK (only) to Europe appears to be different than the above policy. {maybe Brits don't travel with so much baggage literally and figuratively - joke, people}