ilovetotravel29

I am trying to keep track of the max weight of my luggage and I am wondering....what if I go slightly over by a few pounds? The websites don't say what the charge is for going over the max weight.

thanks in advance. I will be traveling internationally on British airways and virgin.

Therese

Generally pretty expensive, but it's unusual to go over, as even non-U.S. carriers have generous allowances for checked luggage.

If you're going over the usual allowance you're basically taking way too much stuff. Distributing your load among bags can help in some instances.

But seriously, unless your taking lots of gifts, or deal in canned goods or books you shouldn't be anywhere near the limit.

dutyfree

Just an FYI-I flew on Alitalia in January to take the daughter to Sicily. No charges between Chicago to Milan. However, in Milan we were charged 100 EUROS overcharges. They said that internationally you can have 40 kilos in each bag but only 20 kilos domestically.What were we supposed to do with the stuff in the bag that came internationally? As we got into line to pay the charges,we found out that the other 28 people ahead of us had the same problem.Doesn't make sense to me?

richardab

It sounds like you may have switched airlines in Milan for your flight to Sicily which means you generally switched contracts. Many people fly to a gateway in Europe on one airline then switch to another or even sometimes buy a seperate ticket on the same airline to save money. Basically if you do this you enter into another contract. If you buy your domestic connecting (or continuation) flight on the SAME ticket number as your international flight, then you baggage allowance is the same ason your international flight. You can usually even switch airlines as long as they have an interline ticketing agreement or belong to the same alliance (such as BMI and Lufthansa).

Therese, where did you get the idea that they have a "generous" ticketing allowance? Its usually only 50 lbs! Considering the weight of the empty luggage, thats not much!

P.S. Tip, carry a flat fold up duffle bag in the front pocket of your luggage in case you need to lighten the load at the airport. You can usually get these pretty cheap at Target or Wal Mart.

kybourbon

On Delta it is $25 for 50-70lbs. After 70lbs.the fees really take a jump.

I'm sure it's on British Airways website somewhere.

Intrepid1

Go here for the VirginAtlantic answer:
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/us...gage/index.jsp

and here for British:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/bagex/public/en_us

AllisonK

Here is a link to the British Airways website that specifies checked baggage allowances: http://www.britishairways.com/travel...k/public/en_gb

If you are flying BA from the US to the UK you can check two bags with max weight 70 pounds each. If you are flying BA within Europe, you are limited to a total of 51 pounds checked (they don't specify number of bags). I am flying United to London and then BA to Paris. These are on two separate tickets so I need to make sure that my total checked baggage weight is less than 51 lbs. Another reason to stick to the 22" bag. I think excess baggage will be charged at around $10-12 per kilo (or per 2.2 lbs.) within Europe, but I'm not sure and the website doesn't specify what they charges are for specific routes within Europe.

And carry-on bags for European travel on BA must weigh less than 13 lbs.

AllisonK

On the BA site it says:

Connecting journeys
You will receive the most generous allowance on connecting journeys where:


Different allowances apply across international flights

For journeys where there is a connection to/from a UK domestic service the International allowance will apply

Flights are British Airways only, or British Airways and oneworld partners

Connecting flights are shown on the same booking reference

Italyagain

Virgon Atlantic is no problem- but those connecting flights- especially for Italy-ouch. I agree with the other posters-can and does cost a lot. They will even weigh the carry ons.
We always take a small travel scale (from magellan) and weigh everything coming home. Guidebooks, voltage converters and other heavy things etc get put in our pockets and travel vests-and we wear as much as possible at check in. then once on the plane we put it all in a plastic bag in overhead. Very hilarious but beats paying huge overweight charges if you are coming home with pottery or other heavy items.

richardab

I believe that all the airlines in the Star Alliance have set a common rate of $25 for overweight baggage on flights to and from ther USA. This is the statement on the websight of United, Austrian and Lufthansa

"Flying to, from or within USA/Mexico and Latin America, you will be charched US$ 25 / EUR 25 for each luggage item between 23 and 32 kg (Excess Baggage); for Canada: CAD 35 / EUR 25."

AllisonK

I just talked to British Airways and they told me that between London and Paris and between Milan and London the charges for excess baggage is £4.90/kilo. That is a little less than $9.00/2.2 lbs.

Therese

"Therese, where did you get the idea that they have a "generous" ticketing allowance? Its usually only 50 lbs! Considering the weight of the empty luggage, thats not much!"

I generally pack pretty light, but even when I've got way more stuff than I usually carry I've never even come close to the limit. I don't want to lift heavy bags any more than luggage handlers do.

It may not seem like much, but in practice it's quite a lot.

shorebrau

We weighed our bags for a three week trip to Europe and rearranged between cases and bought smaller luggage to be sure we didn't exceed the 50 lb limit imposed by the airlines we used. Lufthansa was the strictest about carryons, allowing one piece only out of Frankfurt. We planned to take a rollaboard and a purse or other bag, which all airlines allowed, except Lufthansa. They allowed ONE bag carried on, including a purse. Moral of the story: check each airline you are using for weight and baggage allowances, and plan accordingly.