News Forum - Surprise! Additional luggage fees on a budget airline ruin family holiday

[Mazz11]

I recently spent some time in Thailand with my girlfriend.

We went to Hua Hin and Krabi from Bangkok by car. I travel light because I work in the resource industry and fly on a weekly basis so I know how to minimise what I carry. 

The girlfriend on the other hand, had a huge suitcase that required a forklift to move as well as a carry bag, backpack and several shopping bags full of miscellaneous items. I just smiled and went with it.

We decided to fly back to Bangkok so arranged to post a large box of her things back to her home. But even after spreading out all the remaining luggage we both ended up with excess weight luggage .

This is the price I am prepared to pay to have the most beautiful and well dressed woman in the world in my life .

[HolyCowCm]

43 minutes ago, BigHewer said:

I agree. I don’t usually get caught. In my case, I was slightly overweight for my long haul flight (from KL) but well over for the short haul connection. My mistake.

I’ve seen these scenes unfold as well. Not called for at all. Not the staff’s fault. They’ve just been told to enforce a zero tolerance policy.

Must be a tough job working the check in counter for them.

Check in counter and ticketing booth. 

[BigHewer]

5 minutes ago, HolyCowCm said:

Check in counter and ticketing booth. 

And the refunds hotline (if there is one).

[Stevejm]

On 6/13/2022 at 7:10 PM, Tim_Melb said:

The reason that family were charged so much is they didn't pay for the bags at the time they bought the tickets online. Even the big carriers are doing this with discount tickets these days. You need to read the booking conditions and makes sure your ticket includes your checked bag or pay the extra fee for your bag when you buy the tickets to get a fair price. If you don't they will hit you up for Hundreds per bag when you check in. 

That’s very true. I was looking at booking tickets on one of the well known  European airlines recently and only noticed at the last minute that under the conditions of the “Saver” ticket that I had selected there was zero allowance for checked baggage. Even worse it wasn’t easy to determine what the additional cost for checked baggage would be. I just gave up and chose a different airline in the end. You need to read the conditions of the ticket that you have selected Very carefully before purchasing. At least with the budget carriers they tend to be very up front about trying to sell you Add On packages before you check out.