Overweight luggage: scamming the airline weight restrictions

[coinlockerbaby]

So, Im heading abck home to Australia soon after a few years in Tokyo and I have to start transporting back my clothes, CDs, magazines - basically my life ! So Im wondering, how far can you push the airlines with luggage restrictions? I know technically that you can take 20kg worth of check-in and one piece of handluggage. But in the real world, what can you can away with it? When do you think they start issuing extra charges - 22kg? 23? get away with 24?

Ive also noticed that I am much too conservative with handluggage - nobody takes bags that fit into that dinky little rack!! You see people wih fullsize wheely suitcases on the plane. But how far can you push it?

A while ago I found myself on an Asiana flight from Seoul to Sydney with a bag that weighed a full 30 kg. The overweight charges were about half what I paid for the ticket. Freakout!!!!!The sweet girl who weighed it, and her Nazi-ish supervisor, advised to me to go through and throw stuff out. So I opened it up, re-arranged a few things but didnt chuck anything...and then when the supervisor was busy the girl (god bless her!)whispered urgently..."lets try again!" and miraculously this time was OK and the bag went through. I still say a prayer to that woman today.

So - how do you do it? Any insider tips or superscams?

So far I got: put the heaviest stuff in handluggage (obviously). A friend of mine tried to take a TV set home from Hong Kong as handluggage. She slung it over her shoulder and tried to look cool as if it didnt weigh a ton. Unfortunately her shoulder started bleeding so she got sprung

-If you think the flights gonna be busy, check in early. If you think its gonna be empty-ish, book in late (think about it)...

-What else????????????????? Any words of wisdom for superobese bag carriers?

[thomas_highstreet]

get it shipped before your flight..

my girl just went back london-tokyo and got banged with a 300$ surcharge.

ill ask her the full details on it etc. she was on virgin BTW. check your flight companies web or phone them and theyll tell you the exact restrictions

[homme.homme]

I was coming back from HK earlier this year and my bag was about 10kg over and my carry on case was fucking huge + i had a large backpack and I got away with it. They let me check in my carry on suit case as well which was easily 15kg and i didnt get charged a penny. I've never had that luck before.

[Guest StuckOnStupid]

true story, friend of mine was coming back from toronto to london and his bags were well over the limit. when they are telling him there's no fucking way, he turns on the waterworks and says his boyfriend was on one of the buses that were bombed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings) and he needs to get home right away.

they let him on right away with an apology.

[whizkit]

Got charged 2500dkk(335€) when i flew from copenhagen to singapore more than 2 years ago for checking in an excess of 10kg. That was 2/3 the price of the return ticket.(shock! horrors!). Last December, flew the same route again and i was smarter in packing. Checked in 30kg in one cuitcase and for carry on, I had an army field pack that had about about 20kg of stuff inside and a tote bag disguised as shopping within this large paper bag that I reckon contained 10kg of stuff. Managed to get through without paying excess. Pretty bad for my back and arms though, had to lug the things around for a 7hr transit in Istanbul.

So my trick, carry a large legit carry-on bag, disguise stuff as shopping in a large paper bag and act as if everything is very light. Another trick that I learnt from my friend is to wear as many of your heavy winter clothing as possible when boarding, so that you neither check them in nor carry them as luggage. Of course it only works during winter time.

[xcoldricex]

true story, friend of mine was coming back from toronto to london and his bags were well over the limit. when they are telling him there's no fucking way, he turns on the waterworks and says his boyfriend was on one of the buses that were bombed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings) and he needs to get home right away.

they let him on right away with an apology.

that's fucking awesome.

one (legal) way is to be loyal to an airline and get upped in status - you usually get better weight allowances and you can take an extra bag sometimes. shipping is usually the best way - that way you don't have to deal with your bags when you get to the airport - though it can be more expensive than paying for an extra luggage

If you must - you should usually opt to add an extra bag (so if you're trying to get past with a heavy bag- you should pack a light duffle bag in one of the bags so you can just have another bag to check. Usually the fee for adding a bag and paying for a bag that's 10lbs overweight is the same....

[AstroWolf]

They are dicks about luggage. I have watched the maximums go from high to low, it used to be 75 lbs, now its down to 50 before they charge you overweight chages.

Remember though after 75 Lbs many airports wont even take the bag, as its too heavy for the "throwers" and they wont lift it. I almost got real jacked cause of this, but i ended up crushing my APC's in to my carry on along with a lot of other gear.

[readytoignite]

like anything else, the max weight restriction seems to depend on who you are dealing with. i wouldn't push it too much, this appears to be the new airline cash cow. plus due to the carry-on restrictions, airlines are losing luggage more frequently anyway

[goldengloves]

I've done this way too many times...but, depending on the scale, there is usually a lip close by your feet, this is the scale you throw your luggage on. If you push your foot underneath it and press up (make sure to do it nonchalant-like), you can get rid of 30lbs like nothin'! I've passed bags that were well over 70lbs when the overweight limit is now 50lbs. Works every time!

[Kasper]

i've also become a master in the art of bringing much over the limit. one of the best way is to buy a snowboard case and then fill it with as much stuff as you can (snowboard bags are pretty big nowadays anyway, i can pretty much put as much stuff in mine as in my big suitcase). then, pretty much all airline either let you take the bag for free ( i'll count for a bag if you are only allowed 2 suitcases as it's the case for north american companies) or you have to pay a very small extra (never more than 30-50 dollars, even with low-cost in europe). the beauty of it is since it's oversized, they never weight it (i've done it at least 20 times and no company has ever weigthed the bag).

on a side note, i cannot believe that most companies still only let you take 20 kg, most north american carriers reduced the amount from 32 to 25 kg per bags (you're allowed 2) and i thought this was already a scam.

[coinlockerbaby]

Goldengloves, loving your suggestion....nice one! If Im desperate I`ll try it. Even if I get sprung, what have I got to lose? Except my dignity, (but hey, that was getting old anyway)

[denimdestroyedmylife]

don't go out like aaliyah

[coinlockerbaby]

Aaliyah went out coz her pilot was on crack. Not much you can do about that....

[LittleL]

So, Im heading abck home to Australia soon after a few years in Tokyo and I have to start transporting back my clothes, CDs, magazines - basically my life ! So Im wondering, how far can you push the airlines with luggage restrictions? etc etc

Will you be flying JAL? From my experience they can be a little strict, if you're lucky maybe they might let you sneak through 25kg+. But that's just from my experience.

Some hilarious stories on this thread.

Oh, the things I did to bring back my 40kg bounty from Heathrow to Sydney. Let's just say... "...baggage left unattended".

[Pogi]

Use DHL.

I shipped a box with some of the clothes I bought from SG back to Sydney because my baggage be overweight. And this is also having my weight limit increased, due to staff "help".

[coinlockerbaby]

flying Thai

[groovbusta]

i've also become a master in the art of bringing much over the limit. one of the best way is to buy a snowboard case and then fill it with as much stuff as you can (snowboard bags are pretty big nowadays anyway, i can pretty much put as much stuff in mine as in my big suitcase). then, pretty much all airline either let you take the bag for free ( i'll count for a bag if you are only allowed 2 suitcases as it's the case for north american companies) or you have to pay a very small extra (never more than 30-50 dollars, even with low-cost in europe). the beauty of it is since it's oversized, they never weight it (i've done it at least 20 times and no company has ever weigthed the bag).

The airlines are catching on to the snowboard bag trick too... I was moving from SF to Tokyo less than two years ago and had my snowboard bag stuffed b/c of the no weighing the oversized luggage rule. Well, to my surprise they weighed it and I was a good 10kg over so had to repack my carry-on to fit the extra weight. They said they just changed the rules because more baggage handlers were getting hurt lifting snowboard bags in particular.

Like someone mentioned above, it's hit or miss on the weight limits... you might get lucky with certain airlines or check-in staff... but all in all they are just being more strict.

I say ship it by container.

[sybaritical]

I've flown a bunch of flights in the last year between Australia, Vietnam, Thailand and London on EVA and Vietnam Air with oversize massage equipment and massively overweight hand and checked luggage and each time I did I never paid a thing.

I had one very big but lighter bag that got checked into oversize on each occasion and several heavier small bags, one of which was a messenger that I wore while I was checking in and never got looked at.

[Guest StuckOnStupid]

Aaliyah went out coz her pilot was on crack. Not much you can do about that....

is that true? wowwwwww.....

[Gabriel]

i've done cathay & thai from/to Australia with over 30 kg, no hassle

i think swiss allows 30 as a regular thing

[DaBestSpoona]

I flew jal recently, and I was like 30 Kg over the limit. I offered to pay any overcharges because I didnt want to anyone to see a suitcase full of knives, sharpening stones, pickles, fresh ramen, fish, porn mags etc. They refused and offered to give me a 3rd shipping box alongside my two pieces of luggage sans charges.

[buffalocloud7]

ive been over the limit a few times. imo you have a few options:

1) always fly with a friend that underpacks

2) put an extra bag in your suitcase for the flight back

3) bat your eyelashes at the person checking in your luggage (this has worked for me several times)

4) dont overpack cuz some assholes will charge you a shitload extra no matter what

[Kasper]

The airlines are catching on to the snowboard bag trick too... I was moving from SF to Tokyo less than two years ago and had my snowboard bag stuffed b/c of the no weighing the oversized luggage rule. Well, to my surprise they weighed it and I was a good 10kg over so had to repack my carry-on to fit the extra weight. They said they just changed the rules because more baggage handlers were getting hurt lifting snowboard bags in particular.

Like someone mentioned above, it's hit or miss on the weight limits... you might get lucky with certain airlines or check-in staff... but all in all they are just being more strict.

I say ship it by container.

yeah, now that you mentionned it, United did weight my snowboard bag last year. but still, the weight limit for a snowboard bag is bigger than for regular luggage (32 Vs 25 Kg ) and much much bigger if you take a flight that doesn't leave or arrive in North America since you're only allowed 20 kg.

and i can understand how baggage handlers would hurt themselves lifting real heavy bag, but the airlines companies have only themselves to blame for having a max 2 luggage rules.

[mojinho]

this thread is so helpful! thanks guys for all the great suggestions and stories! although the snowboard bag route is not helpful for those of us who live in the tropics . . .

once flying Washington-Brussels on United, i was way over the limit and the rude bitch charged me US$400. when i arrived in Brussels the next morning, i went to the United customer service counter and told the lady there what had happened: how the check-in agent in DC had been rude and how much i had been charged (i think it was 20lbs = 9kg overweight, pretty significant). she told me to go on their website and write a letter to the customer service department explaining the situation (i was moving to Belgium so i had a lot of shit). they sent me a US$100 travel voucher for any flight on United. a fraction of what i paid, but a small consolation is better than nothing.

interestingly, some airlines have different weight allowances depending on specific routes or even city of origin. for example, when i fly back to the states on Delta from Rio, i can take 70lbs = 31kg, because i purchase the ticket here in Brazil. but when people come to visit me, and they purchase tickets in the US on the same flights, they can only bring 50lbs = 22kg. when i checked in for my return flight coming back to Rio a few months ago, the woman at the Delta counter in the US tried to charge me until i politely reminded her of the policy, which of course i had checked beforehand. she went to talk to a supervisor and then came back and said it was no problem.

i think the idea of taking a big, heavy carry-on is really good. obviously it has to fit in the overhead compartment, but they almost never check them for weight.

[Oldboy]

Back in the day, there was a way to get around the luggage limit on Philippine Airlines. All you had to do was leave a $10 bill folded in your passport. The workers at the luggage counters knew the deal and you could pass through with no problems. My parents used to routinely bring luggage that was WAY over the limit, haha. Ah, the good ol' days....

[Kasper]

this thread is so helpful! thanks guys for all the great suggestions and stories! although the snowboard bag route is not helpful for those of us who live in the tropics . . .

there's nothing forcing you to actually bring a snowboard, they won't check inside the bag to make sure it is. my gf went back home (japan) last november and used a snowboard bag to carry some stuff back here and on the way back, she stopped in Hawaii for a week and when we left, i checked-in the snowboard bag and nobody said anything....

[keagan]

I've done the snowboard thing once- except I actually packed my board.

I went to Hawaii for a few weeks last year and I brought my longboard and did the same thing. Surf boards don't weigh much, so I you've got to make sure that you don't go to much overweight with them or it is to obvious.

[Tequila]

I flew jal recently, and I was like 30 Kg over the limit. ... They refused and offered to give me a 3rd shipping box alongside my two pieces of luggage sans charges.

That's pretty good service. I flew AA recently with almost a similar weight situation, with two bags and they made me buy some shitty third bag from the airline plus pay the overweight charge. I was moving, and had tons of clothes, sneakers, books, dvds, etc.

I think the "one bag weight limit" rule is also pretty ridiculous. It's like, if you have one heavy bag, you have to pay, but if you divide it into two bags, you don't. It -is- because the airline workers aren't allowed to throw (a) bag around that weighs too much.

[mojinho]

That's pretty good service. I flew AA recently with almost a similar weight situation, with two bags and they made me buy some shitty third bag from the airline plus pay the overweight charge. I was moving, and had tons of clothes, sneakers, books, dvds, etc.

I think the "one bag weight limit" rule is also pretty ridiculous. It's like, if you have one heavy bag, you have to pay, but if you divide it into two bags, you don't. It -is- because the airline workers aren't allowed to throw (a) bag around that weighs too much.

yeah i agree with the ridiculousness of that rule. that's where they really get you: if you're overweight AND have an extra bag, look out. i guess the best thing in that situation would be to just have two extra-heavy bags (as long as they're under the maximum overweight for that airline) than to have an extra bag, depending on how much each airline charges for stuff like that.

[superdupersang]

helium balloons?

why dont F1 or tour de france riders fill their tires with helium?