Just heard first hand from someone today that when they checked in at HAM-LHR (BA) sold as QF3522 to QF30 (QF) to MEL on Thursday that they were charged 37 EUR for 1kg over, at 24kg!
I laughed that it must surely be BA going for a cash grab and they said the BA lady at checkin at HAM said "Qantas are being strict about it, new regulations, blah blah, it's Qantas".
What a joke. I recommend QF to people, I told this person to book QF because always gives people a fair go, and now this. Why should I in future recommend QF to anyone anymore if they want to be like that?? Don't a lot of people fly QF based on recommendations, particularly overseas travellers?
Fair enough if it was 28kg or whatever, but 1kg!!! Is it zero tolerance now?? There are other airlines you know!! 1kg!!!!!!
Kooky wasn't on the flight! Kooky recommended QF as a great carrier. Kooky is an idiot and won't be doing that again! The 1400 EUR ticket cost can go to a different mob next time! And if enough Kookys start doing this the powers that be might fix their customer service to return to a level of a premium carrier!
Everyone's got their little "thing" that make QF a premium carrier, and when that little thing finally gets crossed off the list it's down to airline accident statistics only!
I guess in future I'l recommend Singapore or one of the Middle Eastern carriers, maybe Qatar, Etihad, etc. They might even have 20kg, but I bet there's tolerance. It doesn't matter what the published number is, it's tolerance at the end, and if it's now QF policy to punish people for 1kg, it's a real downer for the start of your Aussie holiday.
Don't bet on it. I don't see why you have to shoulder the responsibility of recommending airlines to friends & seemingly take responsibility for when these friends don't observe the baggage allowances which would have been on their copy of the itinerary or eticket receipt.
Why not let them do their own research & make their own bookings next time so they can take responsibility for their own actions.
Nah, definitely not porkies, definitely not rudeness either, I'm with that person at the moment, typing this out.
Firstly at the check-in counter.
The scales showed 24.2kg.
Was told overweight and that had to pay.
Friend then said "why, last year I was 3kg overweight and I didn't have to pay?"
Then the check-in lady said, "there's new regulations and Qantas are being more strict about it now".
Friend was offered chance to take 1kg out, which was hard to do due for them due to suitcase being packed for 6 months (there were no singular heavy items and could not take out anything really apart from 10-tshirts that may have weighed 1kg, impractical).
Friend went to payment counter, which was BA Ticket desk.
Told guy there had to pay 1kg, he said "oh I'm sure you were more overweight but they're just being nice charging you 1kg".
Friend said, "no, it's really just 1kg"
BA guy was surprised and said "if it's really just 1kg they could have turned a blind eye". BA guy was empathetic to the situation and said he couldn't understand why checkin would send my friend to him and make them pay for 1kg.
I specifically asked my friend about their attidude at checkin and they said they gave no attitude to the checkin lady. Incidentally they were OK about paying the extra 1kg, as they view it "pointless to argue with those people" .. it's ME that's upset about the situation because I recommended them to QF and I feel like I have let them down!
It never ceases to amaze me why people just want to argue about why they weren't charged last time etc etc (as stated above) rather than just getting on with what needs to be done to avoid paying the charge. Most of the time the airline is giving you the option on avoiding paying the charge but putting in in their hand luggage or transferring to another bag etc.
The BA guy sounds like an idiot by contradicting his colleagues, he probably doesn't work behind a checkin counter as evidenced by a lack of understanding of how the system works.
I really like QF, and over the years I've recommended it to countless Europeans flying to Oz, because it was a premium airline, but slowly so many things have been eroded I don't really know what's left apart from a nice A/V system and good crash ratings. Hmm, what's disappeared: 1. socks on demand only now 2. not even 1kg tolerance on baggage 3. no ability to reserve a seat even on phone without paying 4. no free exit rows 5. reduction in interlining blamed on a friggin volcano 6. broken/missing online check-in when either flying from FRA or having to transit via LHR. Why should I still recommend them in 2012?? I'm just going to get egg on my face doing that. It's all policies at the end, management policies that bring people like me past their tipping point and end up with a whole lotta people moving to new carriers. Customer attrition like that is incredibly expensive to win back.
I like Qantas by the way and hate to bash them. I just feel like I let colleagues down by recommending them. I hope management will read posts like this and be aware of what effect their decisions can have on recommendations of new business.
Once again stop recommending airlines to friends for their travel & let them put on their big boy pants & do their own reseach & book their flights & see how they go. Why not do a role reversal & ask them to recommend something for you.
Happy to be corrected if this isnt correct, but (from previous discussions with CSRs in various locations): my understanding is that many of the systems now will not let the CSR "waive" any amount over (be it 1kg or 10kg) as the computer prompts them. They can be audited on how many times they "waive" the fee (they have to put in an exemption code/reason).
So it's hard and fast. The solution would have been to remove 1kg and carry it on.
FWIW, your recommendation of QF is no less - most other airlines (incl most "full service") would do the same these days.
Correct. If a CSA enters the correct weight which in this case was 24 kilos the system will apply any appropriate charge whether it be excess baggage, heavy charge or both. The only way for the system to not charge it would be to lie and enter an incorrect weight that does not match what the bag weighs & I would really hope no-one would do that.
I think in the 'olden days' the correct weight was always entered however there were no system prompts to enforce payment & collection of excess thus really leaving it up to the CSA.
Checked in at LHR T3 F counter last week.....family of 5 traveling with BA in F.
Coming to the end of a 5 week holiday so the bags were a little porky - baggage allowance for each passenger was three bags at 32kgs per bag. Therefore, our party had a combined allowance of 480kg's.
We had a total of 5 bags and one bag came in 1kg over 32kg. The agent requested that I take the bag off the belt & transfer 1 KG to another bag.
Some what amused by her demand but compliant....took the bag off the belt transferred two jumpers to another bag, strapped them back up & put them back on the belt. The offending bag was now under the 32kg limit but now the other bag was over
she made me do the same again:evil:
Given the queue that was forming behind me & what appeared to me to be an absolute joke of procedure......I was showing the signs of getting upset. The agent apologised and explained that belt would not work if the weight applied was in-excess of 32kg.
Who knows if this is true! She seemed to be telling the truth but a little part of me can't believe the tolerance is that tight or their scales are that precise.
Was not my idea of a First Class check-in
As others have said the 32 kilo rule that applies to any one suitcase applies to every pax irrespective of class & despite seeming like a silly rule to you, it's not open to negotiation. It matters not whether your combined allowance was 480 kilos or 115 kilos total. Scales in Australia & I imagine a lot of other Western countries will not inject a suitcase if it is over this amount, however the belt can be reversed to assist the pax retrieving suitcase & taking out an item that will bring the bag back to the legal weight.
This is why a lot of airlines ask you to only put one bag on the belt at a time because if they put 2 x 20 kilos bags on the belt at the same time the scale will say 40 kilos so the belt will not work.
From friend:
The receipt was stuck to the back of the QF30 LHR-MEL BP (1x BP thru to MEL). At LHR the BP was scanned (not fed) at the gate , the baggage was not mentioned. At HKG the gate did not have a scan system, the BP had to be fed thru a machine and the gate staff ripped the receipt off and kept it so that the BP could go through. Thus, no receipt.
From kooky:
Bear in mind again it's me that's annoyed here at making the QF recommendation, not the traveller, thus they did not think to request to keep it.
If nobody asking for a receipt at LHR means BA took the money and said it's QF to blame, then this is fraud or theft by deception, name it what you will. But oh well, the receipt is somewhere in a bin at HKG so I'll never know. D'oh!
Forget about all the conspiracy theories on fraud and theft as by all accounts it appears to be a normal run of the mill transaction to me.
Absolutely, I was over it several days ago, and my friend is now getting agitated every time I ask about receipt!
Everything aside though, I do start seriously to wonder if BA does pocket the cash while blaming it on Qantas, and if anyone audits where the cash goes. I guess they do, surely. There's probably someone employed just to watch where the lots of E37 1kg fines go. I'm spewing my friend does not have that receipt because if it could be proven BA were pocketing it I would seriously be having kittens right now. Anyway, it's lost, which means I got zip & I'm joining the ranks of those that are over it .. we can get back to talking about that barman at the Sydney QP!
At the end of the day the charge was legit, so even if BA pocketed it, they were entitled to it.
If the pax has been issued a receipt for the excess/heavy charge by BA they could hardly be accusing of pocketing the money. BA would be responsible for collecting the money from the pax in turn forwarding a percentage of that on to QF which would be done by some kind of internal accounting process.
There is no requirement to then show anyone at the boarding gate the excess baggage receipt whether as HAM, LHR or HKG so it probably wasn't a great idea for the airline person to staple that to a boarding pass. Whoever pulled off the receipt in HKG should have given it back to the passenger.
