How to make enemies...! [by weighing carry-on]

[Daver6]

Have had this FA weighing previously. He is a zealot who was apparently on the committee pushing it or something. Took great pleasure in pointing out to everyone who was over that the 7kg limit had been written on the sign for 20 years.
.

Anyone point to the priority boarding sign and show that to him?

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I agree in principle.
If it’s going to create delays then that needs to to be sorted. And not to be seen weighing premium lines only, and in our case, making the premium lane cross over the general lane to get to the weighing device. It’s clumsy. Weigh before boarding call and tags put on those bags that look heavy but come in under 7 kilos.

I have absolutely no problems with an airline enforcing their conditions of carriage, but it appears that they are focused on weight and ignore size limitations. I can't understand an airline deciding to annoy pax (which they will) and only do half the job. Why wouldn't they just purchase a heap of those dual purpose scales and size measures and place them at each gate? At least then they'd get a lot of pax "on-side" because of freed up overhead space. They also need to do it consistently. Not weight premium pax only (and simultaneously ignore priority boarding), whilst letting the "great unwashed minions" wheel half a house of bricks in a suitcase aboard! Consistency is the key. People will eventually comply (and for FFers, that would happen relatively quickly) and those who want to cart 10kg can fly JQ!

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I wonder what the FA's would do if I got my portable luggage scales out and weighed their carry on that takes up space in the J overheads? I reckon some of the bags themselves would be nudging 7kgs empty!

 

[HS-TQE]

Random checks at BNE in the past week for MEL and SYD (not sure about other ports). Seems to be only wheelies/roll-on weighed whilst those with backpacks seem to be waved on.

 

[MickC32]

Has anyone been forced to check their bag at the gate after they weigh it at boarding?

I want to get a handle on the process to see if it's wort risking it knowing I'll be a little over. I would hate to check my 8.5kg wheelie bag and find at the gate they aren't even weighing this flight but also don't want a fuss if I do get caught. I'll just smile and say I chanced my arm and certainly won't carry on like a 2 bob watch.

Is it just a PITA for everyone? Does the bag come out at the other end with all the other bags as per normal? Is having a Q-Tag an advantage?

Any experience please?

Cheers

 

[Deleted member 29185]

From some of the anecdotes, having a Qtag may actually make you a target!

 

[bismarck]

Has anyone been forced to check their bag at the gate after they weigh it at boarding?

I want to get a handle on the process to see if it's wort risking it knowing I'll be a little over. I would hate to check my 8.5kg wheelie bag and find at the gate they aren't even weighing this flight but also don't want a fuss if I do get caught. I'll just smile and say I chanced my arm and certainly won't carry on like a 2 bob watch.

Is it just a PITA for everyone? Does the bag come out at the other end with all the other bags as per normal? Is having a Q-Tag an advantage?

Any experience please?

Cheers

Yes, I've been gate checked. They just hand write a quick tag and drop it down the chute.

There's no "priority" tag or anything, but because it's one of the last loaded it does tend to come out reasonably quickly.

If you're likely to be 8.5kg, can you pack some of your stuff (i.e. 1.5kg) in a light calico bag to pull it out into two "separate" bags, then just repack once getting on the aircraft?

 

[ameno]

Waiting for my flight out of Perth on Tuesday morning when I heard QF650 PER-BNE called out specifically over the intercom that carry on luggage checks would be taking place prior to boarding.

Maybe because I am aware of this thread I noticed it this time, but it was the only flight I heard being specifically called out during a number of announcements.

 

[tdimdad]

But it has got me thinking. Unless there are secret scales in seats measuring and attributing pax weight to our FF numbers, I would think that that the varied weight of passengers would be more unpredictable (and harder to control) than carry on. Especially so close after Christmas.

Someone I know who is a pilot basically told me that they have estimates of average pax weights and so on that they use to guess how much to allow for that, but they have no way of knowing what weight of hand luggage they are carrying, so when the plane takes off they are relying on the safety margins and their own experience as to guesstimate how much fuel to load/thrust to use etc.

Perhaps some of the pilots here might be able to tell us whether that was drunken mouthing off of somewhat close to the truth.

Finnair is currently weighing voluntary passengers so they can validate their estimations, and they consider a number of variables which will impact the payload.
Why one airline is weighing passengers

 

[tdimdad]

And of course the scales are calibrated aren't they!
I had a bag weighed about 4 years ago at Jetstar check in at Adelaide and it came up at about 9kg.
I was gobsmacked because my 2 hand weighing gadgets had it at 6.5kg.
I did a controlled dummy spit and demanded to see the calibration details for the unit they used or I would report them.
They put the bag on another scale and it was 6.6kg!!!!!!!!!!!!
I saw a unit weighing bags in Brissy on Monday and it was hauled across the carpet, and banged down on the cement floor at the gate and they started weighing and collecting bags to check.
Who knows if the scale was accurate or not, and there is no way for the flying public to know.

Had also a difference in SYD domestic. The digital scales at the check-in area showed 8.5 kg, analogue one at the gate 9 kg (and into the hold it went). This time around the case was clear but if it had been between 7.0 and 7.5 and an insistent FA at the gate, it would sway the outcome.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Doesn't weights and measures accuracy apply to any commeecial operation?

 

[nutwood]

Has anyone been forced to check their bag at the gate after they weigh it at boarding?

I want to get a handle on the process to see if it's wort risking it knowing I'll be a little over. I would hate to check my 8.5kg wheelie bag and find at the gate they aren't even weighing this flight but also don't want a fuss if I do get caught. I'll just smile and say I chanced my arm and certainly won't carry on like a 2 bob watch.

Is it just a PITA for everyone? Does the bag come out at the other end with all the other bags as per normal? Is having a Q-Tag an advantage?

Any experience please?

Cheers

Just put your 8.5 kg wheelie into luggage, where it belongs, and take a basic bit of hand luggage on board. If everyone did this it'd make the whole boarding process way easier!

 

[stevenaus]

QF446 to Syd A330 seemed to only be weighing economy line. One poor lady was 7.3kgs and the F/A insisted that she taking something out and carry it on. The irony to that is that said flight attendant was 5'6 and and approx 100kg and I'm being conservative with my estimate. QF868 to OOL no weighing completely full flight on older 737 and some of the crew from QF446 working this trip. No push up bins. Very hit and miss still with the weighing. Let's see what tomorrow brings

 

[anabolism]

at one of the (few it seems) domestic airports in Australia that want to check for umbrellas

I often travel with an umbrella in one of my backpack's two exterior side water-bottle holders. In my experience, almost every single domestic security checkpoint (e.g., CBR, SYD, ADL) has insisted that I remove the umbrella from its holder, where it was held securely but quite separately from the backpack, being attached to the side of the backpack. Security staff then places it in a bin and put my backpack on top of it. This makes no sense to me, as now the backpack is obscuring an X-ray view of the umbrella, whereas when it was attached to the side it was clearly separate.

 

[anabolism]

The size of my friend’s bag was fine.

One interesting thing was that the person weighing bags and deciding which bags could go as carry-on was actually a steward on the flight

In the U.S. and Europe, gate agents are almost always dedicated ground staff. In Australia, at least with QF and VA, there is one supervisory gate agent who is ground staff, the rest of the gate agents are the cabin crew for the flight. In my experience, it's luck of the draw as to if the FA acting as GA is an enforcer who insists on weighing one's bags or a more relaxed type who doesn't see the point if the bag looks to be a reasonable size (or who is even more relaxed and allows massive bags that shouldn't be allowed).

 

[Austman]

I often travel with an umbrella in one of my backpacks two exterior side water-bottle holders. In my experience, almost every single domestic security checkpoint (e.g., CBR, SYD, ADL) has insisted that I remove the umbrella from its holder

Mmmm. It's seems to happen to me at ADL and CBR. I've personally not had a problem a SYD, MEL, BNE or anywhere international. I did look up the rule and it seems that it's at the discretion of airport security.

 

[anabolism]

Interesting observation at BNE QF premium check-in this morning.

Guy in front was checking in and had small wheeled luggage and laptop bag. Check-in agent asked him to weight bag. He said it fits on board. She said I know but we still have weigh bag and bag weighed 10kgs so had to be checked-in.

I think this observation is the entire point of this thread, no? That QF sometimes enforces the silly 7kg per-bag weight limit for carry-ons.

 

[anabolism]

Good on them!

Why? Enforcing a size limit makes sense, as oversize bags take up space that others could use. The weight limit has nothing to do with how many bags fit in a bin or under seat, and the plane is carrying the weight either way. Now, if the airline wanted to weigh passengers and their bags together and have a maximum combined weight for each passenger and all bags (checked and carry-on), at least there's be a rationale in extra jet fuel.

 

[Pleb Status]

In the U.S. and Europe, gate agents are almost always dedicated ground staff. In Australia, at least with QF and VA, there is one supervisory gate agent who is ground staff, the rest of the gate agents are the cabin crew for the flight. In my experience, it's luck of the draw as to if the FA acting as GA is an enforcer who insists on weighing one's bags or a more relaxed type who doesn't see the point if the bag looks to be a reasonable size (or who is even more relaxed and allows massive bags that shouldn't be allowed).

On VA, at the capital city airports at least, FA for a flight do not act as the GA as well. This is maybe why PB etc actually works over there....

 

[anabolism]

Someone I know who is a pilot basically told me that they have estimates of average pax weights and so on that they use to guess how much to allow for that, but they have no way of knowing what weight of hand luggage they are carrying, so when the plane takes off they are relying on the safety margins and their own experience as to guesstimate how much fuel to load/thrust to use etc.

Perhaps some of the pilots here might be able to tell us whether that was drunken mouthing off of somewhat close to the truth.

I'd say true but beside the point. Airlines use standardized average per-passenger weights, often establishing by aviation authorities, as an estimate. However, it's seems quite obvious from looking around that any actual passenger might deviate from the average by a factor of three. One passenger might be under 50kg while another might be over 150kg. A 2-8kg deviation between carry-on bags is nothing compared to a 100kg deviation between passengers.