Weighing hand luggage - is this a new thing?

eth0_

Waiting on my flight to Dublin here in Edinburgh, Aer Lingus weighed my hand luggage and it was 5kilos over...luckily the checkin desk lady was nice and let me away with it, but is this something all the airlines are doing now?

I last flew in December and they didn't weigh my hand luggage in Dublin or Edinburgh.

zeusnero

not that new - Ryanair have been doing it for about 6 months now but it's the first time I've heard of Aer Lingus jumping on the bandwagon...

eth0_

Arse.

You'd never get Ryanair saying 'Och, i'll let you away with it this time ' though!

Just heard an annoucement from Ryanair saying any passenger with more than one piece of hand luggage will be DENIED TRAVEL!

Run_to_da_hills

eth0_ wrote: »

Arse.

You'd never get Ryanair saying 'Och, I'll let you away with it this time ' though!

Just heard an announcement from Ryanair saying any passenger with more than one piece of hand luggage will be DENIED TRAVEL!

They have the option of paying e30 on the spot (Double what it would have been if they passed it through check in) Im sure if you don't have this you would be turned away.

Retail outlets in the departure lounges are also up in arms over this because they claim Ryanair is putting passengers off making purchases after they pass security, this in turn could effect business which would hit the airport authorities in the long run if they pulled out.

Ironbars

Some people were just taking the piss. Unless its an over and back on the day I will check bags and for a long time I wondered how some people were getting away with bringing massive bags on as hand luggage.
It was not uncommon to see passangers bringing on 2 sports bags full which barely fit the over heads.
The reason for the clampdown is not the fault of ryanair or aerlingus but YOU LOT.

Run_to_da_hills

They used to allow you on with a laptop bag, I have seen people have these packed with aditional items, they have also got wise to this, What you need now is a large trench coat with huge pockets.

Owen

Just a reminder, no airline bashing. It's against the charter of this Forum, and could potentially land boards.ie ltd in trouble.

KevR

Never heard of airlines weighing hand luggage before.

Is it at the check-in desks that they usually do this?

I check in online 99% of the time so that's probably why I've never seen someone else getting pulled for it. I usually only have small light hand luggage so I wouldn't have any problems anyway.

Owen

This could get ugly though, a lot of photography enthusiasts such as myself bring their cameras, lenses and so forth on as hand luggage, and they're not the lightest things. My kit bag normally includes :

2 SLR Bodies
4 Lenses
Flash
10 inch Netbook
Chargers for everything
Satnav
iPod
iPhone
Chargers for everything

Never get grief anywhere except Poland, where they take every single electronic item out and test it. Probably because the army do the security checks

event

what weight is the luggage supposed to be?

uiscebeatha

usually between a max of 8kg to 15kg, with ryanair it's 10kg.

it depends on the airline and airport in my experience. Germanwings are quite fastidious about weighing the hand luggage. I've never had ryanair do it, and i fly with them a lot, which is why I cheat a bit by bringing a small handbag or purse as well as my hand luggage, but i've seen some people absolutely taking the p!ss, with huge handbags, as well as handluggage which is clearly well above the size and weight requirements. I'd be afraid to be that cheeky in case they wouldn't let me on the plane with it, though they have never said anything before to anyone I've seen

sammyv

I fly 3 weekends per month with Ryanair, and i am one of those people that would 'chance' bringing a fairy big bag onto the plane. I was never ever stopped, but always checked in online.
Last weekend there was an error on the site. which meant i could not check in. So had to check in at airport, and they weighed my bag :eek:
Also i had another item of hand luggage (it was a gift bag with my BF's valentines pressie), but this went unoticed until i boarded the plane. They then told me that i could only bring on one peice of hand luggage, so i put a big sad face on and said it was my b'f's gift, and they let me away with it.
Not gonna chance it anymore though, learned my lesson. Small bag from now on.
Also im moving in a few weeks, i will be taking about 3 big cases, how much will they charge me....

uiscebeatha

Orls81 wrote: »

Also im moving in a few weeks, i will be taking about 3 big cases, how much will they charge me....

They will charge a lot!!! €20 per extra bag, plus I think something like €15 extra for every kg after 15kg for the first bag
What I am going to do when I move back home in June is use a company called first luggage
(firstluggage.com). it'll cost me about €100 per 30kg bag but it'll be a lot cheaper then bringing everything with ryanair. what they do is collect your bag before you go and deliver it to your destination address, in my case, my parents house.

sammyv

Oh thanks for that useful link, have you used them before?

uiscebeatha

No, but a friend of mine did when she was moving home from Austrailia and she had no problems with them.

KevR

Orls81 wrote: »

Also im moving in a few weeks, i will be taking about 3 big cases, how much will they charge me....

Where are you moving to/from?

When my brother was moving to London I brought over his electric drum kit on the train + ferry. It fitted into a big suitcase but it weighed so much that the excess baggage charge would have been well over €500. Was a very tedious journey - took 13 hrs to get from Galway to London on the train but it was worth it with the money we saved. Thankfully, I was able to fly home luggageless.

PS - sorry for going a bit off-topic with this post.

Base

Another option is to consider paying for a friend or two to come visit you just before you leave (depending on where you're flying to/from of course!) and use their bag allowances coming back! Can often work out significantly cheaper that paying excess luggage charges!

Silenceisbliss

weighing hand luggage.... feckin stupid tbh.

I'm waiting for the day that Ryanair (for one) start weighing people and charging them extra if they are above the average weight for their age and sex.

I had such a retarded problem getting through the woman just before security at a ryaniar airport before: I had a monitor and a laptop in my handluggae along with various clothes. (i was coming back from living in germany for 8 months). anyway, she weighed the bag and it came out to 13kg. dammit ....*already checked in my main bag*....anyway, opened the bag and put EVERY SINGLE item of clothing on my person. I was wearing tshirts, shirts, a hoody, a blazer, a jacket, and a winter coat. In the pockets of my wintercoat I stuffed socks and even a pair of trousers. (it looked rediculously bad)....

anyway, went up to her again, threw the bag on the scales (sweating like a bollox from all the layers), she didnt even bat an eyelid...I was fine to proceed then.... DUMBASS!!!!

thing was, the airport was small, and I basically shoved all the clothes on me and in my pockets right in front of her....

:rolleyes:

jmayo

ned78 wrote: »

This could get ugly though, a lot of photography enthusiasts such as myself bring their cameras, lenses and so forth on as hand luggage, and they're not the lightest things. My kit bag normally includes :

2 SLR Bodies
4 Lenses
Flash
10 inch Netbook
Chargers for everything
Satnav
iPod
iPhone
Chargers for everything
...

Same here, the Lowe Pro bag I usaully carry weighs in around 16 kg.
The missus had her wheely case weighed and measured in Oz (low cost carrier to NZ) whereas mine was on my shoulder and they didn't ask.
The thing was my bag weighed twice more than the mrs' bag :cool:

I always have to take out laptop and depending where you are they do a good scan on the bag, because it is full of cables.
There is no way I can put it through as non carry on luggage.
I have seen how they handle bags :mad:

Silenceisbliss wrote: »

weighing hand luggage.... feckin stupid tbh.

I'm waiting for the day that Ryanair (for one) start weighing people and charging them extra if they are above the average weight for their age and sex.

I had such a retarded problem getting through the woman just before security at a ryaniar airport before: I had a monitor and a laptop in my handluggae along with various clothes. (i was coming back from living in germany for 8 months). anyway, she weighed the bag and it came out to 13kg. dammit ....*already checked in my main bag*....anyway, opened the bag and put EVERY SINGLE item of clothing on my person. I was wearing tshirts, shirts, a hoody, a blazer, a jacket, and a winter coat. In the pockets of my wintercoat I stuffed socks and even a pair of trousers. (it looked rediculously bad)....

anyway, went up to her again, threw the bag on the scales (sweating like a bollox from all the layers), she didnt even bat an eyelid...I was fine to proceed then.... DUMBASS!!!!

thing was, the airport was small, and I basically shoved all the clothes on me and in my pockets right in front of her....

:rolleyes:

Any chance of a photo ?