Us Has A Free 50 Lb/piece Domestic Bag Allowance!

Dec 21, 2002
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www.usaviation.com
Every day passengers are complaining that "they came down with the same full suitcase"( weighing 55/65/70), and were never charged or given a hassle about it. Are they lying or telling the truth?(Hint: Rarely see "heavy" tags attached to the luggage).

Now when the few diligent and conscientous of us try to enforce the proper rule, and always offer alternative ways to ship without paying extra, we get reamed over the coals as if we are the proverbial bad guys. They don't understand the concept of 2 wrongs don't make a right and if they were smart they would hush up and not even hint that their overweight baggage got a "free ride" on the inbound.

What's THE SOLUTION? Raise it to 70 again??...or educate them better on the website(s)? Or look the other way and let it go? ...Isn't there any personal responsibility left in this world to get all the info they need before traveling?

Just a wonderin'. :blink:
 
:down:

Charge, charge, charge! I weigh all bags, for the revenue but primarily for the safety of the guys working outside.

IMO, an incentive program from the company would help in raising excess baggage fee collections.
 
I always tell them it must have been their lucky day when they came in, however today, they will need to move the excess weight to another bag, or pay. At our station we do it all, so we are very diligent in collecting those fees. I've even told people that I won't charge them for their inbound flight, but I only do that when they keep on. Another thing, you could offer them the box for $10 so they can save $15. Allowing of course they aren't over their limit. Not to sound as rude as it does, but if I have to pick up their 68 lb bag, they are going to pay for it.

Sort of on topic, did anyone see Continental lowered their weight allowance for international to 50? Curious if that will stick and if all will follow.
 
Severed-N-Happy said:
Well we ALL witnessed how well the OT performance and PAWOBS 100 buck incentive program went for JULY, right???
:down:
[post="285658"][/post]​

LOL

FirstUp seems to be doing quite well though and would be a more appropriate comparison for an Excess Baggage charge incentive than the OTP/PAWOB $100 program.

I attribute the lack of collection of excess baggage fees to understaffing at the ticket counter. When you are only 3 some days people trying to check in 4 full 757s or 321s then are you really going to bring the line to a standstill to collect $25 from pax?

To be honest, people would be surprised at the fact that about 50% the time it is the pax that reminds agents to collect the excess...they admit up front that their bag weighs 60lbs and they know its gonna cost them $25, or some just slap down their DL and CC on the counter gie me their flt number and tell me to charge whatever I have to, just make sure I give them a reciept!

25% looked shoked or confused but just pay and move on.

25% kick and scream and #### and moan and call for a CSS. These are the ones that really throw a scene and are who can make collecting excess a 30 min soap opera. They are usually on GoFares, cruises, X class tickets or US3s (who should know better!). You better believe that if they give me a hard time there is no damn way they are getting out of paying the fees!
 
We hear the same thing all the time (mainly about PIT and PHL). I dont know if they dont have scales at every position and dont want to take the time to move it and check it, dont care, dont have the agents/time to do it or what, but it is a regular occurance.
We usually give them about 5 pounds (our scales arent the best) and let them know to watch the weight next time. Anything over 55 though, they need to take something out or pay.
When they complain about not being charged on the way down, I say, thanks for letting me know, I'll be sure to send a notice to the agents supervisor so they can advise them, and I wont charge for them not charging you either. BUT, its still overweight.
PS- Baggage charges are $30 now up to 70 lbs.
I think an incentive like the Firstup program would be beneficial. Maybe give the agent $1/bag for all $30 collections and $3 for all over 70? I know its part of the job, but a lot of times when you're looking at a line out the door, excess baggage charges arent high on the list of must dos, especially if you have people who are close to missing a flight.

ALSO- having scales at ALL positions would make things sooooo much easier and faster to get it done. Its a pain to drag the bag 2 positions over because there isnt a scale to weigh it on.
 
tadjr said:
We hear the same thing all the time (mainly about PIT and PHL). I dont know if they dont have scales at every position and dont want to take the time to move it and check it, dont care, dont have the agents/time to do it or what, but it is a regular occurance.
[post="285705"][/post]​

PHL does not have scales at every position, but I find they're usually pretty vigilant about weighing borderline bags, even in the Preferred line.

At PIT, pax take their bags to the TSA in the lobby--since the agents don't have to lift them, I'd imagine a good number of overweight bags go undetected.
 
Don't buy the garbage about the lower weight limits being for the safety of the employees. Simply put, lowering the baggage weight requirements is for one thing and one thing only: A REVENUE SOURCE. For decades the weight was 70lbs. An empty suitcase can weigh 20 pounds alone. All those years nobody complained. Why? Higher airfares back then. Let's be honest, if Joe Public wants to pay only $29 for an airfare then they are going to have to make it up somewhere. Furthermore, I suggest that the $29 dollar crowd have a special line at check-in and the TSA. People that pay higher fares get more agents at check-in and shorter TSA lines. Neat concept. Why make those that pay a reasonable price for air travel suffer with those that don't? Flame away, but you have to admit the aviation industry in this country is about to implode.
 
EITS, Everybody I worked with on the ramp has been complaining for years about the "Patel" bags. There are a ton of OI's due to overweights. Also, bag limits are like speed limits , ' a few pounds here, a few MPH there...'
Take Care,
 
evprincess said:
Sort of on topic, did anyone see Continental lowered their weight allowance for international to 50? Curious if that will stick and if all will follow.
[post="285662"][/post]​

I believe AA lowered it to 50# for international earlier in the year to make it consistent with domestic policy.
 
muircross said:
EITS, Everybody I worked with on the ramp has been complaining for years about the "Patel" bags. There are a ton of OI's due to overweights. Also, bag limits are like speed limits , ' a few pounds here, a few MPH there...'
Take Care,
[post="285782"][/post]​

PATEL BAGS ???? :blink: :unsure:
 
PineyBob said:
I've no ojection to paying the fee provided ONE teeny tiny detail.

IF the luggage doesn't arrive with me I get a refund of the excess charge. That seems fair to me.
[post="285901"][/post]​
Not so fast Mista..you need to cough up 15 bucks to cover my copay to the orthopedic physician every time I get "hurt" lifting those heavy bags, misplaced or otherwise.
;)
 
I often wonder what some of these people have in their bags. 70 pounds (50 pounds for that matter) is a lot of crap. I can understand people going to meeting/school having books/brochures, tools for many of our guys who travel frequently, media/video equipment, but going to see grandma? Going to the beach or on a cruise? What do you need?
I did 3 weeks in the Australia/New Zealand with 1 small rollerboard, 1 medium suitcase and 1 backpack. None of which weighed close to 50 pounds.
Part of the problem with some of these is the family of 4 crams everything into 1 huge suitcase instead of taking a couple smaller ones. Great, you got it all in one bag, but broke your back (and mine) getting it to the plane. Imagine the guy in the bin of the plane having to maneuver this around.
And while we are at it, why hasnt the union (or anyone who looks at the number of OJIS) made any stink about the agents having to lift the bags when they could easily take care of it like the do in Europe and have a belt right from the counter to the main bag belt. Its not just a matter of lifting the bag. You have to lift and swing the bag around to get it from the bag well onto the bag belt behind you. That is where a lot of the problems occur from the lifting AND twisting done. I wonder how many agent OJIS could be prevented if a little 5 foot section of belt were added to each position?