Weight Gain Distribution (Back In The UK)
After a long, sleepless, red eye flight, we arrived in the UK yesterday morning. Leaving Miami was a nightmare! While packing, and after buying tons of scrapbooking stuff, I was worried we weren't going to be able to fit everything in our two suitcases. We were able to do so and we thought we'd be fine.
When we arrived at the check in area, the guy tagging the carry on luggage picked up my Pelican case, which is full of my photo equipment, and told me it was too heavy to carry on the plane with me and I'd have to check it. Come again???. I explained to him what the contents were and how I would really appreciate it if I could just bring it on the cabin with me. He said I'd have to talk to the supervisor and I did. The supervisor was actually a nice guy. He gave me a little bag so I could put some of my gear in there to take some weight of the Pelican case until I got to the plane. All was good, or so we thought.
Next we had to actually check in. We handed the passport to the check in guy and proceeded to put the check luggage on the scale. Surprise!!!! My bag was about 15 kg over the maximum limit. We offered to pay extra for it but were informed that it's not about excess luggage but about the fact that Heathrow refuses to accept any piece of luggage over 30 kg. There was nothing but a few magazines I could leave behind so I was stressing a bit. We were offered a duffelbag for the oh-so-low price of $30 to put the excess weight in there. Matt's bag was also about 8 kg over the limit so we put some of his stuff there too. They would only take cash and we didn't have any. Luckily, my mom was still there and gave us the money. I was pretty upset about this whole situation because I had gone on 3 other flights with that Pelican case and multiple flights with that airline with heavy luggage and never had any problems whatsoever. This was the first time they even thought of gauging the weight of my carry on.
I realize the carry on weight limit is there for a reason but I think exceptions should be made on a case by case basis. For starters, the flight was nearly empty so it wasn't a case of lots of people with lots of carry ons. Second, with thousands of dollars worth of equipment, I think most people would have second thoughts about checking the bag in. Airlines do not take responsibility for photographic equipment amongst other things so if the bag should be lost, they'd wash their hands clean and would have no responsibility whatsover as far as the law is concerned. Even though I have insurance, that is a risk I am just not willing to take. OK, off the soap box now.
When we arrived at the check in area, the guy tagging the carry on luggage picked up my Pelican case, which is full of my photo equipment, and told me it was too heavy to carry on the plane with me and I'd have to check it. Come again???. I explained to him what the contents were and how I would really appreciate it if I could just bring it on the cabin with me. He said I'd have to talk to the supervisor and I did. The supervisor was actually a nice guy. He gave me a little bag so I could put some of my gear in there to take some weight of the Pelican case until I got to the plane. All was good, or so we thought.
Next we had to actually check in. We handed the passport to the check in guy and proceeded to put the check luggage on the scale. Surprise!!!! My bag was about 15 kg over the maximum limit. We offered to pay extra for it but were informed that it's not about excess luggage but about the fact that Heathrow refuses to accept any piece of luggage over 30 kg. There was nothing but a few magazines I could leave behind so I was stressing a bit. We were offered a duffelbag for the oh-so-low price of $30 to put the excess weight in there. Matt's bag was also about 8 kg over the limit so we put some of his stuff there too. They would only take cash and we didn't have any. Luckily, my mom was still there and gave us the money. I was pretty upset about this whole situation because I had gone on 3 other flights with that Pelican case and multiple flights with that airline with heavy luggage and never had any problems whatsoever. This was the first time they even thought of gauging the weight of my carry on.
I realize the carry on weight limit is there for a reason but I think exceptions should be made on a case by case basis. For starters, the flight was nearly empty so it wasn't a case of lots of people with lots of carry ons. Second, with thousands of dollars worth of equipment, I think most people would have second thoughts about checking the bag in. Airlines do not take responsibility for photographic equipment amongst other things so if the bag should be lost, they'd wash their hands clean and would have no responsibility whatsover as far as the law is concerned. Even though I have insurance, that is a risk I am just not willing to take. OK, off the soap box now.
posted by June at 10:24 PM
1 Comments:
I decided months ago that my Micro Trekker is coming on board with me - and I don't even have thousands of dollars worth of equipment like you! If I check my main luggage and something happens, I may not have any clothes but at least I'll have my cameras!
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