username

I am wondering why the airlines have Excess Baggage Embargos?

On http://www.continental.com/web/en-US...e/embargo.aspx ,
it seems it is during peak travel seasons but also seem to apply to some Latin America and Micronesia destinations only.

Is it because they want to have full passenger load and this reduces the weight of the plane at some smaller airports?

Why is BOG-IAH more restricted than BOG-EWR?

AuntieMame

There have been times, in years past, that CO has had to pay (at huge expense) cargo carriers to get all the excess baggage to the destination.

This does not make good financial sense.

Maybe someday, if someone can really locate a "bin strecher" .......... hehe

MIA-SAT

The answer to your question is found by watching the checkin in counters and especially at the Latin American baggage claims. Cities like Houston and Miami are shopping meccas for those who live in Latin America. CO has even placed brochures in places like Managua in which Houston is promoted as a shopping destination. At the baggage claim and the checkin counters you will see duffle bags, large suitcases and even boxes full of purchases. I have even seen passengers try to board with a microwave oven as a carryon (pre-9-11) Both during the period before Christmas and during the summer, true luggage, i.e. clothes and personal effects of travelers, would remain unloaded if the embargos were not imposed.

Air cargo is available as an alternative for those who want to bring Christmas purchases home. As a business traveler, I don't want the clothing for my stay left in IAH while a duffle full of Galleria purchases arrives. Luggage and cargo space is limited.

username

I see. Even at LAX TBIT, you can observe this.

Why do they do it both ways then? Do these people get things into the US to sell also? I guess if you make specific shopping trips, you want to make sure you make/saev enough $ to cover the air fare.

This is also true for some southeast Asian destinations (MNL, SGN), I think. I guess they are less likely to restrict since the planes are much bigger.

It seems as a country gets more afflent and duties drop, this happens less as more people can travel to the US to get stuff for themselves or buy them locally. I still load up on some high value stuff when I go to Taiwan - the local Costco has almost everything you can get here except probably 30% more expensive.

entropy

flying CM out of LAX 2 years ago, they asked for me to designate one bag as being guaranteed to arrive with me, the other no promises!

fdog

How about the other way...the return?

I'm going on a scuba trip with two bags in F, IAH-BZE; the outbound is before the embargo, the return is two days after the start of the embargo.

All the best, James