Originally Posted by
Andriyko
Transporting a bag of over 23kg is an additional service - some get it for free and some have to pay for it. BA does not have an 'overall' baggage allowance. One has to meet all three requirements - number of bags, dimensions and weight of each bag. Gold card holders flying J or F can check-in 4 bags weighting up to 32 kg each but it does not mean that they can check-in 2 50kg bags (these will have to be shipped as cargo).
I don't know which airlines are so forgiving for overweight bags but most European airlines have strict weight limits for individual bags and don't waive overweight charges even for their own elites.
The 32kg bag weight limit is a hard limit set for OHS reasons.
The 23kg BA limit is made up by BA, or even if a 23+kg bag is "heavy" they will still take a 23kg bag, apply no extra charge and still mark it as "heavy".
BA run their own airline and can do what they like, however I can say on routes to or from Asia, I've flown, many times, on just about every long haul airline operating out of there and so far it is only BA for which I've had to repack a bag. If I go on another airline I know before I even get to the airport that I cannot fit enough in my suitcase for it ever to be necessary to repack a bag.
Thus when I book a ticket, I could think to myself, I may go on BA and maybe need to repack my bag (even though under the total combined weight) or I could go on Cathay or SIA and not repack anything.
For what European carriers do when in Europe, I rarely fly intra-Europe but perhaps it is the same school of thinking which has bought you the European business class which is just a standard economy class seat separated from everyone else by a curtain.