Originally Posted by
SFO_FT
Flying out of the international terminals in Australia and NZ are the places where it can be troublesome. QF and Jetstar and NZ pay to have people stand at the AKL and BNE terminals checking/weighing oversize bags, so at those airports bags over the 7kg might be a problem. At AKL, if you're flying out in NZ in C or are top-tier, you can use the premium check-in/channel, where you'll be able to slip through. At BNE, there's no avoiding it. At SYD, I've never seen them weigh bags--they don't even bother to have those agents because the agents are there to weigh the bags just of QF and NZ and not the other carriers. The 7kg limit is an airline restriction for those 2 carriers and not an airport restriction. I've never seen the policy enforced traveling to Australia/NZ, such as at LAX or SFO or HKG, etc.
Does Qantas offer online check-in / mobile or kiosk printed boarding passes as an option to avoid the check-in desk? At SYD and AKL are the agents tasked with identifying oversize bags weighing everyone's carry-ons during boarding or are they just eyeballing it and shaking down people that look like obvious offenders?
Even a few small gifts picked up in Oceania could easily put me up over 7kg on my primary MLC style carry-on bag. It'd definitely fit in a QF bag sizer though.
In general my luggage goals in order of priority are to:
(1) save time / hassle by avoiding in person check-in or bag drop
(2) save time / hassle by avoiding lost or delayed baggage
(3) save time / hassle waiting for baggage to be unloaded
(4) avoid trusting airlines to interline my bags correctly ^^