Originally Posted by
gengar
Consumer advocacy groups and travel bloggers should be all over this. OP's bags were involuntarily checked, end of story. NH's primary fault or not, this is a typical big corporation, 'screw-the-little-guy' move on their part and in this specific case, one of the weaknesses of NH being a typically Japanese company.
Reading the responses now, I agree with your last sentence.
ANA's response:
Mr. xxxxx, it is most unfortunate that this incident marred your overall
travel experience with ANA. Please be advised that we have forwarded a
report sharing your experience with our concerned sections so they may
request Air Canada’s support to avoid such actions in the future.
basically admits that the situation should not have happened.
In this case, NH wouldn't even incur any real loss by refunding the fee, as the correct situation would've been the OP carrying bags on anyway -- hence the added weight is already incurred and all that cost NH was some additional baggage handling (if even). It's not like their action "teaches someone a lesson" about baggage overage for the future.
Why not acknowledge the mistake and work to have their corporate refund the mistake, rather than put the burden on the customer?