Originally Posted by
IAN-UK
Yes, but while the reasons you outline can make careful checks of the weight of baggage sensible, quibbling about the odd extra kg but nonetheless loading it for an extra charge is hardly going to help.
Some airlines and stations (Hello Turkish and Jakarta) can get in a tizzy about the weight of cabin baggage - yes, even for business-class passengers and elites in their very own FFP
. Generally they'll cite the weight limit of lockers, or the health and safety of cabin crew who might need to shift bags around. Or maybe it's just agents with bees in their bonnets or otherwise having a bad day.
I agree that when considered on an individual basis, it only being "an extra kilo or two" may make it seem churlish to charge. But multiply that by 400 passengers, and then add in probably the same weight again in extra fuel to carry it all on an ultra long haul, and that's a tonne or more
Of course, knowing when your aircraft is approaching the limits of its operational limits, particularly on an ultra long haul route like this one, is very helpful.
But also if you are the operator, and you are already having to pick up the cost of flying an hour or two out of your way due to war or weather or some other circumstance beyond your control, even before that extra tonne is loaded on board, perhaps it all does reach a critical mass (pun alert) where clawing something back from those bringing more stuff with them than they have paid for makes the difference between profit or loss?
This does not happen on every flight of course, and we all like to think we are special and that a little rule bending here and there just for us won't matter. But it's ultimately a total numbers game for the physics and economics.
There must have been something unusual or exceptional about the circumstances for this particular flight.