JIMCHI

Why can't AS just conform to the policies of the other major airlines (AA,UA, DL) and allow 70# for first class passengers. I doubt many people actually pack 70#, but many I'm sure are in the 55-60# range.

mikelat

Checking in at LAX I was asked to move items around when bag was 52 lbs. They had no flexibility.

Red L

I don't check bags all that often, but last time I did, this was my experience (at SEA) as well.

pmblinn

Rarely check bags as well. Returned from long vacation this past Friday (7/29) from SEA in F. Big bag was 54.5 lb. Did the repack of shame. Not complaining, but I do like the premium fare 70 lb. allowance on most other airlines.

Ian Z

In May I had two large hard shell pelican cases. One was 40 and the other was 55. They just put heavy on the one and sent both through without issue or charge. The bag this time was 69. Got charged the 100 but it’s for work so it will just be expensed. They just got lucky in the past because gate agents like me

AinthePNW

This has been my experience at SEA, too. Recently I was flying IAD-SEA and already had 4 bags (2 for me and 2 for spouse who is Gold). In addition to being in Europe for a month, our family threw us a surprise bang shower - so needless to say we had a lot of junk to haul back to SEA. One of my bags was 54lbs and the agent tried to charge me!?!?!? So, I quickly took my half full duffle carry on and repacked the bag and then checked the duffle - so now a total of 5 checked bags! (Thanks for the three free bags, AS).

I agree that AS should conform and up it to 70lbs for premium class customers and sapphire/Emerald OW. Stuff like this really, really makes miss UA. It’s just unnecessary stress and unpredictability.

Carfield

I was actually shocked that Alaska Airlines has not changed its first class baggage allowance to match American Airlines or most US major airlines.
70 pounds is the norm.

Anyway I was on a SEA-LAX-DCA flight two months ago on a paid first class ticket.
The agent noticed that my bag was 53 pounds and told me to move my stuffs or paid. I just chose to pay, as I would rather her doing additional paperwork than me trying to repack my bags in front of a busy first class check in queue.

In the end, Alaska Airlines somehow did not put my bag on the flight that I was on. I checked in three hours in advance for those who might think I checked in late.
They ended up retagging my bag on the nonstop SEA-DCA flight, which arrived an hour later than my LAX flight. I chose to wait at the airport because it was easier.
I wrote in a complaint and Alaska agreed to refund my overweight bag fee, since they failed to deliver my bag on the right flight.

The moral of the story is that Alaska Airlines is not flexible with the 50 pounds weight limit and those agents especially in Seattle will not budge under any circumstances.

Carfield

dayone

Just to play devil's advocate, how much leniency over the 50-pound limit would one want?

AinthePNW

I’d say at a minimum 55lbs, but more like 60lbs. I’ve never had a bag above 60lbs and I feel that giving 5-10 lbs of leeway for premium and OW elites is the right thing to do. My bags are usually around 40 lbs, but if they start to creep up towards 50 lbs I panic. No need for the stress.

Ian Z

my issue isn’t paying for a heavy bag. It’s that the airline gets the fee. Charge me for a heavy bag all you want if that money is going directly to the ground crew lugging that. Over 50 pounds is heavy but manageable. 70 pound bags should get charged but to pay the crew not the airline.

AinthePNW

my issue is the fee. $100 is steep for being 5 lbs over weight. Charge $25 and then give that money to the ground crew. $100 seems like robbery for being 1 lbs over weight when AS is so far below industry standards.

Ian Z

You are not wrong. Even a sliding scale would be better. Might as well have a 90 pound bag if you think you are gonna go over 50.

ryan182

20 pounds, so it was consistent with OW and pretty much every other major US airline. I too was shocked earlier this year on a flight to LAX where I was connecting on an AA flight on separate ticket with dive gear and camera equipment and fully expected 70lbs (OW Emerald, also paid F) when the check in agent told me my bad was overweight (it was ~62lbs) and I even argued with her because as a OWE having 70lbs baggage allowance is consistent and thought that she was just uninformed due to the recent addition of AS to OW.

WrightHI

I had one of my more unpleasant AS customer services experiences with an agent in Seattle and a slightly overweight bag. I had weighed my bag at the scale across from the AS counters and repacked already to get below 50# as indicated on that scale. When I went to check it in, it came up as 52#. Agent was completely unhelpful and unsympathetic, basically just saying "oh, yeah, those scales are wrong" and telling me to step aside and repack. Kind of seems like the airline should give some credit to the scales offered right next to its own check-in area to enable customers to avoid that sort of hassle.

Emeraldcity

I have to agree that it really depends on the agent's mood that day. I've had them not bend at 51 lbs, and yet be flexible at 53 lbs.
I have also had my bag outbound at 49.5 lbs and on the return it was 52 lbs and the EXACT same items were in the bag coming home as when I left. I guess dirty clothes weigh more?? LOL LOL LOL
I do have a scale, so I know my outbound bag is never over 50 lbs.