JohnK

Would appreciate some advice.

My friend flew SYD-BKK Thursday on BA and called me earlier from SYD airport. Apparently he was charged $60 extra for golf clubs although he was well inside the total allowance allowed.

I understand the allowance for economy is 1 bag so if you have golf clubs does this mean you cannot have checked luggage as well? The golf clubs are ~9kgs and checked luggage <10kgs.

Now here is the weird part. He was upgraded to World Traveller Plus at check-in. I believe travellers in WT+ are allowed 2 bags anyway. So do you now get the luggage allowance for WT+ or the original booked class?

Receive an sms yesterday morning that he has arrived and the golf clubs are broken during transportation. It was quite late at night and he was not able to report it anywhere.

Is it worth it taking the matter further with BA? I have asked him to keep the receipt for extra bag. I can send BA an email re broken golf clubs but what sort of documentation would I need to include in the email? Photos? As far as I understand there is not official report.

Will see hime in Thailand in a couple of days and get the full story.

BAAZ

Broken golf clubs - ideally of course he should have checked the clubs before leaving the airport, but he should email BA with photos and an explanation. It ought to be clear whether they were broken in transit or by overenthusiastic golfing, judging by how they are broken.

I'm not sure about the extra charge - I remember ba.com does give confusing information about sports equipment, particularly if it's too long to be counted within the normal baggage allowance (which isn't just weight, it's dimension-related as well).

SteveF

You only get the allowance for the booked class.

T8191

<cough>
So I usually book WT+ on TATL, and MFU to CW.
How come I get allowed 3 bags?

[Edit ... missed the op-up aspect ... oops]

JohnK

Thanks for the replies. Interesting that an op-up is treated differently to a paid upgrade or even an upgrade with points. Is there any difference in on-board service?

Wil try to get an email and photos to BA as soon as possible.

I am confused. What does BA mean by the statement "There is no additional allowance for sporting equipment, but it can still be carried free of charge as part of your free checked baggage allowance."?

OPebble

If your allowance is 1 bag then sporting equipment counts as that 1 bag. If your allowance is 3 bags then you can have 2 bags in addition to the sporting equipment. But normal weight rules apply.

Kgmm77

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Because your booked class is Club.

Its the difference between an Op Up and a paid upgrade. Similarly, lounge access may not be granted with an Op Up and in theory an Op Up should be served their meal after all revenue pax have chosen.

henkybaby

Sporting equipment is often of an irregular size. A lot of airlines charge extra for that.

There is no difference in onboard service but to anticipate your argument: checked bags allowance is still for the class booked.

Broken clubs: file a complaint with BA and with your travel insurer. Make sure you pass on BA's complaint ID to them as well. That usually helps to speed things along.

HIDDY

And make sure he claims for top of the range Callaway or Taylormade clubs.....

Jimmie76

Looking at the sporting equipment section of the Upgrade and Checked Baggage thread your sporting equipment comes out of your baggage allowance, or you have to purchase excess baggage for it. Also,

so I hope the clubs were in a travel case, and not just a normal golf bag.

sunrisegirl

No you can't have two bags without paying extra. Full details of baggage allowance are posted on ba.com

The original class

There will always be a member of staff on duty at the airport as they are there until all passengers have cleared the arriving flight, and to handle the outbound flight.

Did he not go to departures to look for somebody?

You will need to call BA locally in BKK to report the damage and they will advise you what to do. They may need you to take the clubs to the airport to see the damage.

It means you can carry one bag of golf clubs (or whatever sporting equipment) with your regular clothes inside. However, it can't weigh more than 23kg without attracting a heavy bag charge. With clubs and clothes a golf bag will frequently weigh in excess of 25kg.

The upgrade is considered to be a benefit that a passenger hasn't paid for and most people are more than delighted with this. Service on board is the same whether you've paid for that cabin or been upgraded into it.

HIDDY

Indeed....

Some people just want jam on it.

Dave Noble

The BA site is pretty explicit on the allowance

There is no additional allowance for sporting equipment, but it can still be carried free of charge as part of your free checked baggage allowance. If it is in addition to your free checked allowance, you will need to pay extra bag charges.

With the economy allowance being 1 piece, then anything in excess is chargeable

If the clubs were not packed into a suitable case for travel then the person should not be holding his breath that BA will pay out for them since

"British Airways does not accept liability for fragile, valuable, perishable articles or baggage which is packed in damaged or unsuitable containers."

and should contact travel insurance to see whether they will cover it

He can lodge a claim with BA at http://www.britishairways.com/travel...n/public/en_gb

HIDDY

Indeed....airlines usually recommend they be packed in a hard shell golf bag. I used to take my bike on many flights without even packing it in a bike bag. Only once was it damaged...a few spokes broken. It never even entered my head to claim anything from SAS on that occasion. I just wheeled it to the nearest bike repair in Helsinki and got it repaired.