Hand baggage weight limit
 

Is this new or did I just print out a different page when I printed out the baggage allowance information months ago?


https://www.britishairways.com/trave...n/public/en_il

"A 23kg (51lbs) maximum bag weight applies and you must be able to lift the bag into the overhead lockers in the aircraft cabin unaided."

Not that I expect it to be an issue, but I am certain it wasn't on there before, I looked for a weight limit and definitely didn't see it.

Thanks.

and extra luggage costs more as well.

I paid $48 a bag for our extra baggage on the flights home and now it would be $51 a bag. Can they do that if they had published that it was $48 a bag when I bought the tickets? That seems a bit wrong. It is only $3 a bag, but it isn't what we agreed on when I bought the tickets.

Back when the baggage weights changed and the handbaggage policy changed, (what, 3 years ago?) there was a big ruckus on the weight of handbaggage. Some might recall the time when handbaggage was a max weight of 6kg? When this was lifted, the policy wonks at Waterside said that the max weight (hand or checked) was 23kg but when it came to handbaggage they wouldn't explicitly say this. The wording was that the passenger had to be able to place it in the overhead.
When the wonks were asked, "well, then what's the max weight permitted for handbaggage," they'd say 23kg. We'd say, "then put it in writing." but the wonks would say that somewhere else it said that the max bag (regardless of its location) was 23kg.
I guess now they're now being explicit with the weight of handbaggage which is good.
At the end of the day it was really a moot point since no one ever weighed handbaggage. (IIRC Concorde was the last aircraft that required the weighing of hand baggage? Maybe SRG can confirm this?)

Yes, I am sure it wasn't there before, maybe BA has now some customers carrying Gold in their hand luggage :confused:

Does it say anywhere that the new rates are for tickets purchased on/after a certain date? Changes like this used to be attached to a particular ticketing date.

Not only does it not say that the changes are for tickets purchased after a specific date, but on my account, for fun I went to the add luggage section and mock added suitcases for the way to the US next week. It would have charged me $51 each. June 3rd when I paid for our extra suitcases for our flight from the US it was $48 each.

:) I t seems I saved $18 by planning ahead and prepaying for the suitcases when I did.

:p I think the weight rule was made for my mother.

She has been known to fill her (not wheelie) suitcase full of books for the kids, because she didn't want to use the weight in her checked suitcases. Then she gets to me and complains for weeks about how heavy the carry on was, despite the fact that my kids already have most of the books she just carried half way across the world and I told her that before she left. LOL I need to get her a good wheelie suitcase.

When BA came out with the new weight sums but said it was okay as long as you could put it yourself into the overhead (to keep cabin crew from masses of heavy weight lifting that could knacker a back--which seems fair enough) it shows how detached policy makers can be from the actual people involved.

If you are short or even moderately short (i'm 5'4") or less, and you have short arms as well, it's nearly impossible to lift and put a carry on of any weight or size up and into a 777 or bigger plane's overhead bin! It could be 2 kilos but it's the height getting it over that angle ledge that's the prob.

If one is 5'0" as is a friend with whom I often travel, it's impossible. I always help her. Or someone taller than I am helps. She cannot even reach any part of the bin.

So in the end weight has nothing to do with it. It's the heights of the overheads on the big planes that make it difficult if not impossible to breach.

But of course BA has to have a policy, so fair enough that they say if you can "do it yourself" then okay. Not sure what else they could say.

I find buddying up with other women when I'm traveling alone is the answer, if cabin crew either don't want to help or cannot help because they are busy. If I see someone on the short side struggling I lend a hand right away. And sometimes a male pax will give it a boost.

And quite often especially young male cabin crew rush over right away to give it a boost over the ledge if they see you on tip toe struggling. Bless 'em.

So the weight thing? That's secondary to Short People! :)

I'm pretty sure the 23kg limit on cabin bags has been there for a while. I don't remember seeing the "and you must be able to lift the bag into the overhead lockers in the aircraft cabin unaided." part though.

It's tucked away here in the hand baggage allowance link but don't remember how long it has been like this.

https://www.britishairways.com/trave...club/_gf/en_gb

^^^ I am going to start a campaign to lower the overhead bins so that I can reach them.
Who cares if tall people have to duck or bang their heads??? They've had it their own way for too long!! :p:p;)

Grabs tin hat, ducks and retreats........

I have to duck even now! So lowering them a bit more is fine with me. I'm perfectly happy to duck a bit more. In fact that could be the slogan for your campaign 'Duck for the Little People'. No, maybe not - I can already see the errors in typing.

Actually the aisle seats on the Airbuses have a built in step - like a metal stirrup - so that those of us who are vertically challenged can get a bit closer to the bins.

The limit they've set seems fair enough to me. Even when I've managed to stuff my big DSLR plus biggest lens plus laptop plus a couple of changes of clothes into my single carry on (that was with Air Pacific - and I'm glad they didn't weigh it), my bag didn't get close to 23kg. As per above, perhaps people are bringing gold bars on board.

I've got lots of plenty of moans about BA, but not the hand baggage limit
 

The "must be able to lift..." part has been there a long time, alongside a disclaimer that it doesn't apply to small elderly people. Or those departing EZE. So no need to worry. :D

The 23kg limit on hand luggage comes and goes. It wasn't there for a long time, then it did appear on the main hand baggage page a couple of years ago, then it disappeared (about a year ago, iirc), at least from the main web page on hand baggage. Now it seems that it's back :confused:.

Note, however, it's a maximum bag weight. Since you're allowed two pieces of hand baggage, that's really a 46kg limit. That's far more generous than almost any other airline. Even 23kg beats most. Many have limits of 8 or 10kg and some even try to enforce limits of 5kg - given that a Macbook can weigh 3kg, that's really not enough for basic carriage of valuables and essential medicines, let alone a change of clothes.