llinllinn

My sister booked me a ticket from BAH Bahran to YVR Vancouver via British airways. When I was checking in online, I then realized my baggage allowance is only 1bg 23kg. Am I the only one whos surprised?? Yes, I have heard that international flight within Europe this allowance applies but to travel half way around the world over 27hrs!? I was already upset when I read this but what made me angry was that they had the audacity to right "you'd be surprised what you can fit in one bag," or something. .. Yes, I know what can fit in one bag, thats why I need 2.

Finally I got over it and checked the price for an extra checked in bag. The man at the call center told me 42bd which is a near 150usd each way, one way the bag being empty. A total of about 300usd ontop of my 1500usd flight, great..

Dave Noble

Im confused about the complaint. 1 x 23Kg is a pretty normal economy baggage allowance

$150 for an extra bag isn't atypical for flights to USA

I am surprised that someone would be expecting it to be higher

madfish

You will also be allowed hand baggage, which is a further 23kg.

Of course if you fly in a higher cabin or get status then you are allowed additional luggage. Would be worth looking to see if you can upgrade one leg of your journey and you would therefore get the higher luggage allowance.

antichef

... and welcome to FT ^

lorcancoyle

So you can travel around the world with one bag. You just want to shop when there or leave stuff behind?

Welcome to FT OP - golden rule, check before you (or your sister) buy

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk llinllinn, welcome to the BA forum and please to continue to post here. There may be ways to help you here, so FT is the right place to raise this point. Welcome on board.

For example if you get status with BA then you are allowed an extra bag and a heavier weight limit. And it could be status with another oneworld airline such as Qatar too. If you are not a regular traveller then this isn't so easy to get, but if this travel is the start of a regular process then you may want to do some research as to whether you try to get status for future travel

Also, rather than paying extra for a bag, you may want to consider spending the money on World Traveller Plus (premium economy) since that also gives you another bag.

More details here:
http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/...age-allowances

You could also consider getting a cheap bag for the return leg if you are only using the bag in one direction. Ikea's zip bags have been used in extremis!

BA's charges are a lot more reasonable and generous compared to some airlines (e.g. Cathay Pacific) and their allowances are at least as good as the rest of the pack in this area.

And regulars will see this coming: unless you are moving house, it's perfectly possible to live off hand baggage with a bit of planning and careful packaging. I survive for weeks of travelling off a single carry on bag - I don't check in a bag at all.

fripperies

You could consider Air Canada next time. Their baggage allowance is the standard 23kg but additional bags are only $100, which may or may not work out cheaper than BA, depending on the cost of the fare in the first place. The point I'm making is that to compare the relative value of flights you need to factor in all the costs, not focus on one component in isolation.

LTN Phobia

23kg is a fairly standard economy class baggage allowance. If you like, you can go up to 32 kg for extra $100/£65.00.

Compared to many airlines, BA's excess baggage charges are extremely reasonable, $85/£55 for an extra bag weighing up to 23 kg for economy class if you buy it in advance.

(This assumes you bought the ticket after 30 September 2014 - if you bought it before that, slightly different prices may apply).

llinllinn have you noticed BA's extremely generous hand luggage allowance, provided you can stow the hand luggage yourself?


I suddenly remembered the days when 23 kg seemed rather generous because 20 kg was the norm in economy class.
Am I showing my age?

Dave Noble

Does Air Canada fly to Bahrain?

Dave Noble

I think you are showing signs of alzheimer's in forgetting that the allowance for travel to and from the Americas used to be a standard of 2 x 32Kg regardless of class

LTN Phobia

I completely forgot about the US as most of my trips in the old days were east-bound ex-LON where the allowances used to be 20 kg.

Of course, compared to the old US allowances, 23 kg would seem very little.

scottishpoet

As you are in Bahrain, gulf air would have allowed 30kg but limit hand luggage to 6kg

MeltingAlf

Maybe you're just too young that your only memory of baggage allowance is paying for it on the likes of Ryanair and Air Asia.

stevehh

not forgetting at all the annoyance caused by this to people not flying to the Americas, who wondered why on earth these greedy b**tards should get a much bigger allowance...

Cap'n Benj

African flights still get two bags, as do those to Brazil.

India also gets two, if connecting to/from the U.S. Interestingly Saudi Arabia also gets this, so it seems a bit unlucky for the OP that this doesn't extend to BAH!