Hello my fellow flyers:

I'm flying YVR-HKG tommorrow, and I have a question to ask. Due to the amount of luggage I have, I will HAVE to end up with 3 suitcases. However, on the North American flights, I know I'm only allowed up to 2 suitcases, up to 32kg each. My question are as follows:

Membership guide states that silver level is allowed extra 10kg on North american flights, but extra baggage is the benefit of Gold/Diamond members. Is there a trick for me to get this extra suitcase checked-in without having to argue my way through, or paying ridiculous charges? Well, maybe life isn't too easy, and I might have to end up paying. If so, how much money would I have to pay for say 15kg suitcase?

By the way, what would a 10kg extra allowance do for trans-pacific route? I know each luggage can weigh up to maximum of 32kg, so does this mean I can check in a suitcase up to 42kg? If so, that's pretty stupid, because I don't think anyone can stuff so much into a single suitcase!

Just a thought...

What if you took a big cardboard box and used it to "bundle" your two suitcases togeter? So instead of 3 suitcases, you would have 1 cardboard box (with 2 suitcases inside) and 1 suitcase?

I think the Silver extra 10kg will not really be worth anything on the NA routes.

Each bag is still only allowed to be up to 32kg, regardless of class of travel (even FC are only allowed 32kg per bag) otherwise they have a "heavy bag charge" as well which I think amounts to a certain percentage of the one whole-bag charge.

So... if they feel like being picky, you will probably end up having to pay charges for an extra piece (whole piece) so if you are pretty sure you will have to, you might as well get your money's worth and fill up the 32kg.

CX is quite good about it.... if you sort of plead 'guilty' and say that you're sorry but as CNY is coming up and your relatives in HKG are expecting lots of presents and you have to put them in another suitcase etc... CX , in my experience, will let you take on another piece if it isn't too big.

Worse comes to the worese, you might just have to pay for it. Just for the extra piece and it's not related to its weight. On transpacific flights, it's either $50 or $150.

But just try being 'nice' to the check-in agent first. It might work. Bring candy!

Since you are flying trans-pacific, you will be allowed 2 pieces of checked luggage at 32kg max per piece. The extra piece will be charged at CAD142.00 per piece whether it's 5 kg or 32kg. Excess weight is charged at 3 times the excess piece, so a bag at 42kg will be charged 142.00 x 3 = 426.00. If it is both an excess in piece and weight, then you pay 426.00 + 142.00 = 568.00. I've heard a story of a passenger refusing to unpack an overweight bag and just to stick to her principle that she did not want to unpack, paid the 426.00 charge. Not worth it, IMHO.

check in at the J/MPO counter, sometimes they would not be too strict.
if your 3rd piece is about carryon size, u may get away with by asking for a special handcarry tag (HKG is very strict on dimension of hndcarry). if they refuse to let you handcarry, they could have an excuse of letting u check it in. but u need to provide the excuse

but it still depends on your luck.

in ey they allow an extra 5-7 kgs with no mention of it anywhere. i don't know whether they will allow more in J or F. the chk-in agents will say something like your total weight (baggage) exceeds the amount stated but will normally let you off if it's just a little over. it also depends on the mood of the chk-in agent.

At the end, I decided not to take the chance, and ship some of my goods to my final destination by Canada Post. Rather than paying $145 dollars on extra luggage, I chose the convenience of shipping it to Australia for the same price, and make my life easier.

I took my flight with 2 luggage, but they weigh in total of 60kg!! I asked the checkin agent at Vancouver regarding the baggage policy, and I was told that they will "usually" allow a small suitcase (size that is allowed for carry-on), or a small box in addition to the 2 luggages. I did not ask whether this is solely for the MPC elite members, or for all passengers. In addition, I was checking in at First Class Counter, and maybe the lady was "senior" enough to allow such decision at her will.

The bottom line: smile, ask nicely, and don't ask for too much. Check in at First/Biz counter if at all possible. Well, of course the Diamond/Gold are allowed extra piece of luggage anyways.

PS: My flight was full and I was upgraded to Biz class. This was quite nice

My wife and I did a freight run a couple of months ago FLR-IAD. We carried back 4x32kg boxes of goods as checked luggage. We carried back a fifth piece, one gigantic piece of luggage at 33kg, for which we were charged 126,000 lira (about $60).

The boxes were so large they never went on the scale.

They exceeded the length+width+height limit by over 30", but I have never seen that enforced.

slawecki:

which airline was it?

We were on LH, but checkin at FLR is done by the generic FLR staff.

After check-in, one is sent across the terminal to a separate booth. FLR staff pulled a book that looked like an 'every airline' book, found the rate, collect the funds, and issued a receipt that I showed to the checkin clerk. She then gave me our tickets.

There were at least 15 people in this line, for excess baggage, for many different airlines.