extra baggage costs?
 

Hi, I will be flying Inverness to Amsterdam to Chicago next month. We just bought economy light tickets as we were going to take hand luggage only but my husband is wanting to check in a bag. I’ve asked KLM how much this would be and they said I’d have to do it at the airport on the day, as we booked this through Net flights and it says it’s Virgin Atlantic…

I was just wondering if anyone’s flown to the USA recently via KLM and what this is likely to be? It says I get 10% off aswell lol. I just wanted to be a bit prepared because if it’s extortionate I feel we shouldn’t bother with one!

What do you mean you bought this via Net flights and it says it's Virgin?

Did an OTA send you a direct KLM flight under a codeshare flight number? Or are you actually flying KLM to London and connecting on Virgin?

If you're travelling on KLM, it doesn't matter how you booked the ticket; you can just enter the PNR (the 6-character reference number) and the surname on the KLM website, where you can manage your booking. This allows you to select seats (for a fee) or add baggage.

If the agent that sold you the ticket is withholding the PNR - though it is more than likely indicated somewhere on your confirmation - you can always ring them up to ask for the PNR. They would also be able to quote you the baggage fees (though be warned - third parties sometimes inflate the costs so they make a little extra for themselves).

In the case that you are flying on KLM but your ticket was somehow issued on Virgin stock (the ticket number starts with "932" and the flights are likely coded as VSXXX) then it's possible that you would only be able to pay for extra luggage at the airport.

If, however, it turns out that you are flying on Virgin Atlantic, then it's not KLM that you should be turning to to add luggage.

hello! I’ve just had a look and it’s saying
VS7140 - Virgin Atlantic
Non-stop Reservation Confirmed
VS6845 - Virgin AtlanticOperated By KLM
and when I spoke to KLM on the live chat, they were like we can’t tell you how much baggage is until you go to the airport day of! They’re KLM planes, not sure why it’s saying Virgin Atlantic though as we don’t have Virgin Atlantic up by us! Guess it’s a codeshare? It’s annoying because I want to be able to book the baggage now! & yes our tickets say 932 actually!!

Yes this is a codeshare. Virgin sets the amount of included baggage on the ticket, so you'd need to get in touch with them.

You're basically Virgin's customer until 24 hours before departure.

To the OP: as the previous poster said, there's nothing that KLM can do until check-in opens for your flights; it's not their ticket and it's not on their ticket stock; they can't assume control of the ticket until just before the flight is scheduled to depart.

You could contact your travel agent and enquire about the possibilities of now adding baggage for payment. However, they'd have to go through Virgin (you probably wouldn't be able to approach Virgin yourself to enquire, as it's not their ticket either - it's issued by the agent with whom you now have the relationship) and I'm not sure whether and if Virgin have any mechanism to add a paid baggage allowance to this kind of ticket. I suspect that this would work out no cheaper, and possible more expensive, than just paying KLM's fees on the day.

You're almost certainly going to have to wait until you arrive at INV on the day of departure to be able to arrange extra baggage for a fee. And you would probably also have to arrange extra baggage for the return trip upon arrival at ORD ahead of your return flight.

It would be really beneficial if, after you've travelled, you could come back and relate your experiences, including telling us how much you were charged for luggage.

Enjoy the trip!

For what it's worth, KLM is selling returns on the INV-AMS-ORD route next month starting from £436.19 per person in Economy Light. On those same flights, Economy Standard comes in at £556.19 per person; as such, at an absolute minimum, you are looking at an absolute minimum of £120 to check a single 23kg bag - that "Standard" economy ticket is £60 more than the "Light" ticket each way.

However, my suspicion is that it will be much more than this; it's always cheaper to buy luggage in advance (preferably as part of your ticket) than adding it on the day of departure at the airport; and yes, I realise it is not "fair" that it seems that you have no option of pre-purchasing your baggage in advance, but that is a complication arising from the way the ticket was purchased/issued.

NetFlights offers the same flights for £451.19, so it looks like they have added a £15 fee of their own on top. For a fare including a checked bag, they offer these flights at £562.19 (which represent only an extra £6 on what KLM themselves charge)

At these prices, it would have been advisable to book directly with the airline operating the flights. However, in any case where you want to make even a minor modification to what has been booked, it's always better to have booked directly with the airline. Having had some frustrating refund experiences with tickets booked via some of the biggest and best-known online travel agencies during COVID, I have now completely sworn off booking using third parties. Only if there was a *substantial* saving to be made would I now consider booking via an online travel agency

I believe that KLM does offer the advance rate on ancillaries even on the airport for tickets where advance purchase is not possible. Typically codeshares.

Let's hope the OP gets back to us next month to spell out exactly what happens with this ticket 👍

I’ll definitely come back and let you all know! I’ve not flown KLM in 5 years or so and when I flew BA I’d normally just add a bag on when needed and it was way cheaper! Itll just be one bag we’re adding because my husband has some stuff he wants to take over for family. I wish I could go into INV and ask as it’s pretty close by! I’ve learned a lesson haha

hi! so I fly tomorrow and have just checked in and thankfully, it has let us add our baggage! It is £102 altogether (there and back) for luggage so I am okay with that. It could have been a lot worse!

I'm still Seething at my flight from Busan to Taipei where they charged £200 for a 25KG bag, That wasn't the most annoying part, the most annoying part was that I asked for the £43 ticket refund and was about to go book the Korean Air A380 for £160 instead of the LCC which would be cheaper but the check in staff said you can buy such and such for 100,000 includes baggage but it doesn't include the full lot so ended up paying another 143,000 plus 100,000 plus the £43 that doesn't get refunded