Had a horrible experience today on an award SYD-MEL flight.

Some of it was I didn't research the logistics enough. I had to drop off a rental car which was in the international terminal and I didn't appreciate how far the domestic terminal was.

I was late in dropping off the car, almost an hour before scheduled departure.

I was directed to the shuttle to Domestic, far away from the car rental garage. There I saw Virgin Australia luggage drop-off.

I forgot to wait in priority lane. When I got to the agent, she wanted to check my carryon and personal item. Both are full of electronics, for laptop, drone, camera, iPad. My carryon was over 12.5 kg and my camera backpack was over 8 kg by itself.

They said they started strictly enforcing the 8 kg limit for BOTH carryon and personal item this month. I had told her I'd flown Virgin Australia flights several times with exactly this carryon and camera bag and much of the same contents.

She said she would do me a favor and let me check in the carryon -- "gesture of good will." Yeah the difference in enforcement is not such great good will.

So I took out my laptop, drone and another accessory bag containing more electronics. She said I could put the laptop in my carryon. So much for no lithium batteries in the cargo hold.

She said if I turned it off I could put the laptop in, so I did.

As it is, I had my backpack and 3 items I was carrying.

When I boarded, I was the last to board, with about 10-15 minutes before scheduled departure. The bins in the first 15 rows were packed. Maybe they weren't as heavy as mine but there was a couple ahead of me and they had 3 carryon suitcases.

So maybe the enforcement is still selective.

But if this is the new normal, how do international passengers who arrive with more generous baggage allowances or enforcement transition to domestic flights?

Because she implied that Quantas and other domestic carriers were the same.

My being MP Gold doesn't seem to have had any bearing.

Oh and when I arrive in MEL, I found out they didn't get the bags on my flight. So my flight arrived around 12:30 PM, the next flight was due around 1:45 PM. I could have waited an hour but they said they'd deliver and they finally did, around 7:15 PM.

In fairness, at least 90% of that (if not 100%) appear to be a "you" problem not a Virgin problem...

Which rental car company required you to return to the international terminal? Most (all?) of them have return at the domestic terminal too, although in fairness due to recent construction many of those have moved off-site so you still would have had a delay there.

The fact you got 2x8kg means that you were given more than most passengers due to your status. Economy gets 1x8kg plus one small personal item. The limit for status passengers (including UA) have not changed significantly if at all with their recent changes. They have always enforced these, although how strictly varies. If you avoid talking to a person and use their automated kiosks then you can generally get away with more (especially if boarding with business, as UA status gets you).

Just like every other airline, Virgin Australia has no rules or policies disallowing Lithium batteries in the hold when they are installed in devices. Spare batteries and power banks are not allowed, but devices with batteries installed are fine.

Either they plan in advance, or they check their carry-on. Over the years connecting UA->VA, I've done both of those things. No, this isn't the "new normal", it's been the case for the past 20 years or more, and is equally the case regardless of whether you connect to Virgin, Qantas, or any other airline. (I've done those connections dozens of times over the years)

You got a higher carry-on allowance due to your status. You could have used the priority check-in line (where the agents may well have been more flexible), but you chose not to.

No it’s definitely different than past years. I travel this way everywhere including many short haul flights in Europe and I past years, Australia.

You can say they should not have allowed it in the past but don’t tell me how I traveled on previous Virgin Australia flights.


As for the rental car, I chose pick up in CBD Sydney and return at airport. Kayak didn’t show Domestic vs. International airports as different choices. Neither did all the other booking engines which Kayak returned.

I�m not really seeing where the VA issue is here�. research and follow the airline�s guidance on baggage weights, arrival times, etc. yes, YMMV on baggage enforcement, but that�s kind of standard outside of the US and has been with VA since i first flew them 15 years ago. sometimes they weigh my backpack, sometimes i probably have a 15kg roll aboard that nobody says anything about

It's frustrating when you have unexpected enforcement of rules, especially if they day is already going poorly. But being aware of the rules, and knowing you are exceeding them, does carry risk. Even if you've gotten away with it before.

On arrival to Australia, and continuing on a domestic flight, you must pick up your luggage and recheck it (same as the USA).

So if you desire, you can carry-on a heavier bag on your international flight, and then check it in when you transfer to your domestic flight. Not sure that makes sense, but you can if you want to. You'd have to re-check baggage either way.

One other thing to note about that short flight, the flight attendant had me unshackle my fanny pack and put it under the seat. No big deal, I complied.

But in the same row there was a family of 4 with two very young daughters, both under 10, maybe one was under 5.

They both were holding full sized iPads and staring at the screens, watching a video or playing games.

What was more likely to go projectile, my fanny pack strapped around my waist or those iPads held by tiny children?

They are all back on site at Domestic as of a few months ago.

The rules are made by the regulator, not VA. Devices under 1kg are considered 'secured' if held, which an iPad is. Passenger carry-on items, like bags, need to be stowed. It is what it is.
​​​​

Irrespective of airline, I�m sorry to say this thread seems to have a bit of a �I know the rules and will break them until I�m caught after which I will demonstrate self-pity� air to it.

Inconsistent enforcement is unfortunate but you�ve got a fair few credits seemingly so the complaint/whinge isn�t really going down that well.

Lowest common denominator is JQ so I think there lies your answer.

I rented from Hertz in mid December and they were definitely not on-site. When I had walked past their desk in the Virgin terminal a few weeks earlier they seem to be doing select pickups at the airport (I'm guessing for high-level elites), but when I picked up on the 13th of Dec they were 100% on Ross Smith Ave. Starting a booking on their website now still states that they are off-site.

Must be it. I have been picking up from the middle where it used to be and assumed it was back to normal for everyone.

I was sympathetic, but the total lack of response to the helpful answers, and continued posting about even the most minor inconvenience, makes it pretty clear - all these problems have one thing in common...

Previous unpenalised breaches of a rule don't entitle you to continued breaches.

It's probably because so many - including yourself - regularly ignored the cabin baggage weight limits, despite them being set out in the conditions of carriage on the ticket issued to you, that airlines like VA have had to enforce the limits. Qantas in Sydney domestic have scales at the entrance to the security lines and if any carry on is over 10kg, you can't continue on through security.

From a quick internet search, a carry on bag weight of over 12.5kg would put you in breach with almost every airline in the world which publishes cabin baggage weight limits except British Airways, Aeroflot and Frontier (https://blog.tortugabackpacks.com/ca...-weight-limit/).

As that blog post says, "The most common weight limits are 15 lb (6.8 kg), 18 lb (8 kg), and 22 lb (10kg), but you should always check with your airline before flying."

I've flown many airlines all over the world including LCCs in Europe and Asia. Including VA several times in the last couple of years.

This is the first time I had to check my carryon with my laptop inside and carry loose pieces of electronics on board.

Again she said something about new rules or enforcement on baggage so maybe they're making an abrupt change.

Exactly. If you had flown every previous flight with your checked baggage 1kg above the limit published by the airline and in your ticket, but the check in attendants had previously waived them through every time, then on your most recent flight the check in attendant insisted you lose 1kg or pay excess baggage charges, that would just be the airline enforcing it's own published rules after your long lucky streak, rather than a 'horrible experience'.

It is no different with cabin baggage:
- most airlines have them and they are published on their website and in the conditions of carriage of your ticket, which you contractually agree to when you buy the ticket
- more and more airlines are starting to enforce those published limits because too many people have been ignoring them
- that you were caught out after getting away with it previously on every other flight does not change anything.

This would have been the same on any other domestic airline in Australia, and I can think of times with Lufthansa, Emirates and Singapore recently where I have had to weigh my cabin bag to confirm to them it wasn't above the contractual weight limits. Any status you hold is irrelevant to the weight limits.

The rules changed on 2 February. See the current rules here: https://www.virginaustralia.com/au/e...ry-on-baggage/