JacksonK

I recently flew through Beijing on a roundtrip from SFO. On my flight to Beijing, I had no issues checking my bag but, on the return, I was charged a $200 excess baggage fee for being 5.7 lbs over the 50 lb limit. I was surprised since nothing had been added to my bag but, rather than protest, I paid the fee and figured I'd take it up with United after I returned to the US.

After returning and writing a complaint, I've met only resistance from a United rep. While I'm not necessarily asking for a complete reimbursement, to charge a flat rate for bags 1-19 lbs over the weight limit seems a bit excessive. I felt that a travel voucher for part or all of the fee would have been a reasonable solution, or perhaps allowing me to apply part or all of the fee to a Checked Baggage Subscription.

I'll be flying to China more often in the future and, while United has convenient flight scheduling, I would consider another airline if the customer support with United is consistently poor. To profit by $200 only to then potentially lose return business seems like a foolish business decision, but perhaps profit is most important to United.

Am I being unreasonable here? Should I just let this go, lesson learned? (Note to self: pack an extra, empty carry-on in the future) Has anyone filed a complaint and met resistance and, if so, what are my options at this point? Perhaps it's just "the principle of the thing", but these fees really irritate me, especially considering that I've been a fairly loyal United passenger. Although I have no Mileage Plus Premier status yet, I will reach Silver by years end.

takeahike66

Why didn't you just remove some items, and put them in your carry on. The rules are strictly enforce, I have removed shoes or other weight to size items like books to get them below the weight limit to avoid the excess weight charge.

Why would you expect UA to reimburse for your overweight baggage?

What carrier was the flight that you were checking in on?

villox

Yes, I think you are being unreasonable. 5.7 pounds is quite a bit over the limit, which they are very clear about at many points in the booking and checkin process.

People often complain about being charged for being half a pound over the limit and being charged. The limit is there for a reason. You should instead be thankful that you didn't get charged both directions.

maxinkuckee04

unless you can prove that the scale at the Beijing airport is faulty, the rule states clearly that anything above 50lbs is charged a fee.

I am not sure why you did not remove some articles as 5.7 pounds would have been the weight of a few shirts/a book.

I think you are out of luck and United was right to have charged the fee and for the rep to stand by it. You are asking for an exception and unfortunately they did not grant that. I would agree that it would have been a nice gesture to give you some sort of a cert and remind you of the check in luggage rules, but unfortunately that was not what happened.

Learn the lesson and move on!

IAH-OIL-TRASH

You have no basis for a complaint. Bag charges are spelled out. Other airlines have baggage weight rules and charges, also. If you find another carrier where the sum of fare, baggage charges, and convenience beats UA, go for it. Be prepared for disappointment if/when you get charged for excess baggage at other airlines also.

You are also wasting the time of a UA representative who could be helping with a legitimate complaint. If I had a legitimate complaint or problem, I wouldn't want be on hold because agents are busy dealing with unreasonable objections/requests concerning baggage fees that are spelled out.

JacksonK

Ok. The consensus seems to be that I'm being unreasonable. I wanted feedback and I got it! My intention is not to be a jerk.

I'll just let it go and I'll be sure to pack an empty carry-on with me next time. Lesson learned. Thanks for your feedback.

joshwex90

Are you saying that the contents of the suitcase were the exact same (no more, no less) on outbound and return, yet the scale in Beijing showed the bag was weighing more than the outbound scale had shown?

ag99251

While the fee is really steep, I don't understand why you would expect to be reimbursed if your bag was actually overweight? It's not bad customer service to charge according to policy and all airlines with bag fees have done this for quite some time. You haven't indicated anything that says that you should be entitled to any kind of compensation.

In the future, 6 pounds isn't too hard to fit into a carry on, if you have an empty bag handy. Sometimes I also travel with a light-weight duffel in case I need to shuffle things around and don't have room in my carry on. Second checked bag fee is much less than an overweight bag fee, so if your luggage is close to the weight limit it's worth carrying just in case!

JacksonK

I'm not disagreeing with anything you've stated. I have learned a costly lesson and I'll be sure to pack a small carry-on with me in the future.

For those of you who seem intent on flaming me, I provide medical care to the poor in developing countries as part of my own NGO and consequently I carry a great deal of medical equipment with me - expensive medical equipment. This is for diagnostic purposes and is not covered as part of United's carry-on exemption. Consequently I already have 2 very large carry-on bags and adding 5.7 lbs of additional carry-on baggage was simply not feasible at that time. I'm operating on a razor thin budget and $200 is a significant amount of money to me. Things are not always as simple as they may seem. Please go easy on me!

craz

If your bags weighed exactly the same = you were 5.7 lbs over on the Outbound be all you werent charged anything then.

As UA is cracking down on size and # of carry-ons you may run into a problem the next time you fly. To you,you are on a very noble mission ,UA doesnt see it that way. Unless you can get your PNR to reflect special terms, dont expect to get any leeway going forward. Every Priest, Rabbi, Minister,Iman is also on special missions.Im not putting you down only wanted to point out many people have their own special causes that they vol for and fly to and dont get any special consideration.

JacksonK

Thanks. Duly noted. I'll reach Premier Gold status in the not too distant future, so I'll have a little more leeway with the allowance for additional checked bags.

takeahike66

Only on UA metal coming back, if it is a co-share partner, do not expect the other carrier to recoginized the 70# limit, it may be the limit set by their rules.

SysOp

I think I did lots of homework to the best of my knowledge, but this issue really drives me nuts.

I have the following itinerary in one reservation:

EWR-ORD-NRT (stopover) NRT-PVG (stopover) PVG-NRT-EWR

Details:

EWR-ORD UA (X) 719 mi
ORD-NRT NH (X) 6274 mi
---
NRT-PVG NH (I) 1118 mi
---
PVG-NRT CA (I) 1118 mi
NRT-EWR UA (I) 6732 mi
===

On one hand, according to the IATA Resolution 302, who is the MSC? And how much allowance will I get?
On the other hand, the weirder and more confusing part, UA itself seems to be uncertain/inconsistent about the allowance. At the time I ticketed the reservation, the "View Receipt" page on UA website showed 70lbs*2, and the "View Current Reservation" page showed 50lb*1 for all segments at first. After a few days, however, the "View Current Reservation" page changed and showed 70lbs*2 instead for all segments. The "Checked baggage service charges" page also specifically tells me that 70lbs*2 will be free for my whole itinerary. I called UA and the reply was that the allowance would be 50lbs*1 for EWR-NRT and 70lbs*2 for the rest. I get really confused.

So my questions are what caused this change and should I trust the updated information? And I wonder if it helps if I print it out when I check my baggage?

Thanks a lot. Please forgive my verbosity.

p.s. I have no status.

SoCal

We'll be flying UA business class from Brazil to the U.S. and back. In the past, the checked baggage allowance has been 3 bags, up to 70 lbs. each (Brazil having a higher allowance than other destinations/starting points). We just flew AA biz class on the same route and had 3 bags. Ditto with Delta. US Airways was the only one with a 2 checked bag limit. Now UA rep I phoned said the limit is 2 bags. She had no knowledge of the previous allowance, just saying what the computer showed her for our reservation.

Anyone know if this has changed? At least American and Delta still allow 3 bags.

SoCal

Note that I'm talking specifically about flights between Brazil and the U.S. I do know that UA has reduced its general FC/BC allowances, but flights to/from Brazil did, in the past, have a larger allowance (as they do have now with AA and DL).