Often1

If one wants to have a debate as to whether WS baggage policies ought to be changed (despite the fact that they are aligned with almost every other carrier's policies on this issue), that is one thing. But, that is not OP's complaint. He believes that the CUN staff are "dumb." They are not. They are following their training and the rules of the ticket which OP chose to purchase.

blue2002

Not the cost to the customer... What is the cost to the airline?

blue2002

Well, the same bag was about 1 kg over on my handheld luggage scale when departing from YYZ. The automated luggage system at T3 accepted it just fine. It was about 1.2 kg over on my handheld luggage scale when departing from CUN. The human with the scale claimed it was 2 kg over. Just sayin...

blue2002

I never said they are dumb. I said they do dumb things. This is not a subtle difference, just like "inability to read with understanding" is not the same as "illiteracy".

aerobod

I don’t see why that matters, it is part of the overall revenue model. Standard items are cheaper to fulfil than non-standard ones, the airline wants to de-incentivize overweight bags. Not really any different than a car manufacturer offering a standard configuration, but then charging $200 if you want to change the grill from chrome to black, even though the incremental cost of the non-standard grill is closer to $2.

aerobod

Sounds as though the initial weight on the outbound was right at the 23kg limit, but was over on the way back. Best to repack if you know it is overweight to begin with, to avoid the hassle and potential overweight charge. There is 0.31kg leeway on the stated weight limit conversion between 23kg and 50 lbs, depends on what units the scale is displaying.

Fiordland

So are you saying WS is working with 0.31 kg (0.63 lb) as the margin of error on an airport counter scale? Give how much abuse those scales get that sounds like a fairly good scale.

Google says last time anyone made noise about it 10 years ago, a substantial percentage of scales in Boston did not meet the standards for use in legal tender (i.e., charging people money based on the weight of something):
https://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/02/...ging-at-logan/

aerobod

In most cases WestJet has no control over the scale, it will be what the airport provides for them to use. Calibration and testing will therefore depend on local regulations. Non-precision electronic load cells seem to be accurate to +/- 5% or so, so about +/- 1kg on a scale that is not physically damaged in the range of a checked bag weight.

blue2002

I think that it does matter, as long as we agree that airlines are not just in the business of ferrying cargo (both inanimate and self-loading) and maximizing short-term revenue, but also in the business of customer service and customer satisfaction. You see, if the cost to the airline is, let's say, $ 50 or more per bag, then ruthlessly passing on even double this cost to the customer may make sense. If on the other hand the cost is $ 5 or under... then putting on a broad smile and saying "Mr. Blue2002, while this bag is 2kg over the limit, I do see that you are only checking 3 out of 4 bags, and the other two are under the limit, so... we will take care of it. Enjoy your flight!" makes the difference between leaving a bad taste vs. delighting a customer (or in this case 4 customers).

aerobod

it would make sense for a frequent guest, but not for someone who is travelling on a basic fare, as customer loyalty is swamped by cheapest price. Loosing sight of the bottom line has been the demise of many airlines who thought they could differentiate by customer service, but in reality price is by far the biggest decider for most travellers.

blue2002

See, so it could matter... BTW, there is a broad and not necessarily linear spectrum between "a frequent guest" and "someone who is travelling on a basic fare". I never said I was travelling "on a basic fare", whatever someone deems "a basic fare" to mean. Come to think of it, I also never said whether and what status I hold with WS.
While one should not expect the airline to incur unreasonable costs, just not to piss off a pax, there is also an opportunity in showing flexibility, when that flexibility costs the airline nothing or very little.

aerobod

The average passenger loyalty is worth $5 in price difference in the industry, so loyalty is very poor for most travellers. The differentiation between frequent flyers who fly with a given airline 10 or more times a year and buy all fares up to and including Business where loyalty is worth keeping and everyone else where loyalty is only to price - efficiency and standard offering is paramount to keep costs low. The non-frequent flyers are very low margin, so $1 saved is really important to the bottom line in handling them.

pmarrsouth

Some also pick the machine that is beside a wall, put the bag on the machine at an angle and have the wall take some of the weight. This can get the bag accepted by such machines

aerobod

Obviously there are always ways of scamming the system, but the outcome of messing with baggage handlers may not be pretty for the luggage involved