Tag Archives for checked baggage.
Airlines enforce the 50-pound limit with baggage scales that aren’t always perfectly calibrated—so some passengers have started “helping” the reading by quietly supporting one side of the suitcase with a foot while it’s being weighed. The number drops because part of the bag’s weight transfers off the scale, and influencers even promote it as a tip. It’s also fraud, and agents say they see (and cringe at) it all the time.
A passenger flying American Airlines out of Orlando Melbourne International Airport says he was effectively removed from his flight thanks to understaffed and unresponsive employees. “Rules are rules.”
“Southwest is hoeing me.” A Southwest Airlines passenger says that’s what an employee told her, after the airline lost her bag, then when it was found it was delivered to the wrong address, and the airline and courier service simply pointed fingers at each other – forcing the woman to get the police involved.
American Airlines has changed how customers prepay for checked bags. They’ve stopped pooling checked bags across all travelers on a reservation and now force each bag to be explicitly assigned (and charged) to the passenger who will check it.
Customers used to get frustrated, knowing where their bags were but running into a brick wall with their airline trying to get that information used. That’s changed, with airlines jumping on the bandwagon of adopting new technology deployed by Apple that lets them take in tracking data and use it to recover bags.
There are more law enforcement agencies on premises at a major international airport than anywhere else. There’s TSA, local police, DEA, Customs and Border Protection, FBI and that’s just to name a few.
Yet people can just walk into the arrivals level of an airport, walk up to baggage claim, and pick up bags belonging to anyone that they wish – and walk right out.
An Alaska Airlines baggage agent at Newark air[port faced off with a customer over delayed luggage, losing it not just on the customer but with another passenger who tried to help de-escalate things.
There’s an old saying about there being just two kinds of luggage, carry-on and lost. That’s not true. The third kind is damaged.
Osaka Kansai airport takes pride that it has a 30 year record of not losing a single piece of luggage.
Airport rankings for least mishandled bags – attributable to the airport itself are as follows.
Most checked bags in the U.S. are limited to 50 pounds. Anything heavier than that and you’ll pay extra. First and business class passengers, and those with elite status, may be allowed 70 pounds. When you approach the check-in counter, they’ll weigh your bags, and if your luggage is overweight you’ll be assessed an extra fee.
However it’s not always so simple. There’s an unspoken cat and mouse game between airline employees and passengers.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
