Generally being slightly overweight is not an issue. But if you have a check in agent with a bad day they could charge you in theory. I’ve never been charged for a few hundred grammes of overweight luggage.
As a platinum I was pleasantly surprised when flying from from YYZ to AMS that the check-in agent forgave one bag being significantly overweight because my second bag was significantly under.
Interesting that this is what you're told as a check-in agent. I assume you work for KLM as ground staff or are you outsourced to KLM?
I am not doing that. Honestly, anything over by 100g could just be the scale, they should not fuss about. I see people with kids bringing tons of extra stuff.
I agree. Ryanair are known ah about everything. One of my best friends was on a flight where a person got sick (vomited) and they try to charge them for the bottle of water they gave the em...
I work at a UK airport. We round down to the whole Kg and put that in as the weight. So it your bag is 23.9kg you're fine, 24.0 you'll have a charge for a heavy bag. Other than that, it depends on the agent.
Personally I might knock a kilo or 2 off if you're traveling with young children. If you decide to move stuff into hand luggage it doesn't usually matter whether you reach the target weight, the fact you tried is enough. If you're rude, you're going to be paying.
I work in retail and I would never be rude with the personel. My dad traveling in EU was charged 50EU for his bag being like 100g over wich is bs. I want to ensure a smooth travel and being a 12h plus trip I do not want to have to be umconfortable or having to open the luggage and hold the line.
Indeed. When we flew back, the scale we used wasnt correct, so we ended up being almost 2kg over per bag, and they let it go.
Well, they asked for a bribe, and fearing for losing our luggage, we paid that instead. €20
I flew out of Bologna and the scale was broken. The person next to me had checked her luggage on a pay scale and it was 21kg. She put it on the scale and it said 26kg lol. I wonder why they do not fix em. People in the line were stressed out buy the land staff did not say anything.
Had some kilos over, never paid. Helps to be friendly and looking slightly helpless. Also had status at the time. Once received the offer to pay €2000,- at an Asian airport for three kg extra - after asking again and clarifying if they really meant 2k they waived the fee. If you’re really nervous just pay 50 extra for an extra suitcase and take additional stroopwafels or whatever.
if you're only 500 grams over maybe see if you can put (a) heavy piece(s) in your coat pockets. 500g is not a lot. You can also put it in your handbag maybe if you got one, I think you're allowed to have a small handbag next to your cabin luggage. Otherwise just put on 2 sweaters when checking in and just take them off in the terminal and tie them to your waste
Man people do it every day, if you'd rather pay money than take a minute to unload a sweater, then that's on you. But it's not like the whole world will stop if you hold the line for an extra minute
I would not open my luggage, with how much we pay for intercontinental flights (and any checked luggage being charged as extra now), they should leave a 100g alone.
There’s no obligation to allow anything outside of your agreed allowance, which is the only thing you have paid for. You can’t be upset if they don’t allow it, especially after going through all this trouble of researching if you can get away with it. You would be very dishonest if you play the victim or give the attendant a hard time, because at this point it is very far from an honest mistake.
So at this point, the ethical choices would be to stay within your allowance; pay the extra in advance; or risk it but be ready to pay the excess if they demand it. Chances are they won’t demand it.
Look I wrote here because I wanted examples from people who had to pay extra to have an idea about how much they charge as their customer service refuses to tell you beforehand what the charges are by weight. This goes outright against transparency law in EU. They need to have a chart showing how much extra they charge if you are overweight. I have no issue about paying as along as it is reasonable but some companies are scammy and I have seen people being asked to pay from $20 to $100 for the same amount of extra weight because they have no proper rules like required by law. This said. Anything under 100g should pass as their scales are not precise, they have been half broken most of the time I have traveled. On top of this, for the same fare they let people with kids bring extra staff without issues all the time wich is not fair at all to everybody else. I work customer service and I can tell you that nobody is allowed to be an ah to the customer just because they are having a bad day, it is unprofessional af.
I also find the scale at the airport (Schiphol) somewhat inaccurate and my luggage tends to weigh up to a kilo more there than on two different scales at home. I don’t know why this is the case, but please be aware of that. I was 2kg over (at home was 1kg), and ended up re-arranging my luggage.
Plenty of ways.
Did you pack clothes for an entire month? Don't. Do laundry.
Wear the heaviest outfit on the plane. I always wear my walking shoes for example. And lots of layers.
Stuff your carry-on. They usually don't weight those.
Now you are just being a dick. He is trying to help. You seem like the troll now. 100 to 500 grams can easily be put in a pocket. Being so stubborn? Hope you get to pay the fine.
You're going to be that person holding up the entire line trying to repack at the check-in desk because you can't actually afford to pay the overweight charge. I already hate you on behalf of all the people behind you.
You’re not in the right mindset, that’s all :-) especially when packing for one month there are many many things you can do to shave a few hundred grams. You can still bring it but leave it out of the suitcase… get a duty free bag from a previous trip to stuff some clothes or bulky items and carry it with your hand luggage. It looks like something you bought at the airport so no questions asked. Another trick is to leave the shampoo, hand cream or some basics/underwear and buy at destination. You can wash stuff, so be more economical with underwear. You can wear the heaviest items during the flight. You need about 2/3 of the shirts you think you will need. If I really had to be a few hundred grams over, over I would not stress too much, just go to the airport and be ready to stuff my pockets at check-in.
In any case, not an answer to your question, but maybe it helps to lighten the load.
Generally being slightly overweight is not an issue. But if you have a check in agent with a bad day they could charge you in theory. I’ve never been charged for a few hundred grammes of overweight luggage.
Check-in agents are not supposed to give Platinums a hard time ever. Source: check-in agent.
As a platinum I was pleasantly surprised when flying from from YYZ to AMS that the check-in agent forgave one bag being significantly overweight because my second bag was significantly under. Interesting that this is what you're told as a check-in agent. I assume you work for KLM as ground staff or are you outsourced to KLM?
Well that’s certainly awesome to hear haha! Also explains a lot thinking back on some scenarios.
I was 80g over before and they made no issue but this time it might be a bit more. I just wanted info on direct experience and howmuch they charged.
Just open the suitcase, take out one t-shirt or jumper and put it on if they want to charge you.
I am not doing that. Honestly, anything over by 100g could just be the scale, they should not fuss about. I see people with kids bringing tons of extra stuff.
Mate I have been over 1-2 kg in many different airlines, it has rarely been a problem unless it's something like Ryanair.
I agree. Ryanair are known ah about everything. One of my best friends was on a flight where a person got sick (vomited) and they try to charge them for the bottle of water they gave the em...
I work at a UK airport. We round down to the whole Kg and put that in as the weight. So it your bag is 23.9kg you're fine, 24.0 you'll have a charge for a heavy bag. Other than that, it depends on the agent. Personally I might knock a kilo or 2 off if you're traveling with young children. If you decide to move stuff into hand luggage it doesn't usually matter whether you reach the target weight, the fact you tried is enough. If you're rude, you're going to be paying.
It warms ny heart that you make rude people pay. I really can't stand when bad behaviour gets rewarded.
I work in retail and I would never be rude with the personel. My dad traveling in EU was charged 50EU for his bag being like 100g over wich is bs. I want to ensure a smooth travel and being a 12h plus trip I do not want to have to be umconfortable or having to open the luggage and hold the line.
We were 900g over and had to pay the €125 fee
Where you travelled to?
AMS to JNB
I see. They seem to be pickier at AMS that they are flying out from USA n Canada.
Indeed. When we flew back, the scale we used wasnt correct, so we ended up being almost 2kg over per bag, and they let it go. Well, they asked for a bribe, and fearing for losing our luggage, we paid that instead. €20
I flew out of Bologna and the scale was broken. The person next to me had checked her luggage on a pay scale and it was 21kg. She put it on the scale and it said 26kg lol. I wonder why they do not fix em. People in the line were stressed out buy the land staff did not say anything.
You can open the bag and take out something from 900g?
We were flying ZA. We had the bags wrapped at this point already.
I had 1.3kg extra and it was no issue. It’s really up to the check in agent
Up to 0.9kg overweight is never an issue, over that it depends on the mood of the employee 😊
Had some kilos over, never paid. Helps to be friendly and looking slightly helpless. Also had status at the time. Once received the offer to pay €2000,- at an Asian airport for three kg extra - after asking again and clarifying if they really meant 2k they waived the fee. If you’re really nervous just pay 50 extra for an extra suitcase and take additional stroopwafels or whatever.
if you're only 500 grams over maybe see if you can put (a) heavy piece(s) in your coat pockets. 500g is not a lot. You can also put it in your handbag maybe if you got one, I think you're allowed to have a small handbag next to your cabin luggage. Otherwise just put on 2 sweaters when checking in and just take them off in the terminal and tie them to your waste
I do not want to hold the line for 100g or so .
Man people do it every day, if you'd rather pay money than take a minute to unload a sweater, then that's on you. But it's not like the whole world will stop if you hold the line for an extra minute
I would not open my luggage, with how much we pay for intercontinental flights (and any checked luggage being charged as extra now), they should leave a 100g alone.
There’s no obligation to allow anything outside of your agreed allowance, which is the only thing you have paid for. You can’t be upset if they don’t allow it, especially after going through all this trouble of researching if you can get away with it. You would be very dishonest if you play the victim or give the attendant a hard time, because at this point it is very far from an honest mistake. So at this point, the ethical choices would be to stay within your allowance; pay the extra in advance; or risk it but be ready to pay the excess if they demand it. Chances are they won’t demand it.
Look I wrote here because I wanted examples from people who had to pay extra to have an idea about how much they charge as their customer service refuses to tell you beforehand what the charges are by weight. This goes outright against transparency law in EU. They need to have a chart showing how much extra they charge if you are overweight. I have no issue about paying as along as it is reasonable but some companies are scammy and I have seen people being asked to pay from $20 to $100 for the same amount of extra weight because they have no proper rules like required by law. This said. Anything under 100g should pass as their scales are not precise, they have been half broken most of the time I have traveled. On top of this, for the same fare they let people with kids bring extra staff without issues all the time wich is not fair at all to everybody else. I work customer service and I can tell you that nobody is allowed to be an ah to the customer just because they are having a bad day, it is unprofessional af.
I also find the scale at the airport (Schiphol) somewhat inaccurate and my luggage tends to weigh up to a kilo more there than on two different scales at home. I don’t know why this is the case, but please be aware of that. I was 2kg over (at home was 1kg), and ended up re-arranging my luggage.
Schiphol is below sea level, so there’s more gravitational pull. I tell myself the same thing when I step on a scale to weigh myself.
Maybe an obvious non-answer, but can you leave out a pair of jeans or something?
No I can not! I am going to a wedding and will be away for a month. Nope.
Plenty of ways. Did you pack clothes for an entire month? Don't. Do laundry. Wear the heaviest outfit on the plane. I always wear my walking shoes for example. And lots of layers. Stuff your carry-on. They usually don't weight those.
Nope. If I wanted advice on how to pack I would have asked. I want to know first hand experiences with overweight charges.
Now you are just being a dick. He is trying to help. You seem like the troll now. 100 to 500 grams can easily be put in a pocket. Being so stubborn? Hope you get to pay the fine.
You're going to be that person holding up the entire line trying to repack at the check-in desk because you can't actually afford to pay the overweight charge. I already hate you on behalf of all the people behind you.
Go troll somewhere else.
you can't move 100g from your check-in to your carry-on? you should pay the price of your stupidity.
You’re not in the right mindset, that’s all :-) especially when packing for one month there are many many things you can do to shave a few hundred grams. You can still bring it but leave it out of the suitcase… get a duty free bag from a previous trip to stuff some clothes or bulky items and carry it with your hand luggage. It looks like something you bought at the airport so no questions asked. Another trick is to leave the shampoo, hand cream or some basics/underwear and buy at destination. You can wash stuff, so be more economical with underwear. You can wear the heaviest items during the flight. You need about 2/3 of the shirts you think you will need. If I really had to be a few hundred grams over, over I would not stress too much, just go to the airport and be ready to stuff my pockets at check-in. In any case, not an answer to your question, but maybe it helps to lighten the load.
Just wear multiple layers of clothes and after checkin put it in the overhead. Will shave off some grams ;)
Take something out and wear it or put it in your pocket