Comparison of airline baggage restrictions

Following on from my recent post about flying with camera gear, I thought I would look at various airline baggage restrictions (allowance seems too positive a description in most cases).  Click through to see a comparison of several airlines.

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Please note that this information is gathered from the airline websites on 5th October 2009 and is presented here for illustration and comparison purposes only.  I had to convert some fees from Euros and USD to GBP.  If you plan to travel, you should contact the airline to find out their current restrictions and charges.

I have used the restrictions and charges for Economy travel, without any special frequent flier discounts.  I also used the fees associated with early payment – some airlines charge more if you pay at the airport.  All the fees are per flight so if you make a return journey, you need to double the fee.

I haven’t included other fees associated with flying, such as booking, check-in, airport tax etc. Be careful with these, on one well known budget airline, a £10 fare became nearly £100 after I added a bag and the ‘extras’ such as checking-in to the flight, paying by credit card etc…

The comparison tables below show the airline website, number of bags you can check, maximum weight you can check, number of hand luggage bags and maximum size, maximum weight of the hand luggage and any charges for bags and excess baggage.

To start, I picked some of the better known budget airlines operating from the UK. 

Airline	Checked luggage	Checked allowance	Hand luggage	Max weight	Baggage charges
Aer Arann	Limit not specified	15kg	1 (20x28x43 cm)	7kg	£6.50 per kg for excess
airBaltic	0	20kg first bag then 32kg per bag. Fee applies	1 (50x40x23 cm)	8kg	First bag £9, then £13 per bag.  £9 per kg if bag too heavy
airberlin	Limit not specified	20kg	1 (55x40x23 cm)	6kg (8kg for laptops)	£9 to £18 per kg depending on destination
Air Southwest	2	20kg	1 (53x34x22 cm) You can also carry a laptop from some airports	7kg	£6 per kg for excess
blue1	Limit not specified	20kg	1 (55x40x23 cm)	8kg	£5.50 to £10 per kg depending on route
bmi baby	0	18kg Fee applies	1 (55x40x23 cm)	10 kg	£13 to £15 per bag.  Plus £10 per kg if over 18kgs.  £30 for over-sized hand luggage (per item).
easyJet	0	20kg Fee applies	1 (55x40x20 cm)	No Limit	Fee for luggage, depending on route then £10 per kg over limit.
flybe	Limit not specified	20kg	1 (55x35x23 cm)	10 kg	£10/kg for first 3kg, £15/kg for 4-6kg, £20/kg for over 6kg
Thomas Cook	0	20kg Fee applies	1 (43x28x23 cm)	5kg	£8-£20 for 20kg appears to be a hard limit.
Jet2	0	22kg Fee applies	1 (50x38x26 cm)	10kg	Fee for up to 3 bags based on route. £8 per kg over allowance.
monarch	0	20kg (max 20kg including hand luggage on charter flight) Fee applies	1 (56x45x25 cm)	10kg (5kg on charter flight)	£10 - £16 per bag based on route. £9 per kg over allowance.
Ryanair	0	30kg Fee applies	1 (55x40x20 cm)	10kg	1st bag (max 15kg) £15, 2nd bag (max 15kg) £35. (these are £35 and £70 if you pay at airport!). Excess charge of £20/kg.
Thomson	0	20kg Fee applies	1 (55x40x20 cm)	5kg	From £6.50 per bag, varies based on route. Excess fees not documented.

And here is a sample of ‘traditional’ airlines.

Airline	Checked luggage	Checked allowance	Hand luggage	Max weight	Baggage charges
American Airlines	1	23kg	1 (56x45x25 cm) plus laptop bag, handbag or briefcase	No limit	2nd bag £31. Overweight bags £31 per bag
Air France	Limit not specified	20kg	1 (56x35x25 cm) plus laptop bag, handbag or briefcase	12kg	Approx £13 per kg overweight.  Note that the allowance and charges vary based on route.
British Airways	1 (2 for flights to USA)	23kg (46kg flights USA)	1 (56x45x25 cm) plus laptop bag, handbag or briefcase	No limit	£25 per oversize bag (up to 23kg)
KLM	1 (or 2 if based on piece concept)	20kg plus golf bag not exceeding 20kg (or 46kg if based on piece concept)	1 (56x35x25 cm) plus laptop bag, handbag or briefcase	12kg	£4.50 - £27 per kg depending on route.  Under piece concept, £137 for extra bag or £45 for excess weight.
Lufthansa	No limit (long haul has a 2 bag limit)	20kgs (long haul is 46kg)	1 (55x40x20 cm)	8kg	£4.50 - £37 per kg depending on route.
Virgin Atlantic	2	46kg	1 (56x36x23 cm)	6kg	£35 per bag over 23kg. £90 per extra bag

Quite a variety of baggage rules and charges.  Notice how the hand baggage size varies!  Something to watch out for.  Some airlines were very specific about bringing a coat, umbrellas etc.  Most of the budget airlines were very specific about hand baggage rules.

Looking through these tables, it seems that flying with camera gear is now pretty hard and will almost always incur excess fees.  Maybe the approach is to carry your over-size camera bag to the aircraft door and hand it over to be put in the hold by hand.  Not ideal but better than it going through the nightmare of normal baggage handling.

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Comments

[Anonymous]

nice post. thanks.