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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think excess baggage charges are insane when you look at the size of some passengers?!?!?

187 replies

JustShaggingForNow · 16/07/2010 12:29

Am sure I'll be flamed for this but......

I was charged for 1kg of excess baggage the other day. 1 fucking Kilo!! Isn't it about time airlines started weighing passengers and their luggage together and then charging excess weight rather than jusy excess baggage?!?!?

OP posts:
porcamiseria · 16/07/2010 15:52

just shagging

wear all your clothes, or at least a few outfits
wear hairdryer as a "necklace"
have towel as turban round head

sorted, you will weigh more AND have less luggage

whomovedmychocolate · 16/07/2010 15:53

It's about lift - they calculate your weight based on averages which tells the weights and measures computer the weight of the passengers plus the weight of the bags and then you rotate at the right speed for that point in order to take off. Get it wrong and kaboom. Tail and fuel lines hit tarmac.

The point of weight limits if both cost and time related though, the more bags the more time to load them, the more bags need moving at each end as well as fuel.

Martin Lewis on Moneysupermarket has been banging on about combat type waistcoats which you can stuff with all your stuff. Now financially that's great, but ethically is it so cool - I might breeze on in a summer frock carrying only my toothbrush whereas the man next door has a laptop up his jumper and six pairs of pants down the crack of his jeans

Unless someone is literally twice the size of the average passenger I don't really think the OP has a valid argument here. And in the case of them being that big, they would probably also have a wheelchair and would need treating differently anyway (ie they may not fit into the seats.)

ivykaty44 · 16/07/2010 15:57

At what weight would you start charging if you weighed passengers and luggage together?

i am thinking that 20kg is the weight of a suitcase so would you charge if a person was for expample 6f7 and 17 stone or would height not come into the equation when weighing passengers?

i mean it would be unfair and unhealthy to make taller people pay more or becoem anorexic -woudln't it?

stubbornhubby · 16/07/2010 16:00

it's not just weight it's also size.
tall people don't overflow nto the seats either side of them, like fat people do

GetOrfMoiLand · 16/07/2010 16:03

Crikey I certainly didn't mean that (shortarse) in an offensive way - was tongue in cheek in line with all the other mild pisstaking and mockery on the thread at the time.

Posie you can call me a lanky twat or a long streak of piss if you like.

toccatanfudge · 16/07/2010 16:11

you're a lankyarse GetOrf - my kids are going to be lankyarses too

GetOrfMoiLand · 16/07/2010 16:14

Yes - lankyarse.

Just think of Olive Oyl and you're halfway there.

GeekOfTheWeek · 16/07/2010 16:19

I want to be lanky too.

toccatanfudge · 16/07/2010 16:21

awwww - I'm sure you look nothing like Olive Oyl

Geek - 5ft 7...........you're lanky to me

I've never found shortarse offensive........in fact my "new thing I've learned today" is that

some people find shortarse offensive

(but not this shortarse )

GeekOfTheWeek · 16/07/2010 16:25

I shall come and stand next to you then tocc.

Actually, aren't you a size 8? Maybe I won't then

Alouiseg · 16/07/2010 16:31

Completely agree with the op. I've been stung for excess baggage when some obese man sat next to me for the flight duration.

It is massively unfair.

ivykaty44 · 16/07/2010 16:31

if you are 6f7 they often upgrade you to buisness class - I doubt they would do that on ryan air even if they did have buisness class you would probalby have to bleed in line till they let you in

Ormi keep eating the greens you will be tall then when you grow up...

OrmRenewed · 16/07/2010 16:32

Eh?

ivykaty44 · 16/07/2010 16:35

well if you want to grow tall eat your greanns - they help you grow

ivykaty44 · 16/07/2010 16:36

i thought you were complaining about being a shortarse

OrmRenewed · 16/07/2010 16:36

Ohhhh....I'm 5'11"! I think I'll stop there thanks

But I do eat lots of greens. If I stop perhaps I'll shrink...

OrmRenewed · 16/07/2010 16:37

No I'm not a shortarse. Maybe a lard arse though...

stubbornhubby · 16/07/2010 16:37

from an airline's point of view 20kg of passenger is NOT the same thing as 20kg of baggage.

20kg of belly is firmly attached to it's owner and gets on and off the plane on its own and is never lost in transit of sent to the wrong place. Neither does it have to be passed through a scanner.

20kg of bagage is lot more inconvenient and expensive for an airline to transport.

GeekOfTheWeek · 16/07/2010 16:45

But the 15 or 20 kg is normal baggage allowance. It wouldn't matter a few kg more because the suitcase has to be checked and put in plane anyway so no extra cost or effort required for a thin person to have a heavier case.

Think that is what the op was saying.

I still think that the bmi calculator at check in is the best idea. Followed by cabin crew armed with tape measures for the return journey.

posieparker · 16/07/2010 16:56

I'll call you names when /i can look you in the eye!!

[seeks step ladder!!]

ivykaty44 · 16/07/2010 16:57

5f11 is sooo a shortarse...good grief

posieparker · 16/07/2010 16:58

I was only offended in the 'fattist' is offensive so wy not shortist?

toccatanfudge · 16/07/2010 16:58
GetOrfMoiLand · 16/07/2010 17:09

(many a time I have done the above in old country pubs when trying to look stylish)

ivykaty44 · 16/07/2010 17:20

see this is what happens to shortarses - they thwack heads on low ceilings - tall people duck as they are used to the low ceilings...many a time my mum thwacked her head as she was so much shorter and not used to always ducking...

i grew up in a household where if you were shorter than 6f4 you were indeed refered to as a shortarse

a standard door frame is 6f6 and ducking to get through a door is normally required when tall