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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Travel from Gatwick, beware extra costs

34 replies

kazmus · 28/05/2011 15:22

More a warning than AIBU but got caught out by excess baggage costs lately. Only a suitcase each and each one was just over 4kg over. Expected to pay something but not £10 per kilo so an extra £90! Funny thing was on the return journey (from Greece) we had lost the extra weight...didn't realise 2 paperbacks and a shampoo made that much difference! Don't get me started on the extremely obese woman who sailed through without extra charges and spilled over into half my seat:( (Prepares to be flamed by all amply proportioned travellers:) )AIBU to feel just a teeny bit agrieved?

OP posts:
nijinsky · 28/05/2011 16:15

Why didn't you just bin the paperbacks and shampoo?

LaurieFairyCake · 28/05/2011 16:18

How can 2 paperbacks and a shampoo weigh 9 kilos??

squeakytoy · 28/05/2011 16:21

Always remember to weigh your case before setting off, and avoid the problem.

YABU.

tyler80 · 28/05/2011 16:24

YABU

Icelollycraving · 28/05/2011 16:27

Yabu. Weigh your case,simples.

RockStockandTwoOpenBottles · 28/05/2011 16:28

You think a couple of paperbacks and shampoo are bad. On a flight in the past year I had to remove FOUR nappies to bring my case to 20.9kg. Yes, FOUR nappies weighing a total of 400g. Fucking jobsworths. Yet flying from Spain my case is almost always a couple of kg over and they use that little known (in the UK) thing called common sense and discretion.

ratspeaker · 28/05/2011 16:28

Its not so much the travelling from Gatwick but the terms and conditions of the airline/tour operator.
Most are 15kg baggage allowance unless you pay extra when booking

I still dont understand if one case was 4kg over how were you charged £90?

I take it you mean you weren't charged extra on the retun journey as you'd left behind shampoo and paperbacks

Didn't you weigh your suitcases before going to the airport to check what the total was?

plebshire · 28/05/2011 16:29

surely it's the airline, not the airport, that impose excess weight charges?

classybint · 28/05/2011 16:30

What Airline was it?

JaneBennet · 28/05/2011 16:31

I always weigh my suitcases before leaving home and then add a couple of kilos to the total weight. I'm convinced that airline scales add 1/2 kilos per case.

tyler80 · 28/05/2011 16:32

The airport is responsible for the scales, the airline for the excess baggage charges.

DontCallMePeanut · 28/05/2011 16:38

It's the airline, not Gatwick. Like everyone else has said. Also, weigh your suitcase before you leave. I always leave a kilo or two, to allow for disrepencies. (Although, there should never be THAT much of a difference between two scales)

MmeBlueberry · 28/05/2011 16:42

I don't think this is a gatwick issue. You have a baggage allowance, and you have to pay if you exceed it. You can pool your allowances as a group but there is still a maximum per bag. We always put our bags on the bathroom scales before travelling and have never come close to the maximum.

If you have hiking boots and a heavy winter coat, everyone knows tomwear thhese rather than pack them.

Don't blame others for you own stupidity.

nijinsky · 28/05/2011 17:01

Edinburgh Airport can be very arsy strict. I've had to unpack all my clothes from one holdall they said was too big, buy another one in the airport exactly the same size and repack in front of everyone, including putting the original bag away (work that one out). I've paid excess baggage several times without complaint (although I'm personally tiny). Most recently I was commanded by airline attendant to put my waller, which he insisted on referring to as a handbag, into my hand luggage and zip it up. I tried to speak but was told "hurry please". Then he demanded my boarding pass and passport. "They're in my wallet, zipped up in my hand luggage"...

And the luggage carousels always take about 40 minutes to get loaded, and then break down...

LadyThumb · 28/05/2011 17:03

We went to Lanzarote - suitcases under on outward journey. Overweight coming back although we had EXACTLY the same in them!

Seems they just charge what they like!

ccpccp · 28/05/2011 17:08

Open cases. Remove heavy stuff. Close cases. Smile sweetly at jobsworth checking you in.

What airline was it?

Original poster
kazmus · 28/05/2011 17:12

woah! tongue in cheek ladies...no need to call people stupid...it was with Monarch and there was an article in the Times apparently that this is a particular problem Gatwick. We had a case each, each case was 4.5 kg over so £90 charge. Sense of humour check or are all of you the fatties that weigh twice as much as anyone else anyway?

OP posts:
plebshire · 28/05/2011 17:17

I think you spelt 'head' and 'arse' wrong in the second sentence of that post.

bellavita · 28/05/2011 17:20

What a rude poster.

squeakytoy · 28/05/2011 17:23

4.5kg each case is a considerable amount to be over...

Glitterknickaz · 28/05/2011 20:14

Four and a half kilos. So heavier than the average newborn....

AmyStake · 28/05/2011 20:17

No, we just can't understand how you could not weigh your suitcases before you go on holiday and then bitch about being charged for excess weight Hmm

GastonTheLadybird · 28/05/2011 20:51

I love it when people say "ha! That was totally tongue in cheek" when they actually mean, "oh balls, I was totally wrong then".

ratspeaker · 28/05/2011 21:18

Wasn't calling you stupid, OP, but your last remark makes me rethink that

MmeLindor. · 28/05/2011 21:23

Gosh, aren't you a charmer.

YABU