[dilanium]

We're flying out in less than 2 weeks and are finalising our packing.

We are checking in for our Air NZ flights with United Air in Las Vegas, and I have never had my carry-on baggage weighed before?

Will we be okay if we go a little over on our carry-on baggage being a little heavier? It will still be within the dimension restrictions.

Thanks

[James 1077]

Not sure how strict they are as it always depends on who is checking you in - sometimes they won't want to look at it, sometimes they'll want to weigh it and sometimes they won't care.

However it shouldn't matter if you are a little bit over weight as you can always put small, heavy things in your pockets / wear clothing etc and then get them to weigh the bag again! ;)

I once turned up at Heathrow for a flight with 28kgs in my checked bag and 7kgs in my hand luggage. I was therefore allowed to transfer 3 kgs from my checked bag to my hand luggage but they wanted me to pay for 5 kgs of excess baggage after that. I don't pay excess baggage as a matter of principle so I decided to just wear some of the clothes instead - I wandered away having checked in my 20kg bag wearing 2 coats, a couple of jumpers, a shirt and two pairs of trousers. I also had a large Christmas pudding in one pocket and a couple of books tucked into my trousers supported by the belt. Having waddled away I bought a newspaper so I could get a bag to put some things in and then, once through security bought another hand luggage bag for 50 pounds and put the excess clothing in there. Saved me 250 pounds of excess baggage AND I still use the bag! :D

[CatherineP]

Hi

As has been already mentioned it depends on the staff involved and what kind of day they are having. My parents recently travelled ANZ via Hong Kong and had to check one of their hand luggage bags in as it was slightly over weight. Unfortunately they were already air side and at security/departure gate when this happenned so had no chance of any repacking to suit cases. They obviously then did not have items for the plane trip. They manage to take a few things out, but there's a limit to how much you can carry. Their other bag was already at its limit as well but they managed to keep that one.

They fly alot and this is the only time it has ever happenned so I guess it may not be that common, but you do take a risk if you are overweight (bags that is) and being told hand luggage needs to be checked in appears to be able to be enforced at any point during the journey not just at your initial departure point.

Catherine

[Milliemoo]

Not sure how strict they are as it always depends on who is checking you in - sometimes they won't want to look at it, sometimes they'll want to weigh it and sometimes they won't care.

However it shouldn't matter if you are a little bit over weight as you can always put small, heavy things in your pockets / wear clothing etc and then get them to weigh the bag again! ;)

I once turned up at Heathrow for a flight with 28kgs in my checked bag and 7kgs in my hand luggage. I was therefore allowed to transfer 3 kgs from my checked bag to my hand luggage but they wanted me to pay for 5 kgs of excess baggage after that. I don't pay excess baggage as a matter of principle so I decided to just wear some of the clothes instead - I wandered away having checked in my 20kg bag wearing 2 coats, a couple of jumpers, a shirt and two pairs of trousers. I also had a large Christmas pudding in one pocket and a couple of books tucked into my trousers supported by the belt. Having waddled away I bought a newspaper so I could get a bag to put some things in and then, once through security bought another hand luggage bag for 50 pounds and put the excess clothing in there. Saved me 250 pounds of excess baggage AND I still use the bag! :D

OMG That is sooooo funny! :p

Milliemoo

[dilanium]

Unfortunately they were already air side and at security/departure gate when this happenned so had no chance of any repacking to suit cases.

What airport did this occur at? Has anyone else heard of this happening?

[kanatakiwi]

We're flying out in less than 2 weeks and are finalising our packing.

We are checking in for our Air NZ flights with United Air in Las Vegas, and I have never had my carry-on baggage weighed before?

Will we be okay if we go a little over on our carry-on baggage being a little heavier? It will still be within the dimension restrictions.

Thanks

Both my OH and I have experienced having to repack bags at the check in to redistribute weight so that no bags were over the limit. Also once had to check my carry on bag as it was over the limit (it was the 2 bottles of wine!! so that wont be a problem these days as I would not be allowed to take that much liquid on board anyway!) At Auckland airport they have machines where you can pre-weigh your bags to check for yourself and sort it out before you get to the check in. So I would say, as others have, it depends on the person checking you in, but don't count on them turning a blind eye to your overweight bag. I now am very careful. weigh the bags on my scale at home, not very accurate I know, but gives me an idea if I am way over.
By the way I have had this happen to me in Auckland, Vancouver, London and LA (the very strict weigh in. )

One other thing to note, is that if you are flying on from Auckland to another destination in NZ, you need to have your connections as part of your international ticket otherwise you will be subject to the domestic baggage allowance on that last leg which is much less than the international baggage allowance. Check previous posts by wildcoyotewoman on this experience!

Gloria

[dilanium]

My flights are all joined from Las Vegas to Palmerston North. So after the initial weigh in at Vegas I shouldn't have a problem right?

[kanatakiwi]

My flights are all joined from Las Vegas to Palmerston North. So after the initial weigh in at Vegas I shouldn't have a problem right?

Theoretically Yes! However others have reported troubles with having their hand luggage weighed again. See Catherine P's comment: "and being told hand luggage needs to be checked in appears to be able to be enforced at any point during the journey not just at your initial departure point".

Personally I think that it is unlikely though.:confused:

[Potato]

My flights are all joined from Las Vegas to Palmerston North. So after the initial weigh in at Vegas I shouldn't have a problem right?

Will there be anyone dropping you off at the airport to say their farewells? If so, a solution is to get them to hold some stuff for you whilst you check in. Then when you're all checked in and out of the queue, just put that stuff back into the hand luggage. It won't get weighed again, and I have to be honest, it's unlikely to get weighed on a domestic transfer to Palmy.

[dilanium]

Hopefully they won't try to weigh my carryon baggage at our layover in San Francisco either.

Fingers crossed they leave us be.

[CatherineP]

Hi

My parents were travelling LHR HKG AKL ZQN (Queenstown) British Airways to HKG then ANZ to Queenstown in March 08. Their bags were fine until they were at the departure gate in AKL where the staff picked up my Dad's bag said it felt heavy, (it was but not over the limit according to LHR,HKG check in staff) weighed it and said something to the effect of it needs to in the hold or you can't take it. They also tried to charge them for excess baggage although in the end I think they didn't dare!!

My father works in the airline industry (not for ANZ) and therefore is pretty clued up about things and 'discussed!!' this problem with them. They did have the right to do what they did IF the bag was genuinely above the limit. There seems to be a problem that the official 'accurate' airline scales are not so accurate, but you can never win that argument!!!.
As I said in my previous post my parents travel a lot as do I and it has never happenned anywhere before so I would imagine it is not that common, but obviously can happen.

Catherine

[kanatakiwi]

Hi

My parents were travelling LHR HKG AKL ZQN (Queenstown) British Airways to HKG then ANZ to Queenstown in March 08. Their bags were fine until they were at the departure gate in AKL where the staff picked up my Dad's bag said it felt heavy, (it was but not over the limit according to LHR,HKG check in staff) weighed it and said something to the effect of it needs to in the hold or you can't take it. They also tried to charge them for excess baggage although in the end I think they didn't dare!!


Catherine

This would be a good reason NOT to add stuff into your carryon bag after it has been weighed at first check in ....or to take into account that you may want to purchase a book or something at duty free somewhere along the way!

[CatherineP]

This would be a good reason NOT to add stuff into your carryon bag after it has been weighed at first check in ....or to take into account that you may want to purchase a book or something at duty free somewhere along the way!

Completely agree - best to take into account what you intend to buy. In my parents case their bag was identical for all flights, nothing added, nothing removed.

[Caroline and Dave]

What airport did this occur at? Has anyone else heard of this happening?

They do this at Heathrow . They never weigh hand luggage at the check in ( Well we have never had it yet) but when you go through security they have scales and pick out the odd person. They have only picked me once and I was under. It is a very unfair thing to do as you can't put it in your suitcase. At least at Auckland they weigh your hand luggage at the check in.

[jubjub]

I have a sneaky trick of having a handbag, not large, but enough for wallet, camera, video camera and mp3 player, then everything else went in my "official" carry on luggage... always worked well doing that... and no-one has ever questioned it... I thnk because I had the weighty things in a small bag, and my bulky lightweight stuff in bigger bag.

The handbag counts as my personal item... main bag as my cabin baggage...

[M-Squared]

I've flown a LOT in my life, tons to and from the US, too. I've never ever ever had my hand luggage weighed. As long as it's not completely obvious, I wouldn't worry. When we moved here, our luggage was way over in weight. We were spotted by a friendly baggage handler who let us bypass the regular weigh-in (these guys expect a tip - after all, they're saving you a ton of money ;) - we gave him US$50, worth every last cent compared to the overage charge we could have faced) and just let us skip the queue after letting the check-in agent know that they already had our bags. :nice1 Air NZ did throw a bit of a wobbler when we had to re-check our bags in Auckland, and grumbled a lot that, but they didn't charge us for our flight from AKL to WLG for the extra weight! Very very very exceptionally kind of them as we were really quite over... :o

[Bruckner]

United weighed each bag when we checked in at JFK. Air NZ weighed each bag when we checked in at LAX and the bags were a bit heavier after a weeks shopping in So Cal. We were over the limit and resigned ourselves to paying extra but when the check-in agent added up the pounds and then realized she had to convert it manually to kilos she just shrugged and waved us through. Go figure.

Emily

[M-Squared]

^^ Hee hee! The joy of changing from "English" (as the US calls Imperial measures) to metric. :D

[DanFromCali]

just made the flight a few weeks ago (LAX -> Auckland)... they allow each passenger 100 lbs (any mixture of weight, so you can have 20 lbs and another 80 lb piece)... also they did total weight for us. it was me, my wife, my toddler daughter who had her own ticket and our infant son who was allowed the same baggage... so we had a 400 lb allowance for our 8 bags. One of our "pieces" was actually 2 carseats tied together, and 3 pieces were actually just big boxes. And we went over a tad in weight, so we paid an extra $30. $30 will buy you 40 extra lbs... (140 lbs total for 1 person) - a small price to pay. They didnt measure the pieces either although i know some of my baggage was oversized. Also i took a fairly large duffle bag, my daughters backpack, another big bag my wife wanted to bring full of daipers and snacks and a big bp with my laptop as well as a compact umbrella stroller all as carry-on. Yes it was a ton of stuff, but it all got there - ANZ was wonderful with my family as always.

one note tho was that our flight was not full, so maybe they were more lax, but i wouldnt stress. at worst you may have to pay an extra 30 bucks or so, but that CHEAP when you consider how much air freight costs.

they didnt weigh our carryons

[markandjackie]

Hi all im a newee :laugh does any body know how the transfers work ie going from LHR to hong kong transfer then on to Aukland. never been outside europe so long haul flight is all new to me the wife and 2 kids (9 boy 15 girl).....:D:o:confused:

[Joolzr]

Hi all

We're currently half way there on Malaysian Airlines and worrying about this as we were already over weight and have been shopping...

My brother works for BA and he said that 20% of scales at Gatwick were wildly inaccurate. I'm hoping to try this is we get someone strict.


JoolzR

[Rusty]

I agree with James and don't agree with paying excess baggage and will always find a way around it.
Just the principle that you could have someone behind you in the queue weighing 5 stone more and you have to argue about a couple of kg in a bag.

[JandM]

I have a sneaky trick of having a handbag, not large, but enough for wallet, camera, video camera and mp3 player, then everything else went in my "official" carry on luggage... always worked well doing that... and no-one has ever questioned it... I thnk because I had the weighty things in a small bag, and my bulky lightweight stuff in bigger bag.

The handbag counts as my personal item... main bag as my cabin baggage...

Yes, that was okay when you could have a personal item, but like I said, last year when we travelled, that was out.

[JandM]

Hi all im a newee :laugh does any body know how the transfers work ie going from LHR to hong kong transfer then on to Aukland. never been outside europe so long haul flight is all new to me the wife and 2 kids (9 boy 15 girl).....:D:o:confused:We went LHR to AKL via HK last year on Air NZ. Our main baggage was checked in at Heathrow and we didn't see it again till NZ. Even though you're continuing on the same plane after the refuelling stop, it gets cleaned while you're on the ground, so you have to take all your personal belongings off with you. When you go to get back on the plane, you have to go through a similar security set-up as you did at the beginning of the flight - you go through the arch thing, and your hand luggage goes through the X-ray. At that point a bottle of water was confiscated that I'd bought after the checks at Heathrow, because it was bigger than the limit for liquids - in other words, getting back on the plane, they treat you just the same as they would people who are only just joining the flight.

[dilanium]

Yes, that was okay when you could have a personal item, but like I said, last year when we travelled, that was out.

Why couldn't you have a personal item? it still states on the Air NZ website that you may have one personal item along with your carry-on.

I've never heard of not being allowed to carry my (giant black-hole of a) purse along with my carry-on.

[JandM]

All sorts of things are different when you're travelling from/via the US, Liz. Have a look at the Air NZ British site, and you'll see the variations for when you're going LHR to AKL, either via LAX or HK. It's apparently on account of Americans being more exigent passengers, they get a better weight allowance etc.:D

(I can tell you and I were separated at birth. I have a giant black hole of a handbag, too!)

[Mels]

Sorry J but I'm being dense here. You mean that you DO get a personal item when you go via LAX, but not when you go via Hong Kong?

We are most likely going via LAX so just wanted to make sure I can carry a handbag (Mary Poppins style :yes) as well as a holdall.

Mels

[JandM]

I'm guessing you can maybe have one when going via LAX because of what Liz (Dilanium) says, and she's going out from the US. Definitely the weight allowances are different. I will now go and see what I can find out from Air NZ...

[JandM]

http://www.airnewzealand.co.uk/before-you-fly/travel-support/important-customer-info/summary-of-security-requirements.htm

No, unfortunately it's now general - if you're going out from the UK, you only get ONE piece of carry-on luggage if you're in economy, whichever way you're going. (Liz, it looks as though this could affect you too, going into NZ - not sure, so better check.) People in Premium Economy and business class can have two items, though.

As I've said on another thread somewhere, when we travelled last year and I couldn't fit my handbag into my carry-on, I carried various things from it in a bum-bag that I wore on my front under my coat, thinking I'd call it a body-belt if challenged, but nobody turned a hair. I had to take it and my coat off and pass them through X-ray in the little trays. And if you choose your coat well, you can get quite a few things in the pockets.

[dilanium]

http://www.airnewzealand.com/before-you-fly/baggage/cabin-baggage.htm

States:

In addition to your allowance, you may also carry on board personal items such as an overcoat, handbag, walking stick, camera or slimline laptop. As a safety precaution, all cabin baggage must be able to fit in the overhead lockers or under the seat in front of you.


That is the USA site. Though everything we take on the plane may be searched the same as with a domestic US flight.

[kanatakiwi]

I believe (and it was also my personal experience last october in London) that it is in Heathrow where the one carry on item rule is strictly applied. I saw a young woman in tears who had flown from Canada , was on her way to Italy, with a carryon and a laptop, and at Heathrow, where she was only transitting through the airport, they still made her go through security again, and refused to let her back on the plane until she checked her laptop! She was devastated and quite worried she would never see her laptop when she got to Rome.

In my experience, Air NZ is more understanding , but my philosphy is this:
1. There is a rule :(
2. There are people who have every right to enforce it, although they may not :confused:
3. Life is too sweet to put yourself through all that stress of wondering if they will enforce that rule when you reach the front of the line. :yes
4. Obey the rule, make things easy on yourself. :nice1

Not to mention how annoying it is for all the other passengers who have followed the rules, to stand and wait while someone who thinks rules shouldn't apply to them, argues with the check in agent or the security staff, or repacks their packs, or muddles around trying to figure out how to pay for excess baggage.

Also I would be very wary about the idea that the bags can be any weight as long as they add up to 100 pounds. We just booked tickets to Canada on Air NZ and our ticket says the following:

Travelling to, from or through the United States, Canada and/or the United Kingdom:
Your checked-in baggage allowance is based on the number of pieces of baggage. You are allowed two pieces of baggage per person, neither of which may exceed total dimensions (width + height + length) of 158cm. Within this size allowance, neither piece may exceed 23kg in weight when travelling Economy and Premium Economy class or 32kg for business class

Economy Class customers may take one piece of cabin baggage with a maximum weight of 7kg (15lbs) and maximum total dimensions (length + width + height) of 115cm (45").
.

I was told this maximum weight of each bag rule came about because too many baggage handlers were injuring their backs with the heavy bags.

[dilanium]

All of our checked bags are the correct weight. Though we have a lot, and we will be paying excess baggage fees.

I'm just concerned that my husband's carry on bag will be overweight.

[jdbob]

I had Air NZ at Auckland weigh my briefcase once. It was overweight slightly but I let them know it had a laptop inside and there was no problem.

Laptops are considered a "personal item" so if they gave me trouble I could have just removed the laptop temporarily from the briefcase.

[KerryS]

I flew from LHR to Auckland, via LAX in May, and I had 2 pieces of hand luggage. My laptop bag and my carry on bag. I think the rules regarding only one piece were relaxed earlier this year, together with the not having to take your laptop out of its bag rule.

[dilanium]

Nope I still get to have my laptop taken out of the bag. And have all my electronics examined.

etc. yay!

[JandM]

Oh, it's crazy. I wish all these people would a) keep their websites RIGHT up to date, and b) keep their chalkface workforce right up to date, too.