Travel Tip: What I learned on our honeymoon

I’m just posting this because I hope it helps someone and possibly saves them some money becuase I was sure clueless about this, and I used to be a frequent traveler/flyer…

I knew that some airlines started to charge if your bag weighed over a certain amount, and being a chronic overpacker, I was never nabbed with this, and I used to fly a lot in college and after. Anyway, on the way out at JFK Airport my bag was over the weight limit. So we had to pay $25.

On the way back I knew my bag would be over again, so I wanted to make sure DH’s bag wasn’t over, so we put more stuff in my bag (it was a big bag) Well, we get to the airport and my bag wasn’t just over, it was over over, and they wanted to charge us more than $100!!! So the lady suggested that we spread out the stuff in the bags… so they we are in the middle of Cancun airport, with a line out the door, (people were nearly missing flights) and the lady is having us open our bags to redistribute the weight. So here is the big tip: apparently, they would rather you check in TWO bags at 50lbs each, then ONE bag at 100 lbs …

this makes no sense to me because isn’t having two bags on the flight more work for them in the long run?? So I guess buying the super big bag that was in our luggage set was a waste of money…. I hope this helps someone… by the way, did you know they now charge for snack packs… you get only a drink and not even peanuts!

isnt that ironic that flights are more expensive and you dont get peanuts on most flights? When i was coming back from florida last year, i nearly died when the woman next to me bought a snack pack, opened it, picked through it, decided she didnt like it and tried to return it! I honestly dont know why she even bought one, she had half a 7-11 in her carry on bag I always get stuck next to the worlds most annoying person on a plane

ps, thanks for the baggage tip

LOLOLOL....... We had this happen TODAY on our way home from the Dominican Republic. They didn't care what we did with it, even if we carried it on, but his bag had to be lightened of the load (he bought rum and coffee while there) So I had to wind up putting some of his stuff in my bag and carrying the rum and coffe in my pocket book!!!!!!

I am so glad this happened to you too. (Well, I don't mean that I'm glad it happend to you, but I thought it was just us) On our way out of JFK, our baggage was fine. Leaving St. Lucia suddenly we had to pay for a bag because it was overweight. Mind you, this bag was packed with the exact same stuff as when we went down. Our souvenirs were in another piece of luggage.

And what is up with the no pretzels on a 3 hour flight?!?! When did that change?

WOW... I had no idea...

We're going on a Globus tour to Italy in a WEEK.... they stated that we can only have 1 bag, no more than 50 lbs in the info we received. When I called the agent, they said she never heard about any penalties, etc. so I sort of figured I would ignore it. I didn't realize there were limits like these on the Airline.

Thanks for the post - Very Helpful!

Unfortunatelly, this is not NEW news. The weight requirement has always been there but for years the airlines did not 'enforce' them.

I guess they are now. Thank you for letting us know!

That really su cks! I am sorry they made you go through that crap.
They don't like people carrying on since that is the number one reason planes leave late. People putting away their carry on bags. They WANT people to check in to avoid on plane hassle.
Grrrrr...I am planning a carry on too. I hope they don't hassle me too.

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Posted by cjb88

I’m just posting this because I hope it helps someone and possibly saves them some money becuase I was sure clueless about this, and I used to be a frequent traveler/flyer…

I knew that some airlines started to charge if your bag weighed over a certain amount, and being a chronic overpacker, I was never nabbed with this, and I used to fly a lot in college and after. Anyway, on the way out at JFK Airport my bag was over the weight limit. So we had to pay $25.

On the way back I knew my bag would be over again, so I wanted to make sure DH’s bag wasn’t over, so we put more stuff in my bag (it was a big bag) Well, we get to the airport and my bag wasn’t just over, it was over over, and they wanted to charge us more than $100!!! So the lady suggested that we spread out the stuff in the bags… so they we are in the middle of Cancun airport, with a line out the door, (people were nearly missing flights) and the lady is having us open our bags to redistribute the weight. So here is the big tip: apparently, they would rather you check in TWO bags at 50lbs each, then ONE bag at 100 lbs …

this makes no sense to me because isn’t having two bags on the flight more work for them in the long run?? So I guess buying the super big bag that was in our luggage set was a waste of money…. I hope this helps someone… by the way, did you know they now charge for snack packs… you get only a drink and not even peanuts!

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We just came back from a cruise and had the SAME thing happen to us!! We had to open our bags at the check in counter..so embarassing! And the snack packs - $4.00 each - ridiculous. I guess we are lucky that they still serve us beverages for free

Same thing happened to us in Australia on Qantas. They're so strict that the conveyor belt won't run if the bag is too heavy. Qantas is awesome and gave us a free (albiet crappy) bag to put our extra stuff in.

We bought a carry on bag in Australia after that and we checked more bags on the way home. Even after that, one of the bags was still too heavy for American on our last leg from LA - JFK. The counter guy said that for a domestic flight the limit was xlbs. I told him that we were on our way back from Australia and proved it with our old boarding passes and he let us go w/out the extra charge.

That happened to us on our way home from Aruba

Leaving JFK, our bag was fine. When we went to leave they said it was 10 pounds over. I said How? its the same stuff we had going there....thankfully the airport was empty ...we opened it up and threw out any extraneous stuff like magazines and books I read so lessen the weight

When I go back, I will be using my smaller suitcase and packing lighter. I'll just wash the clothes while Im there and re-wear them


The snack packs I knew about since we travel about 2x a year

Now though, they charge for earphones, pillows, and blankets too!

This happened to me when I came back from Vegas - in NY my suitcase was fine - coming back they told me I had to pay $50 because it was over the limit - I had exactly what I came with in it - I didn't buy anything there...I was so mad - they wanted me to buy another bag and put things in there to even out the weight - I looked at them like they were nuts...it made NO sense...wouldn't adding another bag be more than the 5lbs that my bag is over??? I ended up paying - I was not happy...

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Posted by scappy123

isnt that ironic that flights are more expensive and you dont get peanuts on most flights? When i was coming back from florida last year, i nearly died when the woman next to me bought a snack pack, opened it, picked through it, decided she didnt like it and tried to return it! I honestly dont know why she even bought one, she had half a 7-11 in her carry on bag I always get stuck next to the worlds most annoying person on a plane

ps, thanks for the baggage tip

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LOL 2 funny

Thanks for the tip! I can already see myself standing on my scale at home with my suitcase in hand the morning of our honeymoon.

we had the same thing happen to us last year when we were travelling to Hawaii... we also had only one suitcase and it was a little over 60lbs, so of course they charged us $25.00... I know it suuucks

i had that happen to me when i was moving back from Germany after a year. I knew I had extra stuff so I called up the airline and they told me the price. it was 120 Euro, but I had a whole year of stuff that i accumulated in that extra bag. it wasnt stuff i could throw out.

i had no problems when i went to Australia (qantas) and when i came back a year later. but when FH was here i sent him back with stuff that i got from my shower, b/c we will be living in Australia after the wedding. they said it was 5 pounds over, but they were nice and let us go. that was air tahiti.

i think i may have gotten away a few times when i go b/c i always say that i am moving there. my bags are usually a few pounds over.

anyway sorry this happened to you. check the weight limits with the airline before you go.