Your 52-hour web hunt may have resulted in a bargain flight deal, but the money you saved will fly straight back out the window if you turn up with luggage that exceeds the ever-shrinking baggage allowance.
The days of bringing your dumbbells away with you on a weekend to Liverpool are long gone – airlines are putting the squeeze on the amount of weight you can lob onto the conveyor belt. Some airlines, like Ryanair, levy a fee for checking a bag of any weight. O’Leary’s boys will start by hitting you with a €15 charge for any luggage that weighs less than 15kg, although this rises to €20 during their ‘peak’ season in July/August.
And that’s per one way flight. A second bag with 15kg allowance is another €35 or €40 at peak. Got a tennis racket or saxophone? Musical instruments and sports equipment carry a €40 charge. Have a baby in tow? Booster chairs or carry cots are charged at €10. And that’s not even the worst of it – if your bag weighs more than your pre-paid allowance, you could be looking at as much as €20 per extra kilo.
It’s understandable principal – those who have more weight are responsible for taking up more plane space and for consuming more jet fuel. That said, it would be fairer if people and their baggage were weighed and the charge was based on both. That way, fat people would be hit for six while the slimmer among us could drag bring our bowling ball collection to Spain if we saw fit. In the meantime though, what is to be done about this skyway robbery?
Well, the best way to prevent these cowboys for slapping you with a charge for extra baggage weight is to come prepared – know what your case of Hawaiian shirts, peach-smuggler Speedos and pungent aftershaves clocks in at ahead of time. This is easy to establish before you head off – just lob your bag onto the bathroom scales – but it’s that bit harder when you’re abroad. Unless you want to bring the scales with you. Which defeats the purpose somewhat.
Scales
Happily, there is a better alternative – portable digital scales. You can pick these bad boys up in most airports, in Argos and online through a number of retailers including www.gadgetireland.com. They have a handy little number, which will fit in your pocket, for €24.95. If you’re holiday isn’t complete until you’ve loaded up with two-litre bottles of local rice whiskey and large, ornately carved wooden ornaments then a scales will save you a small fortune in overweight charges.
Lightweight luggage
A lot of the weight travelers cart around the place is actually attributable to their choice of luggage. However, a range of different light-weight travel luggage lines are standing by, ready to chisel vital kilos off your check in bags. One such brand is the UK-based Flylite – take a look at their ‘Medium Foldaway Wheeled Cabin Holdall’. It has a packing capacity of around 34 litres and weighs less than 1.4kgs. Better still, all Flylite backs come with a two-year guarantee.
Toiletries
Shoe bomber Richard Reid has a lot to answer for – and not just over the whole trying-to-blow-up-an-airliner thing. It was as a direct result of his foolish trans-Atlantic hi jinks that the liquid ban in carry-on luggage came into effect. Now, all our heavy liquid toiletries have to be crammed into our check-in luggage, barring those that come in under 100ml. Toiletries now take up a massive chunk of our check-in weight and have probably resulted in millions of overweight charges. Thanks Richard.
Happily, there are ways of minimising the weight of your toiletries. A good place to start is by ditching that foot-long, baton-like can of shaving gel. These are needlessly big and liable to leave your bag looking like the inside of a marshmallow if you pack too tight. Instead, go for a bottle of Total Shaving Solution – a bottle will fit in the palm of your hand.
Also, avoid shoving the contents of your bathroom into your toiletries bag. Go out and buy a travel-sized shampoo, shower gel and toothpaste – the money you spend will be saved several times over when you come in bang on 15kg. If it’s a short trip, pack them away when you get home and dig them out again next time around.
