bluepeterno1,

Thomas Cook normally mention the strict rules travelling from the airport to your resort after you've arrived as well. A nice welcome to Turkey gesture! You can't say they don't forwarn you.

Darren

Therefore Darren, it's not consistent, either here, or in Turkey. You say Thomas Cook charge both here and in Turkey. But I flew with Thompson/First Choice to Dalaman last month. The person in front of me checking in at Stansted just had a 'heavy' sticker put on their case, so again, lack of consistency.
As I said, you either pay or you don't, so to all the British airlines, and the check in staff in Turkey, which one is it?
As rwb46 said, no one even bothered looking at the weight of his cases.
And why do the Turkish check in staff want overweight payments in cash, Sterling?

The transfer rep is telling you now on the way to the airport that all excess baggage will be charged at £8 per kg. But hey if thats the rules so be it .

Well, I was charged £7 per kg at Dalaman 3 weeks ago. So, not only is there inconsistencies with various airlines/check in staff, the charges are different as well.

intervoice,

I'm not disagreeing with you, that's just the way it is. The fact another person had a 'heavy' sticker on may be for several reasons, and TOM/FCA have different luggage restrictions than other airlines. For example TOM allow up to 30kg of hold luggage in some instances. Any suitcase over 23kg will be indicated 'heavy' with a sticker for health and safety reasons. It's the airlines that make the rules. The airport and handling agents apply those rules on behalf of the airline. It may seem like the weights of the cases aren't being looked at, but trust me they are!! Cases aren't just weighted for checking your allowance, it's for knowing the exact weight of the luggage onboard the aircraft and therefore the loading, balance and fuel requirement for the flight. It's all recorded electronically on the screen / load software. Even though it may not look like the agent is reading the scale, it's on their screen! They probably want paymen in sterling for several reasons. It's a UK airline, many holidaymakers spent their local currency before going to the airport so tend not to have much local currency left and then there's the exchange rate. Each airline sets there own excess baggage charge. Some airlines are charging as much as £35 per kg!

Darren

Darren, thanks for clarifying these issues.
£35 per kg Blimey!

I really dont get some of these arguments regarding all Airlines to adopt the same tactics when charging customers for excess baggage, All Airlines are different as they are different company's from different country's with their own rules, It's like this go with TC/FC/TUI/ then you most likely will get the charge applied, Go with Onur air and you most likely wont get that charge, So change your carrier to avoid this charge.

rwb46

On our return journey this year in July, Onur were definately charging people in the next queue at Dalaman. One woman was protesting strongly but still had to pay.

rwb46 wrote:

I really dont get some of these arguments regarding all Airlines to adopt the same tactics when charging customers for excess baggage, All Airlines are different as they are different company's from different country's with their own rules, It's like this go with TC/FC/TUI/ then you most likely will get the charge applied, Go with Onur air and you most likely wont get that charge, So change your carrier to avoid this charge.

morh, I didnt actually say Onur air wouldnt charge also read above again

I was quite simply mentioning the situation at Dalaman when we were there!!!!

Returned from Dalaman this morning. Both cases were half a kg over. Asked if we had hand luggage, which we had ,and were charged £8 for the kg over our limit.

Wilson

Wilson, who was your carrier please?

I agree that if your over weight then you have to pay for it, BUT maybe Thomas Cook should get it right, I travelled with friends who hadn't paid for extra luggage and on their tickets it had 20kgs not 15kgs, I was 21kgs in both cases and had to pay £16 for both, so they got 5kgs each free and I paid £16 for 2kgs. I had also paid for the extra luggage to up it to 20kg's

fin54 wrote:

I agree that if your over weight then you have to pay for it, BUT maybe Thomas Cook should get it right, I travelled with friends who hadn't paid for extra luggage and on their tickets it had 20kgs not 15kgs,

But were they Thomas Cook customers? Some of their sister tour operators such as Direct Holidays give a standard allowance of 20kg rather than 15kg for those who book through Thomas Cook directly.

rwb46 wrote:

Wilson, who was your carrier please?

Thomas Cook no boubt!! They seem to be the strictest of the charter operators.

Darren

rwb46

We flew with Thomas Cook. I noted however that the ground handling company were called Celebi and it was their staff on the desks and also at the departure lounge so not sure if it's their policy to make the charges. We were exactly the same weight on the way out and this was ignored at Glasgow.

Wilson

Wilson McMillan wrote:

Celebi and it was their staff on the desks and also at the departure lounge so not sure if it's their policy to make the charges

They are the main ground handling agents in Turkey and are only implimenting Thomas Cooks work instruction, they don't make the rules or the charges.

Darren

In answer to both questions, yes they were Thomas Cook Customers, and if you look at the receipt you get when you pay for overweight it has Thomas Cook on the top of it so its Thomas Cook who charge you as far as I'm concerned

Darren/fin

Just checked and the receipt is clearly issued by Thomas Cook no doubt what so ever.

Wilson

Wonder if they are going to start weighing passengers next that would be an interesting one

fin54 wrote:

Wonder if they are going to start weighing passengers next that would be an interesting one

They take an average weight per passenger for the load sheets. It's currently 100kg per passenger (80kg + 20kg luggage, the luggage component being weighted accurately for loading / balance). Going a little off topic, passengers are in some cases weighed on smaller aircraft and particularly helicopters (smaller types) where the maximum take off weight (MTOW) is marginal. There was a case in America where the average weight of a passenger was out of date and the aircraft ended up being overloaded and unbalanace resulting in tragic consequences for all. That was an Air Midwest Beech 190D if my memory serves me. In that case, the average passenger weight wasn't accurate enough and the weight calculations therefore out. The aircraft was found to be over-weight and tail heavy resulting in loss of flight control. Just shows how critical weight and balance is with flight.

Darren