Health and safety.

Last year at Larnaca the couple in front had 2 cases. Each weighed in at 30kg. Not only did they get stung for excess baggage (10 Euros per kg) allowance was 20kg on their tickets but they then had a problem of being the extra 20kg.

Back in 1991 youngest went to work in Munich and his case weighed in at 43kg. They actually let him take it without charging. Cost him on the way back though 3 months later.

fwh

Its the airport rules and regulations , no one bag can be over 23 kgs for health and safety reasons in respect of baggage handlers lifting them !

But last year when we flew with T Cook our suitcases weighed 28 kilos each - and they are allowing a max weight of 32 kilos this year so surely it is the same baggage handlers who follow the same health and safety regulations so why the difference?

I think it may have changed of this year , you are entitled to take more ie pay extra for an additional 5 kgs but you would have to split it ie 2 x 12 .5 for example.

Apparently this is the rule now at Manchester airport , I am assuming it is the same at other airports ?

H&S Regulations don't set down any limit - they just say the employer has to have a safe system of working. Baggage handlers are normally employed by an agent company and there can be several at big airports. Each company can have it's own system and it's nothing to do with the airport (unless they own a company!). Theoretically the limit could be whatever the floor of the aircraft can take as long as the equipment to load it is available but equipment costs money so the limit will be based on manual handling.

The 32kg limit is a long established standard for one man lifting but it would be assumed that there would be a varied mix of loads so the handlers would not be lifting a lot of 32kg bags. This would work for a scheduled airline with a mix of passenger types travelling for different reasons and durations (look at an easyjet flight, some people have a full load, some are hand baggage only and I'm in the middle with 12kg). With a holiday charter company everyone is going on holiday and usually for at least a week, often 2, so they all want to take a lot - there is no varied mix. So the calculation for how much a handler lifts in a shift goes out of the window!

There is also the completely different issue of fuel. An BA or easyjet flight may have an avergage baggage load of 15kg per passenger even though the passengers have quite a high allowance. A holiday charter flight may have an average 20kg because everyone is taking a full case, even though the top limit is less. Weight = fuel = cost so they keep the allowance down, but they never say they do something to save money so they blame H&S because few people understand the rules and it's fashionable to mock it - especially when it's someone else H&S you're dealing with.

Its the airport rules and regulations , no one bag can be over 23 kgs for health and safety reasons in respect of baggage handlers lifting them

It's 32kg isn't it? I know we've paid for 2 suitcases flying with Easyjet and becos' there's 5 of us we've been told the combined weight of BOTH suitcases must not exceed 64kg which is 32kg each

yes the maximum weight for any case with thomas Cook must not exceed 32kgs. Details here

and the maximum with Thomsons is 23kg. With Jet2 it is 25kg. It is probably due to different handling agents.

Ahhhhh....more likely with Thomsons, Jet 2 etc is that they want to get more money out of you with excess baggage!!!!!

Thomsons you can check extra bags at no extra charge as long as you don't go over your luggage allowance, the same as Thos Cook. Jet2 are a low cost carrier and charge per bag like most lc airlines.

Thanks for the replies folks! Seems that it must be down to the tour operators' handling agents. It was great last year only taking 2 cases for the 4 of us - this year with TUI it will have to be 3. Oh well, out come the luggage scales again!!

That was one of my issues with Thomson this year. Im normally pretty good at travelling within the correct weight allowances (travelling with a 15kg allowance each has really taught me to pack properly and well) but having to make sure that all my cases were under 23kg was really hard and sent me into panic mode at the airport at both ends. Fortunately, both times the larger case was under the maximum limit (19kg going out and 21.5kg coming home). Even though I had 60kgs this year (for three of us) I still managed to keep my limit under 45kg so had lots of room for bringing junk back Last year, Thomas Cook allowed the case to be a maximum weight of 32kg.

we booked with direct holidays and are flying on a thomas cook plane.

we got 20kg allowance through direct holidays, but if we had booked through thomas cook they were only giving us 15kg!!

same holiday, same plane, different company but same baggage handlers, how can 1 give you 15kg, but another give you 20kg

hi sarahste......was the price the same....maybe the other 5kgs had already been added by direct in the main price....tweetie

We've just flown to the Algarve with Jet2 and it was 22kgs with 10kgs hand luggage allowance.

Sarah

you've almost answered your own question, if you rule out the baggage handlers (since, as you say, they must be the same) then it leaves you with the second reason - money!!!

Maximum suitcase weight and baggage allowance are two different things.

For all flights leaving or arriving in the UK the maximum allowed suitcase weight is 32kg. This applies in some other countries aswell (Dubai is one that comes to mind) though I don't think the rule applies globally.

Airlines can, however, set their own baggage allowance (this just refers to the allowance the airline will allow you to check for free / included in ticket price)- which as above posts show varies a lot from airline to airline, and also with the same airline, depending on the route. A typical allowance for a scheduled airline would be 20kg. Anything over this and up to 32kg would have excess baggage charges applied. Over 32kg and the case would have to be repacked to remove weight, or would have to be checked as cargo.

Long haul allowances tend to be more generous. So, say the allowance is 30kg - this could usually (airline dependent!) go in one case, as it is within the 32kg limit. When the allowance is more generous, it can get more complicated.

Eg - I recently flew long haul with Iberia and my free allowance was 46kg. This was split into 2 pieces at 23kg each. I had 28kg (6 week trip!). If I had put this all in one case I would have been charged 7kg excess, despite it being within maximum weight and well under my total limit. However, split across 2 cases, I had no extra charges!

Sometimes it really does seem like all this is designed to deliberately confuse!

I don't think it's complicated. Each airline sets it's own baggage allowance (weight, and size if it's hand luggage) and each airline sets their own maximum weight of any one item of luggage (supposedly for health and safety for baggage handlers). We are mainly discussing charter airlines and their allowances tend to err on the less generous side.
Whether the maximum weight allowed in or out of the UK is 32 kgs is irrelevant. Just follow the rules set down by the individual airline.

I agree that it's just simplest to check the allowance of the airline you're flying with and stick to it. However, since many people on this forum (though I realise not all) will be flying in and out of the UK, I don't see how it's irrelevant that the max case allowance is 32kg. For anyone needing excess luggage this would be applicable regardless of the airline. Neither scheduled nor chartered can set a liimit above this.