[Globetrotter]

A small quandary but i think best we err on the side of caution…..me & Mrs GT are in the midst of a long haul break, outbound club world and back World traveller plus. Prior to departure i printed out and screen shotted the BA itinerary which stated 2 x 32kg hold luggage each, each way – and whilst I fully appreciate World Traveller plus is officially 2 x 23kg, I made the assumption that because we were outbound Club World we somehow had the same luggage allowance for the round trip. We both checked the itinerary repeatedly before leaving UK to ensure it 2 x 32kg each way, each. Now as we prepare to pack up for the return, we find that on my BA Account (bronze) which was used for the reservation, it is now stating 2 x 23kg. But on Mrs GT (blue), the very same reservation still states 2 x 32kg. So, we can relatively easily dump a load of stuff to enable us to spread the remaining total load between the hold and cabin baggage (alas, we don’t travel light!) to fall within the lesser allowance – as I suspect that at check-in BA will likely be intransigent and suggest that I have photoshopped the documents and the Mrs GT online confirmation is irrelevant as the booking was made in my name….anyone else had similar experiences or ideas on this – i am not willing to set us up for an excess luggage fee nor spend huge amounts of money on a call to Bronze support in UK….

[MartynSinclair]

@GT – I am on my way to T5 now and if you post where you are flying back from, in case it matters, I will ask the question for you…

[capetonianm]

Safest option is to look at the e-ticket records and check what is shown there for your return segments.

You should be able to retrieve it by clicking on the 125-xxxxxxxxxx ticket numbers in the itinerary.

Otherwise I am sure Martyn will find the answer although they may not be willing to discuss your itinerary with a third party.

[Flightlevel]

Each can carry 23kgs hand luggage in a wheely, etc.if you lift it into the overhead locker and a handbag/computer bag – officially by your feet, so you should be able to re-arrange your luggage that way- ‘though not liquids over100ml (and now powder is limited too in Oz and US) in carry on luggage!

[FDOS_UK]

[quote quote=872763]A small quandary but i think best we err on the side of caution…..me & Mrs GT are in the midst of a long haul break, outbound club world and back World traveller plus. Prior to departure i printed out and screen shotted the BA itinerary which stated 2 x 32kg hold luggage each, each way – and whilst I fully appreciate World Traveller plus is officially 2 x 23kg, I made the assumption that because we were outbound Club World we somehow had the same luggage allowance for the round trip. We both checked the itinerary repeatedly before leaving UK to ensure it 2 x 32kg each way, each. Now as we prepare to pack up for the return, we find that on my BA Account (bronze) which was used for the reservation, it is now stating 2 x 23kg. But on Mrs GT (blue), the very same reservation still states 2 x 32kg. So, we can relatively easily dump a load of stuff to enable us to spread the remaining total load between the hold and cabin baggage (alas, we don’t travel light!) to fall within the lesser allowance – as I suspect that at check-in BA will likely be intransigent and suggest that I have photoshopped the documents and the Mrs GT online confirmation is irrelevant as the booking was made in my name….anyone else had similar experiences or ideas on this – i am not willing to set us up for an excess luggage fee nor spend huge amounts of money on a call to Bronze support in UK….[/quote]

From ba.com

Direct flights

If your return journey includes flights in more than one cabin, the baggage allowance for each flight will apply.

Example

If you fly from London to Cape Town in Club World, the allowance for that cabin will apply for that flight: 2 bags up to 32kg each.
If you return from Cape Town to London in World Traveller, the allowance for that cabin will apply for that flight: 1 bag up to 23kg.

You can take more bags than your allowance, which are charged per bag up to a total of 10 per person, including your allowance.

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/baggage-essentials/checked-baggage-allowances

[MartynSinclair]

As usual with BA, nothing is straight forward. This is from ‘the horses mouth’ in T5.

Previously on ‘BA Law’, outboùnd in club, back in a lower cabin, you would get the higher baggage allowance on the return. This was changed about 4 months ago and ‘BA Law’ now states your allowance is limited to the allowance for your class of travel on the day.

However, if your ticket was purchased before the rule change, BA check, in where ever you are, should honour the old rules..

Status based on bronze. Hope this helps..

[Ahmad]

There are so many differing rules being applied to various routes for the same class of service that it is very difficult to remain upto date. Airlines sometimes allow a more liberal allowance for promotional tickets bought from certain stations. I have come across higher weight allowances for promotional economy fares than even club fares for the same flight. To complicate matters airlines keep changing their rules and apply different rules for the very same flight if tickets are purchased before a certain date.

Capetonianm is right that the safest way is to check the weight/piece allowance for that particular sector on the eticket itself. I usually keep a print of my eticket with me on every journey (for various other reasons). Since this is a contractually binding document it will be next to impossible for the airline to avoid allowing you the mentioned allowance. If they do insist on a lower/lesser allowance, you will have a case for damages.

[christopheL]

I may be wrong but IMHO “rules are rules” when you are flying BA. Nothing may let a BA staff goes outside of the rules.

BA Baggage allowance rules are very clear : 2 x 23 kg when flying premium economy (long haul only) and 2 x 32 kg in business (both long haul and short haul).

On ba.com rules are very straight forward :

Direct flights
If your return journey includes flights in more than one cabin, the baggage allowance for each flight will apply.
Example
•If you fly from London to Cape Town in Club World, the allowance for that cabin will apply for that flight: 2 bags up to 32kg each.
•If you return from Cape Town to London in World Traveller, the allowance for that cabin will apply for that flight: 1 bag up to 23kg.

This means that your checked baggage allowance is related to the class you are actually flying, whatever class you flew on your ourbound flight.

ba.com is very clear and simple and there is no need to ask the question to a staff member.

Even if Globetrotter has been flyong from London to another BA destination than CPT and in now flyong back from this another destination to London, his baggage allowance for his inbound flight will be 2 x 23 kg.

BA have a lot of IT failures but BA rules are BA rules whatever BA IT failures are.

[christopheL]

BA is not the only company to have IT failures. I tried to edit my post to change some incorrect spellings but I could not 🙂

[Globetrotter]

Many many thanks to all for your thoughts – and apologies to Martyn for not responding earlier, but we left the WiFi behind when heading out. This sector is Seychelles back to LHR. My main issue, is rules or no rules, BA Law or not – the reservation stated the 2 x 32kg on both sectors prior to leaving LHR, and changed after arrival in SEZ to 2 x23kg on my reservation, but Mrs GT BA login still states 2 x 32kg. To coin a phrase – go figure. I’m not so naive to believe that showing this on a live computer at the airport would win the day, as I agree that the current policy is stated clearly on the current website – but this reservation was made around the time that the rule changed ie circa 4 months ago, but again common sense prevails and I know I can accommodate all our return luggage in the 8 x 23kg that we still have available to us. The reality is (to me, at any rate) that BA is like so many organisations engaged in the race to bottom, regardless of consequences. I arrange my own leisure & corporate travel, and I have the choice of carrier – and fortunately am rarely constrained by choice of carrier though on this particular occasion we were, by dint of seeking a direct route from LHR. But next time, we may choose a few days in Doha or Dubai en route, thus avoiding BA altogether. And regarding checking the eTickets, I may have misunderstood the point – but on this route eTickets were not available as a security check of passports needed to be done at LHR prior to tickets being issued. Again, thanks to all for your comments and especially to Martyn for your research at LHR.

[capetonianm]

Etickets cannot be ‘not available’ since they are, as Ahmed stated, the contractual document between you and the carrier. You should be able to retrieve them either by logging into your BA account or the app (let’s be charitable here and assume that one or the other is working!) and then looking for ‘display eticket’ or something like that. I don’t have any current BA bookings or I would log in myself and tell you exactly how to do it. As far as I remember, if you look on your itinerary, the eticket numbers (125- + 10 digits) will be on there, as a clickable link. You may need to click on the 6 character PNR locator first.

On the E-ticket record it will look something like this :

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
O BA123 T 03JUL SEZ LGW 0900 TXXXXX DATE DATE 23K OK

1= stopover indicator (O=allowed X=-nostop)
2= flight number
3= booked class/subclass
4= date
5.6 = city pair
7= departure time
8 = fare basis (begins with same letter as booked subclass)
9/10 = not valid before/not valid after dates if applicable (may be blank)
11 = baggage allowance, expressed in kg or as 1PC/2PC
12 = status confirmed

The other option is to print your boarding passes and see what they show for your checked baggage allowance.

If your baggage allowance is shown as 2PC then this exercise won’t have helped much as you still won’t know how much each piece can weigh!! Off he top of my head I don’t remember what BA apply as I so rarely travel on them.

[Globetrotter]

Thanks capetonianm – I’ve found the eTicket you refer to, can’t say i’ve ever delved to that part previously. Indeed, it states 2 x 23kg for the return leg in WT+ – but not having viewed that previously I cannot say whether that has changed. All I know is that prior to leaving LHR it was showing 2 x 32kg on both legs and I printed and screen shot that for my own reference, and Mrs GT online blue account still says 2 x 32kg. The woes of BAs IT system are no concern of mine, it’s their issue to sort there are bigger problems in the world. Now…..don’t start me on Airtel Data SIMs in the Seychelles 😳

[Ahmad]

Globetrotter, am I wrong in assuming that you may be confusing the eticket with online checkin? I would be really surprised if the eticket is only issued after a passport check at the airport, especially in a case like yours where the reservation was made and (assumingly) paid for months in advance. Some airlines do not allow you access to etickets via the internet, particularly if the ticket has been purchased through a travel agent. In such cases, I just call up the airline and ask them to email it to me. On occasion the eticket has arrived without the fare calculation/price! Once or twice I have been refused and have had to visit the airline’s office to obtain my eticket. But I have made it a rule never to embark on a journey with the document in my hand.

Capetonianm has raised another aspect which I overlooked. Normally, where airlines operate on the piece rather than weight system, an eticket will only show the baggage in terms of the number of pieces, without stating the weight per piece. In such cases, one has no option (unless one has extra time on one’s hand and is of a litigious bent of mind) but to lump it. Personally, I would err on the side of caution and expect to be able to take the lesser weight and consider anything more a bonus. Such are the times we live in.

[FDOS_UK]

[quote quote=872975]Thanks capetonianm – I’ve found the eTicket you refer to, can’t say i’ve ever delved to that part previously. Indeed, it states 2 x 23kg for the return leg in WT+ – but not having viewed that previously I cannot say whether that has changed. All I know is that prior to leaving LHR it was showing 2 x 32kg on both legs and I printed and screen shot that for my own reference, and Mrs GT online blue account still says 2 x 32kg. The woes of BAs IT system are no concern of mine, it’s their issue to sort there are bigger problems in the world. Now…..don’t start me on Airtel Data SIMs in the Seychelles 😳[/quote]

Globetrotter, the allowance on the eTicket will be the determining factor as far as your contract is concerned, as capetonianm says and the erroneous indication on the website (2×32) may or may not be honoured by the check in agent – the safe option is to plan for 23kgs.

[Globetrotter]

Hi Ahmed I may be confused over the eTickets and online check in, and given that the pre dinner drinks are just being served, I am unlikely to become less confused in the hours ahead. However, a far more controversial element to this has just been flagged by a fellow guest/traveller, who I will describe as being of ‘very slight build’…. they advocate an ‘all up’ fee for the passenger & luggage KGs combined…..now there’s one that could inflame many passions 😳

1 user thanked author for this post.

Ahmad

[Author]

Posts