[No Name]

Hi everyone, i have booked a reward flight with Thai airways in april to Bangkok from Sweden and i wanted to purchase an extra luggage so that i could check in 2 suitcases. To my big surprise they want 47 US dollar per kilo, som my 20 extra kilo would cost 940Us dollars??? This is absurd and i wonder why they started with this policy, it´s not as if they are a finacial succes nowadays? Anyone know why they started with this silly extra cost??

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anyonebutBAirways

[cwoodward]

DHL ?

[No Name]

No i have not check, suppose to expansive but will check thanx for suggestion

[anyonebutBAirways]

nothìng to do with Thai having this “policy” most airlines with the KG concept use this method for excess baggage, Turkish, Qatar, Emirates, Qantas etc etc its normal practice from europe to certain destinations, so its nothing new, if your frequent flyer then you should already know that

[No Name]

That´s not correct, when travel with Finnair a few weeks ago to China i payed only 75 euro for 20 kilos extra, but used to be 50 euro pre covid

[anyonebutBAirways]

erm, that was to china where the oiece concept is used by most airlines, your reward flight is to thailand so again its NOT the same go figure 🤣

[luckyone]

I’ve flown TG on redemption awards from MEL-BKK-KUL precovid and I get their usual 30kgs plus additional 20kg on ROP & Star Alliance Gold unless they’ve changed their redemption tickets to the lowest booking class which only 20kgs are allowed. Can’t quite remember how much I paid years ago when my luggage was over by 10kgs in a hurry on a paid ticket just to KUL-BKK which I paid at the airport in AUD. I would think paying cash would be cheaper than buying miles since 1k miles cost USD35 up to a max of 30k miles. I can’t imagine anyone buying miles unless you’re topping up to fly 1st or biz class. With their rehabilitation, it’s been rather restrictive and I’m thinking how to use my 12.5k miles expiring 31Mar and another 5k miles 30Jun since I’m using their free round trip Gold upgrade travelling in 10days time.

I guess I’ll call their BKK office to ask how much it costs to pay for overweight luggage from Sweden to BKK in cash at the airport. Their overseas office is super under staffed in MEL so it’s much easier for me to just call BKK.

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No Name

[cwoodward]

Excess baggage fees are in place as a deterrent to those intending to turn up with 150kg of baggage.
They normally bare little or no relationship to the cost of transporting the excess baggage.

Prior to Covid (and perhaps still -I haven’t looked) most larger airports had a private baggage transportation provider who would move excess baggage at perhaps a quarter of the cost of the airline rate – the penalty being that the bags often arrived a couple of days after the flight arrival.

[luckyone]

I can’t imagine anyone turning up with 150kgs. 😂 Do note they do have a 4 piece limit per ticket (though I’m on C class) and max per piece is 32kg on all airlines. Anything over 26kg(?) Thai would generally put a heavy tag on it depending on which airport you’re departing.

With many airlines now only giving a standard free 20kgs on a cheap fare I certainly doubt luggage weight is an issue. Going back to the old 20kgs around 35yrs+ ago(?)..

[cwoodward]

luckyone -Possibly you don’t fly around Asia. If the excess was not set at I high level 150K defiantly not be the limit that paxs expected to check-in.
Now the USA is another story as they would expect the 150k to be accommodated as carry- on !

[luckyone]

cwoodward, I have surprisingly traveled to literally all countries in SEAsia and AP way back up to 25years ago when some countries weren’t even tourist friendly. I’ve been to many rural provinces and places within Thailand and India where only guesthouses exist. No Internet booking and I’m talking 2017. Walk in, have a look at the rooms and just pay cash. Awfully cheap in northern part of Thailand but in rural India, beware that water and electricity gets cut to off!

I also meant to say as per my earlier post with the reduction from standard 30kgs to 20kgs, weight WILL be an issue for many passengers but like all airlines they need to make money. Often my flights from BKK back to MEL on TG, putting bag into bag since I refuse to carry cabin luggage, my checkin is often around the 22kg mark even though I have 60kgs. I must admit it helps either staying in a hotel suite with a washer/dryer or an Aparthotel since I also refuse to carry any dirty clothes back to MEL. Unfortunately the lounges in suvarnabhumi has temporarily closed their showers and spa lounge for C and F class. Thai smile does drop economy seats to only 20kgs from BKK but I worked out it was cheaper to buy their premium economy ticket just to bump up my kgs. With a few kgs and no cabin bag, precovid they were ok with it since knew I had Star Alliance Gold. 2-3kgs I don’t think they make a big fuss. To Northern America, I don’t go on long trips so the piece concept seems ok.

[cwoodward]

My remarks were only re some passengers expectation of what can be carried within the ticket cost.
I have so often seen inexperienced paxs particularly at smaller more rural airports around Asia arrive with mountains of luggage and a live chicken or 2. India used to be a nightmare as they would argue there case for hours if given the chance – its better these days.
Papua New Guinea is another story as still many have not travelled by air before and expect sometimes to bring Grandma along also on the same ticket.

[luckyone]

cwoodward, yes I do agree I’ve seen some passengers with a trolley load of luggage queuing in economy but unsure how many passengers are travelling since I am often on C or F class however TG is currently only operating F class to SYD, LHR and CPH. I agree rural India was a nightmare >15years ago. There was literally no order or queue. I’m quite sure things have changed a lot over the years and with Air India ordering a whole new fleet of planes.

Correction. Note Suvarnabhumi ROP lounge shower facilities are available even though their website doesn’t state it’s available.

[Author]

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