Trouble with excess baggage
Due to the financial crisis and I guess also due to general greed many airlines have started to charge additional fees for excess baggage – especially for sports equipment like golf bags, ski- or diving gear. This can become quite costly. So check it out in advance! Almost every airline posts its overweight baggage policy on the internet. But knowing the rules won’t necessarily keep you from getting in trouble. I believe that the staffs of many airlines are confused about the ever-changing rules.
For example we recently went with Continental Airlines (IMHO a good example for lots of confusion) from the US to Mexico. On the first leg we were charged 25 Dollars for our excess baggage. On the way back they wanted to charge us 100 Dollars. I mentioned that it actually was sports equipment, which was a mistake. Now the fee went up to 150 Dollars. Finally we settled after a long and sometimes heated discussion for 100 Dollars. Does this sound familiar to you? The lesson to be learned: Sometimes it is better not to mention sports equipment; sometimes it is exactly the other way round. And negotiation is never a bad idea. Just keep in mind that there are other people in line. I personally try to make it quick whenever the lines are too long. Problem is that after an extra long wait one is more prone to blowing steam off anyway.
So try to downsize your luggage in the first place. Then get an idea about the policy of the airline of your choice. You’ll also find overviews plus some ideas how to avoid excess baggage in some travel communities like for example Planet Vacation Club - planetVC.com. planetVC by the way also features the WIRLLs: This stands for “What it really looks like” and is a quite interesting idea. Members place their not –so-good-travel experiences there. The beach doesn’t look at all like it did in the pictures of the travel agencies? The quiet remote area is in fact well connected – through a major highway? The “original village” is in fact a disappointing tourist-trap? Through the WIRLLs members help each other to avoid such annoying traps.
See this interesting travel community for yourself, which is also available in german as a reisecommunity.
The author Spencer Bickson is a freelancer writer with german roots, who mostly writes about web 2.0 topics, preferably on travel communities reisecommunity. To get into the topic visit planet vacation club reise community and search or google for other websites and articles dealing with travel communities. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-tips-articles/trouble-with-excess-baggage-1352871.html
