Four Checked Bags On Delta Will Cost You $365 In Fees
Most travelers make do with 2 normal-sized pieces of luggage or less, but if you think you might have to travel with more bags, or unusually large or heavy ones, be prepared to shell out a lot of cash for what's called an "excess baggage fee."
Michelle wrote that her boyfriend was hit with a $325 fee today:
My boyfriend just sent me this email while waiting to board a non-stop flight to Atlanta. He is a professional photographer that travels all over the country for location shoots. Therefore, he has to transport a lot of equipment. He drives to locations whenever it's feasible, which he's done most of this year. This is the first time he's used Delta since the merger.
From: Bradley
Date: May 8, 2009 1:25:13 PM EDT
To: Michele
Subject: Me idiotGuess how much the extra baggage fees were: $15 first bag, $25 second bag, $125 third bag, $200 fourth bag. The gate agent felt sorry for me so only charged me $325...
There's nothing on the site about how much 3rd & 4th bags are; still, I should have called.
B
What the? I looked up Delta's baggage policy as soon as I got his email, and confirmed that there is nothing on the Delta website about 3rd and 4th bags - nothing!! Brad had to call the client and tell him about the unexpected charges, which will total over $700 roundtrip, and needless to say the client is not happy about the additional expense.
Is this for real, or did he get scammed by a baggage checker? If it is for real, what sort of recourse does he have, if any, since Delta did not provide any up front information regarding charges for extra bags?
Unfortunately for Bradley, the information is on Delta's site, but it's separated into a page by itself under the heading "excess baggage." This is where you can find out what sort of gouging they're going to do if you exceed the norm of 2 bags—and where it says that bag 3 will cost $125, and bags 4-10 will cost $200 each.
Even if you think you're going to outsmart the airlines by just shoving everything you need to bring into two giant suitcases, be sure to check for any excess baggage information prior to showing up at the airport. Your overweight bags might trip similar excess baggage fees and leave you staggering to the plane with a drained bank account.
"Excess Baggage" [Delta]
(Photo: sun dazed)
Post a comment
Comments:
Keep in mind that "shoving everything you need to bring into two giant suitcases" isn't a viable strategy, either, since most airlines put a limit on the weight of each checked item. Unless you want to pay the overweight baggage fee for each item. :(
Can you buy your suitcase a seat on the plane? And then let that suit-case have a carry-on and two more checked bags? Might be cheaper :-)
He just needs somebody to fly with him. Perhaps a girlfriend or something.
@Underpants Gnome: Ha! That's what I was thinking, but I'm sure the TSA has some "rule" about how only suitcases with legs that can properly pass through security can board a plane. I guess if the suitcase had proper id or a passport this idea may work.
Shipping some of the luggage back might be cheaper than that fee. I'd look into that since I doubt shipping a couple bags would be more than $325.
My cousins flew up to visit last summer. One of their bags had an $80 surcharge on it for "excessive baggage". But it was legit. It seriously weighed like 200 pounds. I have no idea how people can travel like that. I have a regular sides rolling bag. Toothbrush, deoderant, some clothes, bam done.
@j-o-h-n: If he flew with his girlfriend he would most likely have an additional $365 in luggage fees.
Probably worth to buy an extra ticket for his girlfriend and get the additional 2 bags for $40. But then on the return trip, he can always ship them back with UPS to dampen the $125 and $200 charge.
Which is why I commit all my flying to one airline (in full disclosure, it is Delta). Medallions get 3 peices of luggage up to 70lbs checked for free...
@s25843: I'm at this point now as well with US Airways (I know, I know). I have so many frequent flyer miles with them from the past 4 years that it doesn't seem right for me to use another airline and pay for my baggage when I can check 2 bags for free and use the express check in line.
When we had to schedule an extended stay trip, usually in Europe, we would ship clothing by FedEx. It would be waiting at the front desk of the hotel for our arrival. I think FedEx is probably less likely to lose my luggage than the airlines. Anyway, it was fairly cheap.
Or he could've brought his girl with him and she paid $35. Free trip! We're gonna figure how to get around the baggage fees but they're already dreaming up the next generation of ultimate screw-you fees.
If you can ship your lugggage early or wait for it at home on your return, try FedEx ground or UPS ground. Insurance is about $.50 / $100. and max delivery - NY -CA is a week.
"excess baggage". lol. is this fee charged to single mothers also? how about recent divorcees?
That guy is very brave to check bags full of photography equipment.
@Jim Huggins: That was originally my point in the last paragraph, but I somehow deleted the follow-up statement during some last minute edits. I've put it back in. Thanks!
My mother recently visited us after her world cruise and was flying home first class on American (cashing in a bunch of frequent flyer miles, still cost her $300). Because her cruise was 3 months, she had 3 suitcases. Even with a first class ticket, she had to pay $100 for the third suitcase.
Airlines slapped this fee when crude oil reached $150/barrel. Crude oil is now around $50/barrel. The baggage fee remains. Is this Skyway robbery or what?
Note: Fly Southwest and avoid Delta when you can. Southwest does not charge for the first 2 bags.
Why shouldnt this bozo be charged for his excess baggage? If not you could try shipping as many things as you want. t could end up cheaper putting 100 boxes on plane with a person then paying for the FED EX shipping
@balilanai: There are a lot of "fuel surcharges" that companies seem to be trying to slip by us. I'm still fighting with Hinkley Springs over their fuel fee. Our local government had to threaten to have the police pull over every driver of a particular cab company and ticket them if they didn't drop their fuel surcharge (taxis in my town are licensed and price controlled.) Seems a lot of companies are hoping you haven't noticed that fuel prices went down.
What I love is the cruise companies - I just booked a cruise for next year (got a good deal) and their bill says "we reserve the right to impose a fuel surcharge if the price of light sweet crude exceeds blah blah blah..." I just laughed, didn't the cruise operators get seriously dinged for illegal fuel surcharges?
@Chris Walters: Southwest, which doesn't have any bag fees for the first two bags, definitely has extra fees for "overweight" bags. Because I shoved everything in to one giant bag, which weighed over 40 pounds, which incurred an "oversized" bag fee of $25. And it rises exponentially the more your bag weighs, so of course on the way back I already had my debit card out, expecting to pay a fortune.
Nowadays, it's less about the fuel costs and more about how the ban on liquids cause more people to check bags, overwhelming the baggage handling infrastructure. By making the first bag cost $15, they're trying to make you think, "Hmm, maybe I'll just buy shampoo and toothpaste when I get there and carry on instead".
@dragonfire81: I'm not sure you can buy an extra seat anymore, last year I purchased a couple of tickets to Italy and there was a chance my wife would have to cancel at the last minute. Since I paid for 2 seats I assumed that if I just flew alone, I would get the 2 seats.
Wrong!
If the person listed on my wife's ticket did not show up they would just give the seat I paid for to someone else! So I don't know how you buy a ticket for a musical instrument or a hat these days. Anyone?
And that's why I love my Medallion perks.
@microcars: Name the hat. Tell the gate people that "Tommy 'Pork Pie' McHat" has arrived. Here he is.
(Yes, I wear a Pork Pie hat.)
@b.k.: Southwest's limit is 50lbs each for two bags. I know because I just flew and the agent thought my bags were a little heavy. I told him I was SURE they were under (I weighed them at home). The two bags weighed 49.4 and 50.0 lbs. No surcharge. happiness.
@gaywolverine: UH not. I guess we should all shut up and do as we are told. Why are you on this site troll you suck.
Just remember that the more the airlines charge for the 'excess baggers' the lower prices remain for other travelers. They are just moving from the bag 'buffet' of the past to ala-carte. More bag weight equals more fuel. I think it's good to give people an incentive to travel lighter.
I have a huge issue with checked bag fees when they aren't used to improve the baggage handling in any ways. We still have people just stealing from checked baggage, and the airlines somehow aren't at fault for just plain looking the other way while their employees steal from their customers.
@microcars: The problem is likely that your wife's ticket was in her name. A past roommate of mine was a violinist who regularly bought a second seat for his violin. He just had to call whatever airline he was flying and make sure that they knew that both seats were for him and that they shouldn't be separated. I'm guessing it's similar to what a "passenger of size" needs to do.
it is unfortunate that the guy got an unpleasant surprise at the airport, but it's true, the fees are published online, and are pretty much the same for every airline (except Southwest, which has markedly lower baggage fees across the board -- but do note they *do* have baggage fees, it's not like they're some benificent charity).
This is the price you pay for using the airline as a shipping company -- they get to charge you up the wazoo for your lack of planning. But they are providing the service of shipping your bag with you on the same flight, which they have gone to lengths to make people understand is the product they're offering. No longer are they content to be people's free moving company.
But I note that the guy would not have paid much less if he'd shipped his equipment by Fedex for example. The minimum Fedex charge for shipping 49 pounds from Boston to Los Angeles is ~$130. (although they wouldn't have an exponentially increasing charge for every additional bag...)
So unless he had the foresight to ship his stuff via ground service (~$50), he did get charged approximately what it would have cost by Fedex/UPS anyway -- but as I say, it was a nasty surprise to be sure.
@downwithmonstercable: almost all the airlines have a maximum bag weight of 100 pounds. They will simply not accept anything heavier than that -- you cannot even pay them to do so. What you're trying to ship at that point is cargo.
@maxx22: If the guy can do without his equipment for the time needed to send the bag across the country, then he can come out ahead by shipping ground. But if he needs it within a few days of arrival, and it's important, then the airline is actually competitively priced with Fedex/UPS. For the $125 bag.... but not the $250 one. It is more of a toss-up if the travel is less than cross-country.
@balilanai: sorry, but Southwest will not fly you to London, or Hong Kong, or even Canada or Mexico. It is no use telling people to "fly Southwest" as if that would make all air travel better.
People make the mistake of believing that airlines can all be like Southwest. They cannot, by their very nature of their destinations, aircraft, and people/markets served. Southwest serves a very specialized kind of customer, which allows them to offer the pricing and baggage policies that they do.
You might be surprised. If Southwest started having extensive connecting route networks and international connections, they might not be so friendly any more...
Or you can fly Southwest, which charges ZERO for the first two bags, $25 for the third, and $50 each for the fourth through ninth. So the guy would have paid $75 for four bags instead of $350. In addition, he would have experienced flight attendants and gate agents who are actually friendly and helpful, planes that actually work and almost always arrive on time, and fares that are almost always less than what what Delta charges.
Oh, and check in the night before you travel and you're all but guaranteed your seat of choice (which you select after boarding) for no extra charge.
I'm really waiting to watch all these crappy dinosaur airlines go bankrupt and new airlines that care about customers and not paying bloated management salaries.
I miss the good ole days of flying, when checked baggage was the norm and they even fed you real food.
I moved back from a 10 month stay in Europe with 11 checked items and no extra charge. That was in 1979...
After Delta "took" all my seat reservations on my last 4 flights and had me fly glorified stand-by, I will be avoiding Delta and warning anyone against flying Delta.
@microcars: "So I don't know how you buy a ticket for a musical instrument or a hat these days. Anyone?"
You call in advance and say, "I'm flying with a musical instrument." Or perhaps more to the point, "I'm flying with a musical instrument worth five figures, LIKE HELL I'm putting it in the hold."
Orchestras travel a lot, and airlines want that business, and they know there's no way in hell someone with a five-figure cello is putting it in a non-climate-controlled hold.
No, but really, they're pretty accommodating, especially with stringed instruments, which are awkwardly-shaped and react badly to changes in climate. A lot of musicians have a "travel instrument," like a lesser violin they don't mind putting in the overhead bin, but a cello is going to need its own seat no matter what.
Basses, incidentally, ship by air in these ginormous, heavy wooden crates that look suspiciously like Dracula's coffin, as they are too big to fit in their own seat. (The crates themselves cost a fortune; my little orchestra used to borrow them from the Chicago Symphony.)
I have four closets in my entire house, all of them are tiny, and my (mid-range) bass is important enough that it gets its ENTIRE OWN CLOSET so it's stored against an interior wall (less temperature change) and protected from bumping. So you can see how string players get a little wound up over their babies. :)
Unlike jewelry and purses (as per this post [consumerist.com] ), however, most stringed instruments actually do appreciate in value over time. ;)
@downwithmonstercable: I am sure some people have good reasons, but I can never imagine what they are, lol. I have friends who end up paying for overweight bags EVERY TIME THEY TRAVEL. I managed to go abroad for six months with one big suitcase with a second suitcase folded up and smashed in the first one so I could bring home extra cool shit. And I'm not that good a packer, I always take way too much stuff.
I get that now and then you're packing, like, your cousin's dumbbell set or something, but EVERY TIME? Weekend trips? Srsly?
(Although I will say, my husband is sometimes flirting with the edge of overweight bags until I purge them for him, because he appears convinced that a) he will read about six times as many books on the trip as he will actually read and b) it's impossible to BUY BOOKS anywhere but at home and c) he should bring hardbacks because that's what he "feels like reading." No, dear, what you "feel like reading" on vacation are paperbacks, ideally 25 cent paperbacks from the library used rack you can just leave there when you're done with them.)
My guess is he is a pro photographer who doesnt travel very much...
I don't know of ANY pro photographers who would willingly check their kits into baggage on an airline. It's not so much a theft/security issue as it is a "if my bags dont make it to my destination, my client is going to fire my ass" issue. Shipping ahead is always preferable, and if you don't have enough time to do so ahead of time (yeah, clients can be demanding) there is this thing at the airport called Air Freight! You drop everything off in person and pick it up at the destination hours later, after you get off your flight.
There is a point at which, if you can find a cheap fare, it is cheaper to fly a second person who only brings a purse solely for their luggage allowance (going to school 4 provinces away from home makes one be creative).
Damn shipping them would have been cheaper but I'd go with UPS since USPS will only pay you 2.5% of what you insure your packages for.
Wow..$700 roundtrip is insane...for $700 you could have also bought another ticket and paid an additional $40 for the 2 bags...
I'm still speechless...