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 idiot

Guess 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)

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