Miss Ireland was charged €4,000 for excess baggage. But you also have to watch what you bring - from antlers to oars, writes Rosita Boland.
Overweight. Not a word that a Miss World entrant wants to be associated with. But it's what Ireland's representative in this year's contest, Natasha Nic Gairbheith, heard at the Aer Lingus desk when she arrived to check in last week for her flight to China. She had several suitcases with her and was far over the baggage allowance. Her bill for the excess weight came to €4,000.
An Aer Lingus spokeswoman confirms that Nic Gairbheith had more than 100 kilos in her luggage, and she was charged €61 per kilo for 80 of them. Aer Lingus took pity on her and rounded it down to €4,000.
Nic Gairbheith was clearly carrying quite a lot of frocks. And unless she leaves some of them behind, she will have to pay the same amount of excess baggage on the return leg. That'll be a bill of €8,000 for the baggage alone, leaving aside the price of the tickets. It doesn't leave a lot of leeway for souvenirs.
Nic Gairbheith is an exceptional example, but we've all seen people with excess baggage problems at the airport check-in. Frustrated, irate passengers, who are faced with the choice of forking out for their excess luggage or leaving it behind. It used to be quite acceptable for someone with a lot of luggage to solicit another passenger to check in a bag on their behalf, but in these nervy days of airline transport, few people have success with this method. It's pay up or pack less.
There is no single standardised baggage allowance for airlines, nor is there one standard fee for excess baggage. Some airlines charge by the kilo and others by the number of extra bags. What you can bring depends on the airline, and also depends on the kind of ticket you have.
Malaysian Airlines allows first class passengers 60 kilos. Its Fokker Friendship ticket allowance is 15 kilos, but if you book a Twin Offer ticket, it is just 10 kilos. However, Malaysian Airlines accepts bowling equipment as part of a passenger's free baggage allowance, which includes a bowling ball, bag and shoes. For some reason, it deems it is necessary to point out to passengers that canoes are not accepted as baggage.
Ryanair is encouraging passengers to travel without any luggage, or failing this, to travel with carry-on luggage only. This year, the airline increased its carry-on allowance from 7 kilos to 10, and reduced the checked-in allowance from 20 kilos to 15. It also upped its excess baggage charge, from €5.72 a kilo, to €6.44. In a statement it issued earlier this year, the airline said it was considering various options for the future in "refining our baggage policy". These include asking passengers with luggage for the hold to pay a fee for each piece of checked-in luggage, i.e. doing away with a free baggage allowance.
Should you be unlucky enough to break your leg and need to travel somewhere on Ryanair, you will need to purchase two extra seats, at full price, naturally. However, even though you have paid three full-price tickets, you get baggage allowance for only one seat. You are also instructed to split the cast on the leg prior to travelling, to allow for swelling, which seems to rather defeat the purpose of having a cast at all, unless you have a friendly doctor waiting at the other end with a fresh batch of plaster of Paris.
Alaska Airlines allows your pets in the cabin - provided you check them in as baggage, and use their body weight as part of your overall luggage allowance. First class will take "one small pet" and economy will accommodate up to five small pets. It's not clear whether the small pets get fed or not, but it sounds like a novel way of disposing of the airline food you don't want to eat.
Two years ago, a woman from Florida sued Delta Airlines for causing her public humiliation on a flight from Dallas. She had checked in her bags and was sitting on the plane when security guards came and asked her to get off the plane and open one of her bags, as there appeared to be something moving in it. It was a vibrator. She was so incensed by the ensuing laughter that she filed a lawsuit.
On American Airlines flights, for a fee, you can carry javelins, hang-gliders and scuba tanks. You are allowed one pair of oars free, but since kayaks, canoes, and sculls are not carried, it's difficult to know why you might want oars.
Hunters will be happy on American Airlines, however. For €80, the airline will carry antlers, provided you have done a little work on them in advance. "Must be as free of residue as possible. The skull must be wrapped and tips protected," it warns.
And you will have to leave the rest of the beast behind - it's only the antlers it will carry.