Carry-on weight question

Hi all!

I'm new to this site, not new to VA
I have a question about hand luggage, I did do a search before posting but I couldn't find anything answering my question.

I've travelled with VA to LAX for the past 3 years and have always checked in my luggage and carried a laptop bag.
Because I travel there so frequently I decided to leave majority of my things I usually have checked in at my friend's house.

Now I'd like to just have the one bag for my laptop, camera and a few extra things so I bought a Targus case that's a combine suitcase/business roller. It states on Targus' website that the case fits within carry-on baggage limits, size wise.
The bag's weight and VA's 6kg weight limit has me concerned, the case on it's own weighs just under 4kg! That leaves me with 2kg to fit a laptop and a camera :0

Are they really strict with the limits, do they allow a few grace kgs?

?|

Thanks in advance

well depending what class you fly you may even get a second c/o piece. however i wouldnt worry about weight as i have never been checked, they do look at size sometimesbut all too often you see people lugging on bigger bags than I usually check. then of course they moan when they dont fit in the overhead !!

I fly Economy


Thanks for your reply!

[Neil]

I have never had my hand luggage weighed by Virgin regardless of what class I have been travelling in.

Of course it is a safety issue and I guess it depends on how heavy you intend make it. You have to remember that in an emergency or severe turbulence, if the carry on fell out of the overhead locker, it could do some serious harm to someone if it was too heavy.

I guess ultimately you can risk taking it on at any weight, but you should be prepared if it is weighed/checked then you might have to check it in to the hold.

Neil

They went through an annoying phase last year when they wanted to weigh your bag at check-in even for Gold.
There were a few squabbles but I was never refused when I insisted.
For the last year they have been very relaxed about it so there ought to be no problem.

Contrary to the post's above, I have always had my hand luggage weighed at check in and more often than not I have usually been over the limit by around 2kg. For some reason they ask you if you have a laptop inside the bag which you can take out (I'm assuming they think you are going to use the laptop during the flight rather than store it in an overhead locker? ?| ), however they have not asked me to take the laptop out right there and then so I'd say as long as you are not taking the p!#s... you'll be fine.

Basically, Virgin don't actively seek out overweight handluggage. I've travelled in economy with a wheely cabin bag, an overshoulder 'man bag' and a decent size Abercrombie shopping bag. No-one batted an eyelid.

I'd imagine you're really having to extert yourself to lift into the overhead, then you'll probably get nabbed to check it in.

I've never been asked at Heathrow but usually are asked at Gatwick.

do twilight check in - then bring hand luggage next day avoiding the desk

Thanks everyone y)

[mitchja]

I've only ever had my hand luggage weighed once by VS at LGW many years ago when I was booked in Premium to MCO. Half way through the weighing process, the agent tapped away at their keyboard and came out with 'Oh it's OK anyway Mr Mitchell, we have upgraded you to Upper Class on todays flight'

One slightly unrelated thing I noticed when checking in at MCO last week. The agent even switched the balance over to Kilograms when she realised I was British to weigh my checked luggage (26kg). Never seen that before as I don't have a clue what the imperial weight limits are for checked luggage ?|

Never seen that before as I don't have a clue what the imperial weight limits are for checked luggage ?|

50lb for Econ and PE and 70lb for UC (per bag)

I can't speak for VS as I don't check them in anymore, however the one I do check in at the moment is cracking down on handluggage.
Yes, the weight is for health and safety however the other and probably bigger reason we're doing it is because people are taking soooo much hand luggage these days, almost everyone has a wheelie case, then on top of that you have kids bags, bags for kids stuff etc that there just isn't enough room in the plane anymore, therefore bags are having to be taken off, in turn causing a delay, therefore not good for said airline/handling agent.
I mean yes ok, VS have bigger planes but I can imagine similar problems may crop up.

I can't speak for VS as I don't check them in anymore, however the one I do check in at the moment is cracking down on handluggage.
Yes, the weight is for health and safety however the other and probably bigger reason we're doing it is because people are taking soooo much hand luggage these days, almost everyone has a wheelie case, then on top of that you have kids bags, bags for kids stuff etc that there just isn't enough room in the plane anymore, therefore bags are having to be taken off, in turn causing a delay, therefore not good for said airline/handling agent.
I mean yes ok, VS have bigger planes but I can imagine similar problems may crop up.

This is interesting - because (and of course I don't know which airline you are checking in - so this may not be aimed at that airline) but some airlines encourage you to take hand luggage only by charging for checked bags. this is better for those particular airlines as they can turn the plane quicker.

So on one hand you have an airline saying "It's best with hand luggage only!" (And isn't there one that says if you can lift it and it's within the dimensions its fair game - though that could be in the USA) and on the other hand you have other airlines being stricter than ever on hand luggage allowance.

As an industry - it's really not helped itself here.

I have seen handluggage being checked at MAN. Some people had to repack hold luggage to take excess weight from handluggage.

They seemed to particularly select wheeled handluggage.

We've had a big discussion on here before related to this and I even ended up taking this picture of the weight restriction for the bins, presuming 4 max size cases in each bin they should be allowed to weigh up to 10kg each. In UC limits are higher as more space = less load. I have never figured out the 6kg limit... Oh and if you just use the machine to print your boarding pass they can't really weigh it...

6kg = weight of 'items reqired for the flight'? so couple of books and odds and ends of travel - washbag etc

Also less likely to injure if falls out of the locker onto a pax - esp on the aisle.

12kg in UC = people read heavier books?

Yes we do charge for hold luggage and the limit for hand luggage is 10kg (far too much in my eyes) all of us complain about hand luggage as people simply take too much. We immediately pick wheely cases because usually they're about 3-5kgs to start with, nevermind with everything else in. Weirdly the charge has recently gone up to check luggage in which is such a pain as it's us on check-in who get the grief, of course bigwigs in offices won't think of that you could just do without it at 4am so I always try to be leeniant (no idea how to spell that!) as to avoid an argument.
There's been times though when we've taken in excess of 15 bags out of the cabin when boarding to put them in the hold, without charge at this point, because there just is no room!

Oh and with regard to books, I once had a bloke on VS in economy with around 14kg or something daft like that in his hand luggage, turned out he had 8 books in his hand luggage :0 I couldn't help but ask if he'd robbed a libary on the way ):

I always used to check a bag for 4/5 days in the US, but I now have to travel more on internal flights so I carry it all on. VS seem very flexible as long as you don't abuse the system. I bought a Samsonite Cordoba (max size carry on) and I also carry a small laptop bag. This must be the reason they ask that question noted by MrSquare: "Do you have a laptop in there?" I have only been asked once, about 3 years ago.

As other posters note, if you do OLCI and print your own boarding pass, there is no real opportunity for you to be challenged. At least until you get to the gate and then the priority is to get everyone on and the doors closed.

The VS hand baggage info is quite clear that in addition to the carry on bag at 6kg you can also take:

In addition to the cabin baggage allowance, the following personal items may be carried on board:

* A handbag, pocketbook or purse i.e. which is appropriate to normal travelling dress and is not being used as a container for the transportation of articles which could otherwise be regarded as baggage.
* An overcoat or wrap.
* An umbrella (pointed or/and sharp prohibited) or walking stick.
* A small camera and/or pair of binoculars.
* A reasonable amount of reading matter for the flight.
* Infants food for consumption in flight.
* A small amount of duty free goods.
* Personal headphones may be used as long as they are fitted with the standard 3.5mm jack.

Some people clearly do take the p!#s and bring the whole list and more besides

Weirdly the charge has recently gone up to check luggage in which is such a pain as it's us on check-in who get the grief, of course bigwigs in offices won't think of that you could just do without it at 4am so I always try to be leeniant (no idea how to spell that!) as to avoid an argument.

Whilst I applaud you for using common sense and being lenient at 4am, that can then cause more confusion and grief - for example you being lenient for the outbound leg, same passenger, same carry on, same weight then gets told on the inbound flight that it's too heavy to take as carry on. As a passenger one of the biggest frustrations is inconsistency within the same airline, as now each time you approach check in, it's a lottery as to what will be 'allowed'.

I'm talking the odd 1kg here and there, if it's blatently too heavy I'll try and compromise failing that then I'll tell them it has to be checked in.

I know where you're coming from though, and the problem is that some staff give a s**t and some don't. Unfortunately I doubt that'll change anytime soon.

Liz,

Just to clarify on VS the limit in UC is 16kg combined with no one bag weighing more than 12kg and 6kg in Y. The picture was for the purposes of demonstrating that the compartments can actually take a lot more than are put in them... 10kg sounds reasonable as long as the dimensions are ok for carry-on...

I'm talking about a different airline but I know where you're coming from.
Personally though, especially in a packed and small economy cabin I wouldn't like 10kg on my head!

I figured it was a different airline from the 10kg line! For me a lot of it is to do with clearing the airport quickly and that can go horribly wrong if you have to wait for a bag... 15 minutes turning into an hour or two.

When I did bag drop at LGW two weeks ago, my hand luggage was wieghed. It came in at about 10kg. By the time that I took my laptop out it had come down to about 7.5kg.

I was asked what else when in there: SLR camera and extra lense, medication and two books for the flight. Check-in lady agreed that those items couldnt be checkin in and said fine - but she did stress that as it was heavier than 6kg it had to go under the seat in front.

As it was, when I got to my economy seat upstairs (LHR 747), the stewardess offered to put the bag in the closets a the back of UC. (Aparently it is normal for the UC closets to be shared with ecomony on this config plane - for larger carrys on items).

On the way back from MCO it was checked for size only - the first time it has even been checked at all out there. That said, I was (somehow) 3kg over my hold luggage allowance which wasn't questioned at all.