BA Grants Passengers Respite

 19th FEB 2007

British Airways handed a temporary reprieve to passengers facing a £240 excess baggage bill Friday morning by allowing economy ticket holders to check in an extra bag free of charge. However, the airline said that the total weight of the checked-in luggage must be within a new 23kg luggage limit. BA said its check-in staff will apply "discretion" to passengers who arrived at airports unaware of the new baggage policy. From today, economy class passengers travelling on half of BA's long-haul routes were supposed to pay £120 per bag to check in an extra piece of luggage. This would amount to £240 on a long-haul return flight.

For short-haul flights, the levy was set at £60 and for domestic flights the charge will be £30. BA said: "British Airways recognises that customers may be uncertain about the details of the new policy, so check-in staff will treat sympathetically requests from economy-class passengers to check in more than one item of luggage provided the total weight is within the overall 23kg limit." The airline added: "Modest infringements of the 23kg limit, which is more generous than the allowance offered by many other airlines, will be tolerated without charge." The waiver will be dropped in September, when the new excess baggage policy is imposed officially. Willie Walsh, BA chief executive, defended the charges last week, saying excess baggage tolls had been in place "since the Wright Brothers". He added: "All we're changing is the approach. We reckon this will apply to less than 2% of the people flying with us. So it's not as big an issue as people are making it out to be." BA economy passengers to the USA , Canada , Mexico , Bermuda , Brazil , Nigeria , the Caribbean and Central America will be allowed to check in an extra bag after September, in line with local government regulations.

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