Baggage Allowance

A baggage allowance is what an airline lets you bring for the fare you bought: how many bags, how heavy each may be, and how large. It is set per passenger and per journey, and it covers both what you carry into the cabin and what you check into the hold.

Two systems are in use and they behave differently. Under the piece system, common on transatlantic and long-haul routes, you get a number of bags each with its own weight cap, and a bag either qualifies or it does not. Under the weight system, common in Europe, Asia and Africa, you get a total weight and can distribute it as you like. Knowing which applies changes how you pack: two half-full bags are fine under one and expensive under the other.

Your allowance is not a property of the aircraft. It follows the fare you bought, the frequent flyer status attached to the booking, and sometimes the card you paid with. That is why passengers in the same row can have different entitlements, and why the cheapest fare on a route often includes no checked bag at all. On a multi-airline itinerary the operating carrier's rules generally apply to each leg, so the allowance can change mid-journey.

Excess charges are where this becomes expensive. Buying extra weight or an extra bag online in advance is almost always cheaper than at the airport, and the airport price is usually the highest one available. Overweight and oversize are separate charges and can both apply to one bag. Sports equipment, instruments and anything unusually shaped are normally handled under their own rules rather than the standard allowance, and need declaring in advance.

Before flying, the useful checks are: the smallest allowance across the whole itinerary, whether it is piece or weight, whether the cabin bag is included or extra, and what the airline pays if a bag is delayed or lost. See carry-on for the cabin half of this, fare class for why the fare determines the allowance, and frequent flyer for the status that raises it.

Where two of you are travelling together, allowances are per passenger and generally cannot be pooled unless the airline says so and you are on the same booking. Checking that before you divide the packing between you avoids the version of this argument that happens in a queue.