Excess Baggage

If you want to avoid a nasty shock at check-in take a look at the free baggage limit for your airline in the Airline Directory section, and be careful not to exceed it. The reason is simple: if all 300 passengers on a long-haul flight each exceed their limit by 5 kilos, the airline would be paying to haul an extra 1.5 tonnes over a long distance!

Excess baggage fees can be considerable, and if you have no option but to move a lot of luggage by air you would be well advised to look at the service offered by the Excess Baggage Company. With desks in both North and South Terminals, the Company offers different grades of service based on urgency of delivery. Usually you will have to pay only 20% to 50% of the amount your airline would charge, but your baggage may take up to 10 days to catch up with you.