Jaunted

We recently scored an incredible deal on Royal Brunei: £549 return, including tax, from Heathrow to Auckland. It was such a good price that we booked it without thinking about airmiles programs or baggage allowances. In fact, it was only the other day, as we started the packing process for our six week trip to New Zealand and Australia, that we decided to take a look at the baggage limits. And that’s when we were shocked.

One bag, 20kg. Or 44lb. That’s less than the standard 23kg/50lb. Never mind, we thought, on the way back we’ll splash out on a second bag. That’ll be what, about $50?

Nuh uh. There’s no option to bring another bag, but for every kilo you go over the limit, on a flight from London to Auckland, you’ll be stung £47. Or $77. $77 per kilo. Yes, you read that right.

Business class passengers don’t do much better, with a one bag, 30kg (66lb) limit. If you go over that, the same £47 per kilo charge applies. Not the kind of news you want to get when you’re spending thousands on a flight.

Compare this with Ryanair, which charges up to £30 for a 20kg bag, and up to £45 for a second bag. Even if you go over those limits, Ryanair’s notoriously evil baggage fees only come in at £20 a kilo for excess baggage.

So let’s get this straight. You have a traditional, not lowcost, no frills airline that predominantly flies longhaul – and therefore long trip – routes, and you have the most ridiculously heinous baggage fees we’ve ever seen. There’s a word for that. And that word is atrocious. Also, appalling, exploitative, and not a little shameless.

Nothing to do about it this time, but next go, we’ll pay a little bit more and go with an airline that doesn’t make us think fond thoughts of Ryanair. If we want to buy anything on, you know, our trip of a lifetime, it'll probably work out cheaper, anyhow.

[Photo: Wikipedia ]