HI all,
Just back in Madrid after return Madrid/Melbourne flight (with Abu Dabi stopover) and thought I'd share my experience about confusion around luggage allowances.
I believe recently Etihad have reduced lowest fare allowance to 23kg from 30kg. I booked on lowest fare, but was 30kg when I booked (showed this on my ticket).
Confusion arises as Virgin says you get an extra 15kg as Virgin Gold member (so 38kg), whereas Etihad says 45kg (regardless of fare class).
No problem on Madrid to Melbourne as I only had 1 bag under 23kg, but returning to Madrid had 2 bags total 40kg.
In Melbourne they tried to charge me for the extra 2kg until I pointed out my ticket said 30kg + 15kg Virgin Gold extra.
When departing Abu Dabi, the checkin clerk actually said I wasn't entitled to anything, went and checked with her supervisor, who said 23+15, so again wanted to charge me for the extra 2kg.
She said, and I quote "We don't do Virgin flights anymore".
In any case, I smiled sweetly and got away with it, but worth noting that the documentation around this seems to be pretty confused.
I saw this coming and spoke to both Virgin and Etihad in Melbourne before I left - neither of whom could confirm exactly what would happen.
I was confident given my ticket said 30kg that I would be OK (surely illegal to reduce baggage allowance once ticketed?) but worth noting for the future.
Just back in Madrid after return Madrid/Melbourne flight (with Abu Dabi stopover) and thought I'd share my experience about confusion around luggage allowances.
I believe recently Etihad have reduced lowest fare allowance to 23kg from 30kg. I booked on lowest fare, but was 30kg when I booked (showed this on my ticket).
Confusion arises as Virgin says you get an extra 15kg as Virgin Gold member (so 38kg), whereas Etihad says 45kg (regardless of fare class).
No problem on Madrid to Melbourne as I only had 1 bag under 23kg, but returning to Madrid had 2 bags total 40kg.
In Melbourne they tried to charge me for the extra 2kg until I pointed out my ticket said 30kg + 15kg Virgin Gold extra.
When departing Abu Dabi, the checkin clerk actually said I wasn't entitled to anything, went and checked with her supervisor, who said 23+15, so again wanted to charge me for the extra 2kg.
She said, and I quote "We don't do Virgin flights anymore".
In any case, I smiled sweetly and got away with it, but worth noting that the documentation around this seems to be pretty confused.
I saw this coming and spoke to both Virgin and Etihad in Melbourne before I left - neither of whom could confirm exactly what would happen.
I was confident given my ticket said 30kg that I would be OK (surely illegal to reduce baggage allowance once ticketed?) but worth noting for the future.
