Understanding overweight/additional baggage

[offer-frenzy-irenic]

Hello everyone,

I am going on a eurotrip that has involved me stringing together a combination of QF classic flight rewards and paid tickets over multiple PNRs. I'm QF bronze with points club.

Because of some of the activities I'm participating in, I need to pack pretty heavy, and I'm trying to figure out how much baggage I can take.

• PNR 1 (QF Classic Flight Reward):
  • PER - KUL: Malaysia Air, Business (32kg limit per item)
  • 3 day stopover
  • KUL - DXB - FCO: Emirates, First (32kg limit per item)
• (2 weeks)
• PNR 2 (QF Classic Flight Reward):
  • FCO - AMS - BER: KLM, Business (32kg limit per item)
• (1 week)
• PNR 3 (Air France Paid Ticket):
  • BER - CDG: Air France, Economy (23kg limit in total)
• (1 week)
• PNR 4 (QF Classic Flight Reward):
  • CDG - DXB - KUL: Emirates, First (32kg limit per item)
  • 1 day stopover
  • KUL - PER: Malaysia Air, Economy (20kg limit in total)

Due of the combination of travel classes and airlines, I have a bunch of different baggage allowances, and I'm trying to figure out what my minimum is.
I believe it's 7kg carry-on and 20kg(?) checked.

This is pretty light, and I'm hoping I can get it up to 30kg checked in one bag, but that involves dealing with overweight baggage on Air France and Malaysia Economy.

I looked on the Air France website and it seems like you have to pay for overweight at the airport as you only have the option to add additional luggage items online:


Looking on Malaysia's booking portal it's a bit ambiguous if I buy more weight ahead of time if it needs to be in a seperate piece of luggage:


Will I be fine just rocking up to the airport with an overweight bag of 30kg, and just be able to pay any fees associated with doing that? Is there any risk with this strategy?

I wonder if someone with a bit more experience can weigh-in (heh) on the best strategy for handling this?

I have a smaller suitcase I could also bring if I need to split into two checked-in items, but that's a bit annoying.

Much appreciated!

 

[SeatBackForward]

Need to determine who is considered as the Most Significant Carrier to see which rules apply. QF have this handy reference card for figuring it out.

My interpretation In your specific examples:

• PNR1 - the KUL>DXB carrier rules apply.
• PNR2 - n/a single carrier
• PNR3 - n/a single carrier
• PNR4 - The DXB>KUL carrier rules apply.

Will I be fine just rocking up to the airport with an overweight bag of 30kg, and just be able to pay any fees associated with doing that? Is there any risk with this strategy?

Yes you could, but the fee's are likely to be more expensive than if you arrange it beforehand.

 

[offer-frenzy-irenic]

Need to determine who is considered as the Most Significant Carrier to see which rules apply. QF have this handy reference card for figuring it out

Thanks for that info, hearing that reminded me that Malaysia Air actually says on my booking pages who that is:





Every airline is the most significant carrier on their leg it seems on PNRs 1 and 4. And PNRs 2 and 3 only have one airline, so I would assume they are too.

So unfortunately that doesn't simplify any of my questions.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Thanks for that info, hearing that reminded me that Malaysia Air actually says on my booking pages who that is:

I've not seen it broken down like that before - very handy for that booking

 

[offer-frenzy-irenic]

Yes you could, but the fee's are likely to be more expensive than if you arrange it beforehand.

It seems like for Air France I will just have to cop it at the airport?


And for Malaysia Air, I'm not totally clear if their "more baggage" option is for an additional bag that weights X kg, or if it adds X kg to one of your existing bags. I found it ambiguous and couldn't find any material saying either way.

 

[tdimdad]

Do also check whether the 23kg limit is a hard ceiling or the free allowance. I have a recollection that some airlines are disinclined to accept bags >23kg, instead they insist that the extra weight is packed into a second bag.

 

[offer-frenzy-irenic]

Do also check whether the 23kg limit is a hard ceiling or the free allowance. I have a recollection that some airlines are disinclined to accept bags >23kg, instead they insist that the extra weight is packed into a second bag.

Do you have any tips on where I might find that info? Air France seems to indicate they'll just overcharge based on the screenshot above. But I'm struggling to figure out Malaysia Air's policy for Economy.

There is a page here that goes into a bunch of detail, but I'm finding it confusing with the piece concept, weight concept, etc, etc. And it doesn't suggest how the "extra" baggage factors into it that I could easily see.

 

[encryptededdy]

Your MH flight will be Weight concept, so you currently have 20kg across any number of bags, and with the purchase you'll have 30kg across any number of bags.

On a Weight Concept booking, the maximum weight of any single piece of baggage is 32kg.