Trying to stop an impending family rift...

NAR

euronorris wrote: »

But, as for this causing a plane crash, being stopped at customs or being arrested....what exactly does she think your OH is carrying? Or is this perhaps the issue? Does the (cousin's) mother, or the cousin believe (for whatever reason) that your OH was trying to smuggle something through?

This could well be the crux of the matter for an English family, who still consider N.Ireland to be a war zone or whatever. (Believe me this is not uncommon!) I can imagine that cousin went home and told her parents that she was asked to "mind" a case while her cousin checked in. Her parents start imagining all sorts of reasons why this took place, added 2 + 2 and got 5, and then decided they had to let off steam about it.
If more emphasis had been put on the only reason it was done was to avoid Ryanair charges the it might not have been made into a mountain, from the molehill it obviously is.

Lotus-eater

NAR wrote: »

If more emphasis had been put on the only reason it was done was to avoid Ryanair charges the it might not have been made into a mountain, from the molehill it obviously is.

AHA! It's Ryanair's fault, I knew we'd find someone to blame in the end!

:rotfl:

euronorris

Spendless wrote: »

Not having flown for a few years I;m a bit at a loss as to how this system works.:cool: Surely if the airline weighs hand luggage, they weigh hand luggage and you can't 'pretend' you don't have any just cos you've left it with someone else? Don't they put a tape/sticker on it :huh: Nope. None that I have travelled with do this. Although, I mostly travel with BA and EasyJet who don't weigh your hand luggage.

If it really is the case that you only have your hand luggage weighed if you go to the desk and later you can 'retrieve' luggage from elsewhere, then the airline is leaving their system wide open to abuse (whether you agree with their rules or not).

Only to the weight limitations. And Ryanair are not know for the accuracy of their scales. They can vary by as much as 5kg!! At least, that I've seen. I flew with them once, never again!

Seriously, the next time you're in an airport, check out the weight of your luggage at a few different scales (not currently being used by the airline) and you'll see how much they can vary.

So, unfortunately, the lack of accurate scales, together with the high charges for being overlimit, has led to people using this tactic.

But.....I *think* you can request that your luggage be weighed at another scale if you believe that the current scale is inaccurate. Would need to check that though.

lufcgirl

OH is the most kindest, sweetest person you could ever meet. She doesn't even drink let alone have anything to do with drugs so I don't think thats the problem.
I think it's lies from the Mum's ethical point of view that she shouldn't have asked her daughter to mind her hand luggage (which was just a rucksack and slightly under the weight limit) whilst she checked in her hold luggage. It was only flying back to Dublin so I don't think it's anything to do with the Irish side of it either.
Still no word from the daughter after the answerphone message and from the rest of them either. OH is teaching all day today so unlikely to try and sort anything until tomorrow, but from what I can see it does look like the relationship is over as she's got as far as withdrawing her Uni application near them because she couldn't bear to be around them.

Oldernotwiser

Do they perhaps have high ethical standards and consider that this was cheating the airline of its rightful charges?

Any

ailuro2 wrote: »

I don't agree with the barrage of abuse, but I do disagree with getting someone else to keep some of your baggage while you go and check in.

That's against the rules for security, surely?

I think they're both as bad as each other here, but DD should get in touch and say now she's had time to think about it that she was wrong to ask her cousin to do that for her.

You should also remind her she could have been in trouble if she'd been caught.:p

The luggage gets checked at the gate, not at the check in terminal. There it would be only to get money out of you.

It does not make it right, but it's not the same as not getting luggage through the security.

seven-day-weekend

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Do they perhaps have high ethical standards and consider that this was cheating the airline of its rightful charges?

Tbh, this is why I would be annoyed at being asked to hold the bag.

I'm not saying Ryanair's charges are fair, or just, but you know what they are when you book with them and should make sure your bag is not overweight.

I would not like you to involve me in cheating them.

(edited to add - we stopped using Ryanair because of their extortionate baggage charges and low weight limits, but never involved someone else to enable us to cheat then out of them).

Any

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Tbh, this is why I would be annoyed at being asked to hold the bag.

That could be fair enough, but I think their reaction was waaaaaaay OTT.

seven-day-weekend

Any wrote: »

That could be fair enough, but I think their reaction was waaaaaaay OTT.

Oh yes, so do I. I understand them being annoyed, but not angry and upset to the extent that they are.

euronorris

There aren't many airlines that fly between Ireland and UK though, are there?

Ryanair and Aer Lingus are the only two I can think of and are pretty similar.