Airline will only let me book hold luggage at airport, but won't tell me how much it will cost??

Tirian

In January I booked flights for myself and kids to Peru.  I booked carry-on luggage only, on the basis that I would work out how much hold luggage we needed between us and then add it later. 

Simple enough, I thought.  But apparently not!

The flights were booked with LatAm airlines, London - Madrid - Lima - Puerto Maldonado.  I logged into LatAm and clicked the button to add hold luggage, and it said that because the first flight was with a partner airline (Iberia), that they could not add hold luggage to the booking, and this would have to be done with Iberia.

This seemed a bit strange to me, given that if I'd booked hold luggage at the start I would have been able to do it with them, but never mind ... I'll call Iberia.

I called Iberia - they said that I can only book the hold luggage at the airport, they can only book hold luggage all the way to the destination at the airport counter and not online or over the phone. 

This doesn't make any sense to me - if it can be booked, it can be booked - there's no practical or logical reason that I'm aware of that someone can do this from a desk in an airport but not from a desk in a call centre.  However they were insistent that this was the only way it could be done.

But the final kicker - and the one that I find actually devious and totally unethical - is that when I asked how much this would cost, they said that they can't tell me, I can only be told  AT the airport! 

So basically, I have to turn up with a 23kg hold luggage bag, and pay whatever they tell me on the day - even if it's £1000 - or else leave that luggage behind!?  That's basically extortion at that point!  I am struggling to comprehend why (a) it can even be possible for Iberia airline staff at the airport to be able to tell me how much it is going to cost, but not for anyone to tell me that before I get to the airport - and (b) why this is actually legal.  Surely if it is, it should not be - you should at least have the right to know how much something like this is going to cost BEFORE you turn up for a flight??

With some probing, the call centre adviser confirmed that it would be Iberia staff who would book the luggage on at the airport and who would tell me how much it would cost.  So this must be an internal decision then, that they don't allow their call centre to tell customers this cost?

user1977

Tirian said:

I am struggling to comprehend why this is actually legal.  Surely if it is, it should not be - you should at least have the right to know how much something like this is going to cost BEFORE you turn up for a flight??

Well, you don't have a right to have the luggage added at all, even if the cost is extortionate. They would be within their rights to shrug and say the hold is already full, or any other reason they like.

Tirian

user1977 said:

Tirian said:

I am struggling to comprehend why this is actually legal.  Surely if it is, it should not be - you should at least have the right to know how much something like this is going to cost BEFORE you turn up for a flight??

Well, you don't have a right to have the luggage added at all, even if the cost is extortionate. They would be within their rights to shrug and say the hold is already full, or any other reason they like.

Well that's a lovely opinion, but it's clearly not the case as they have said quite clearly that they will add the hold luggage at the airport.

Am I to take it that you don't have any answers to the actual questions I asked?

DullGreyGuy

Tirian said:

user1977 said:

Tirian said:

I am struggling to comprehend why this is actually legal.  Surely if it is, it should not be - you should at least have the right to know how much something like this is going to cost BEFORE you turn up for a flight??

Well, you don't have a right to have the luggage added at all, even if the cost is extortionate. They would be within their rights to shrug and say the hold is already full, or any other reason they like.

Well that's a lovely opinion, but it's clearly not the case as they have said quite clearly that they will add the hold luggage at the airport.

Am I to take it that you don't have any answers to the actual questions I asked?

They are saying you dont have a "right" to be able to add luggage to your airline booking. There is no law that says airlines have to allow you to buy luggage from them. 

It is highly likely that they will be more than happy to take your luggage for you for the right amount of silver but thats not a (legal) right just it makes commercial sense for them to do so. Presumably they operate surge pricing so depending on how full the plane is will dictate the price they will charge hence they cannot tell you now.  

So is all the flight with Iberia or just part of it? Their prices are shown on their website inc airport price ranges https://www.iberia.com/gb/luggage/allowance-in-hold/#!/baggages-search 

If Ibera were doing the whole flight it would be €65 for the first bag and €150 for the second or more. I've guessed at booking and flying dates but the tool is on the website above so you can enter the real figures. Would be €10 per bag cheaper if done before the flight. 

Tirian

DullGreyGuy said:

Tirian said:

user1977 said:

Tirian said:

I am struggling to comprehend why this is actually legal.  Surely if it is, it should not be - you should at least have the right to know how much something like this is going to cost BEFORE you turn up for a flight??

Well, you don't have a right to have the luggage added at all, even if the cost is extortionate. They would be within their rights to shrug and say the hold is already full, or any other reason they like.

Well that's a lovely opinion, but it's clearly not the case as they have said quite clearly that they will add the hold luggage at the airport.

Am I to take it that you don't have any answers to the actual questions I asked?

They are saying you dont have a "right" to be able to add luggage to your airline booking. There is no law that says airlines have to allow you to buy luggage from them. 

It is highly likely that they will be more than happy to take your luggage for you for the right amount of silver but thats not a (legal) right just it makes commercial sense for them to do so. Presumably they operate surge pricing so depending on how full the plane is will dictate the price they will charge hence they cannot tell you now.  

So is all the flight with Iberia or just part of it? Their prices are shown on their website inc airport price ranges https://www.iberia.com/gb/luggage/allowance-in-hold/#!/baggages-search 

If Ibera were doing the whole flight it would be €65 for the first bag and €150 for the second or more. I've guessed at booking and flying dates but the tool is on the website above so you can enter the real figures. Would be €10 per bag cheaper if done before the flight. 

I am not saying that they do "have to" allow addition of luggage. 

I am saying that they DO allow addition of luggage to the booking, and that the terms under which they offer that are unreasonable ones that unnecessarily put their customer in a position of material disadvantage, by being deliberately non-transparent, when they clearly have the ability to be transparent.

The information from LatAm states that I need to contact Iberia to confirm the price of additional luggage.  Iberia won't tell me the price until I get to the airport, and I am saying that unless someone can give any good reason why they should not tell me the price before I actually arrive at the airport with my luggage, that this is not a reasonable business practice.

Would you say that it is?

la531983

As an aside, do Iberia let you add baggage onto a NORMAL booking? Lets say you were just doing LHR to Madrid, single flight, could you add a bag?

I dont know the answer btw, its not a leading question. Maybe their policy is to not allow extra bags at all until the day (if not booked at the initial point of booking), at which point the cost would be dictated by the usual market forces.

Tirian

DullGreyGuy said:

So is all the flight with Iberia or just part of it? Their prices are shown on their website inc airport price ranges https://www.iberia.com/gb/luggage/allowance-in-hold/#!/baggages-search 

If Ibera were doing the whole flight it would be €65 for the first bag and €150 for the second or more. I've guessed at booking and flying dates but the tool is on the website above so you can enter the real figures. Would be €10 per bag cheaper if done before the flight. 

London to Madrid is Iberia, and the rest is LatAm. 

The 10 Euro discount is a little irrelevant if they don't actually let you book it on before the flight, which is what they are telling me.

Tirian

la531983 said:

As an aside, do Iberia let you add baggage onto a NORMAL booking? Lets say you were just doing LHR to Madrid, single flight, could you add a bag?

I dont know the answer btw, its not a leading question. Maybe their policy is to not allow extra bags at all until the day (if not booked at the initial point of booking), at which point the cost would be dictated by the usual market forces.

Yes they do.  

And LatAm also clearly do allow booking of additional luggage pre-flight.  

TELLIT01

The real problem for the OP is that they cannot force the airline to provide that information prior to check in, irrespective of how unfair the OP may believe that to be.

My assumption would be that the airline cannot provide an answer until they know the actual weight of the luggage.  

Ayr_Rage

XXX passengers @ KK kg, YYY bags @ 23 kg , leaves the airline ZZZZ kg for freight which earns them a LOT of revenue.

If it's long haul and weight limited then people turning up with unplanned bags means that something has to give and the first thing is non-perishable high earning freight.

Therefore you pay an arm and a leg at the airport, possibly even dynamic pricing per kilo of baggage.

If you don't book luggage then you'll have to pay whatever they ask on the day, it's not extortion, it's a sensible business model.

la531983

Ayr_Rage said:

XXX passengers @ KK kg, YYY bags @ 23 kg , leaves the airline ZZZZ kg for freight which earns them a LOT of revenue.

If it's long haul and weight limited then people turning up with unplanned bags means that something has to give and the first thing is non-perishable high earning freight.

Therefore you pay an arm and a leg at the airport, possibly even dynamic pricing per kilo of baggage.

If you don't book luggage then you'll have to pay whatever they ask on the day, it's not extortion, it's a sensible business model.

But this "sensible business model" would let a customer add a bag on weeks before on a direct Iberia flight from, say, Madrid to San Francisco. So the only thing complicating matters here is two airlines, they can clearly add bags onto a booking well before the flight leaves and after the initial booking.