AlanWald
Contributor
September 2005, I flew Singapore on a Boeing 747 from LAX to Singapore on Singapore Airlines last year with an overstuffed/overweight legal size carry on bag and had no problem.
When I was in the departure lounge in Singapore ready to depart on SilkAir fligth (a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines), because they fly smaller planes on the route, the check in staff asked me about my bag, I said, its OK, I can take something out (an exposure suit) that would make it fit in the smaller overhead luggage bins of the SilkAir plane (It is was a small Airbus).
I had all my essential dive gear (Reg, BCD, lights) in the carry on except fins.
In 2004 I flew Malaysian airlines and they actually weighed my carry on when I checked my luggage at the checkin counter at LAX. I had to remove something and put it in the checked luggage. this has never happened before. It did not happen on the return flight.
The key is make sure there is something heavy or bulky that you can take out if need be to meet a strict weight limit or to make something fit in a smaller luggage bin.
If the issue is overall weight of checked luggage, some airlines like Air New Zealand in their published schedule booklet (at least they did back in 1997) specifically encourage people to pool their luggage allowance so that if one person is a little under the limit and another is over the limit, it will balance out.
One could even do this with a stranger who has a small amount of luggage weight wise to check. You all get different luggage checks, so this is not a problem. As long as the airlines will allow it.
So sometimes it pays to get their early. I was "adopted" by a friendly family of Fijians who saw that in Auckland Airport I had only one small checked bag. We pooled our luggage allowances. Even then we were collectively over the 20 kg limit per passenger, the check in lady from Air New Zealand said, OK, I will give you 30 Kg. We were still overweight, so she finally said, the plane is pretty empty today, I let you take it all this time, no charge. This is one of the reasons I love New Zealand. Never had a problem.
When I was in the departure lounge in Singapore ready to depart on SilkAir fligth (a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines), because they fly smaller planes on the route, the check in staff asked me about my bag, I said, its OK, I can take something out (an exposure suit) that would make it fit in the smaller overhead luggage bins of the SilkAir plane (It is was a small Airbus).
I had all my essential dive gear (Reg, BCD, lights) in the carry on except fins.
In 2004 I flew Malaysian airlines and they actually weighed my carry on when I checked my luggage at the checkin counter at LAX. I had to remove something and put it in the checked luggage. this has never happened before. It did not happen on the return flight.
The key is make sure there is something heavy or bulky that you can take out if need be to meet a strict weight limit or to make something fit in a smaller luggage bin.
If the issue is overall weight of checked luggage, some airlines like Air New Zealand in their published schedule booklet (at least they did back in 1997) specifically encourage people to pool their luggage allowance so that if one person is a little under the limit and another is over the limit, it will balance out.
One could even do this with a stranger who has a small amount of luggage weight wise to check. You all get different luggage checks, so this is not a problem. As long as the airlines will allow it.
So sometimes it pays to get their early. I was "adopted" by a friendly family of Fijians who saw that in Auckland Airport I had only one small checked bag. We pooled our luggage allowances. Even then we were collectively over the 20 kg limit per passenger, the check in lady from Air New Zealand said, OK, I will give you 30 Kg. We were still overweight, so she finally said, the plane is pretty empty today, I let you take it all this time, no charge. This is one of the reasons I love New Zealand. Never had a problem.
