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cathay pacific - over the weight allowance?

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  1. #1

    cathay pacific - over the weight allowance?

    So I was on my way back from Sydney to come home to HK. I was on a student bundle so I had 35kg both ways there and back. I was moving back home so I had 66kg (an extra 36). I checked at the desk before I checked my bags in how much it would cost and it was an outrageous price so I decided to fly it back unaccompanied for a quarter of the price.

    Then after I decided that I had 36 kg in my remaining bags (so really, 1 kg over the weight limit). The employee at the counter who seemed helpful at first was actually completely useless. He told me my ticket only allowed me 20KG which meant I was 16 over weight (1kg = 31 USD). I told him that was impossible because I am on a return ticket and he said "Yeah I can see that" and he did tell me how heavy each one of my bags were (which was a total of 35kg) the last time I left HK to fly to Sydney.

    I had changed my flight date and he said maybe the information about my extra weight did not carry through on the ticket and told me to call the HK office at around 10pm Sydney time or the travel agent, both of which were not working, obviously. He picked up the phone and called two managers and spoke to a bunch of other employees and they told me I was only allowed 20kg. The thing is I had changed the date of my flight three times before with them (not this flight) and my weight was transfered through as well. I was standing there for about an hour trying to knock some sense into the guy that I came with 35kg how could I possibly go back with even less. He gave me the option of sending it unaccompanied (which I couldn't because it had valuables inside + deo cans and liquids which wasn't allowed + there was no chance I could try and get my money back). So I ended up paying for an extra 16 instead of 1.

    Now that I am back I have e-mailed cathay and spoken to the travel agent and cathay say its the travel agents fault and my fault for not "bringing up" that I had a return ticket or calling to HK office. The travel agent says she's been doing this for 20 years and she has never had to change someone's weight allowance with the date change of a ticket because cathay always has that info on the ticket.

    has anyone been through something like this before? I honestly don't know who has messed up but we paid for a student ticket with extra weight allowance for a reason.


  2. #2

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    Your travel agent didn't have an out-of-hours number? They usually do. If your travel agent did the changes to the booking then they stuffed up, they should refund you the costs. If they DID have an out of hours number and you didn't bother to note it down and call it, they may use that against you.


  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by infinitehorizon:
    SThe travel agent says she's been doing this for 20 years and she has never had to change someone's weight allowance with the date change of a ticket because cathay always has that info on the ticket.
    But perhaps for the first 19 of those years it was on a paper ticket.

    e-ticketing has broken many things like this - it is there purely for the convenience of the airline and the inconvenience of the passenger.

  4. #4

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    Normally if you buy a ticket and you change dates the weight allowance stays. Bet you CX fcuked up and are trying to shift the blame to someone else.


  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    But perhaps for the first 19 of those years it was on a paper ticket.

    e-ticketing has broken many things like this - it is there purely for the convenience of the airline and the inconvenience of the passenger.
    I havn't used a paper ticket in about 15 years though, so they've had plenty of time to adapt!

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    You exaggerate slightly! I finished my last paper ticket (so far) in August 2009.


  7. #7

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    According to this post, CX dumped paper tickets around 2008 for most countries:

    Cathay Pacific Dumps Paper Tickets - BusinessWeek


  8. #8

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    Seriously - I've not had a paper ticket since I left the UK (I used them for travel in Europe) - All Aus /NZ/Asia travel was all e-tickets and that was back in 1995 or so. Since, then, I honestly cannot recall seeing a paper ticket.


  9. #9

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    Normal economy weight allowance for CX is 20kg. Letting you off the hook before (could have been a fairly empty flight, less cargo, etc.), doesn't mean they have to be generous again. It doesn't give you permission to fly with 15-16kg more again automatically, the rule is 20kg. You were probably just lucky you weren't charged in the first place.


  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by MommyTo3:
    Normal economy weight allowance for CX is 20kg. Letting you off the hook before (could have been a fairly empty flight, less cargo, etc.), doesn't mean they have to be generous again. It doesn't give you permission to fly with 15-16kg more again automatically, the rule is 20kg. You were probably just lucky you weren't charged in the first place.
    Try reading his post. He purchased a student ticket which has, apparently, a higher weight limit.

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