How not to be charged for excess luggage

Even travel agents learn new things every time they travel.  In the travel industry, the best way to learn is to actually travel, and share the experience with others.

Recently, a girl friend and I travelled to LA on United Airlines.  She flew in from New York, and I flew in from Minneapolis.  We both had a stop at Denver.  As we got to talking about flight experiences, we discovered that I was charged $15 for my 17 kg. checked-in bag, while she was not charged a cent for her 21 kg bag.

Feeling sorry for myself, I soon learned that a lot has to do with what you tell the guy at the check-in counter.  I had assumed that I would be charged $15 because I was traveling within the US.  I was still too cool and calm following my 3-day spiritual retreat to request certain concessions as a travel agent, that I did not even think to ask if I could get an exception to the pocket-hurting charge.

My girl friend, on the other hand, was bubbly when she checked in for her flight, and started to make small talk with the guy at the counter.  She asked how he was doing, and smilingly told him that she had a most lovely and memorable stay in NYC.  She also mentioned that she was also starting to miss her children back in the Philippines, but that she would also be joining them soon.  “Oh, so you’re on your way back to the Philippines.” He noted her passport, and after a short while gave back her documents with her boarding pass.  “Have a safe flight back home, mam.”  She thanked him with a smile.

So what’s the lesson here? We can only surmise that that guy at the check-in counter thought my friend was taking a connecting flight to LAX, where she would take her flight back home to the Philippines, which in a way made her NYC-LAX flight part of her international flight. She was acually scheduled to fly out from San Francisco 2 weeks later. On the other hand, since I didn’t volunteer any clues or information, my counter guy assumed I was traveling local for a long while, which of course I was for the next week at least.

Now, this story by no means suggests that you provide should false information about your flight plans. No, no, no, that’s not how things work. Nor does it assure that my friend’s tactics will work 100% for you.  But,  being friendly especially to a counter guy who isn’t is he’s still gonna have a job the next day, can be a key to getting a few more travel savings. All things said, we are still human beings subject to emotions and moods.