Qantas carry-on baggage scales being updated after incorrect weights found
Qantas is removing analog scales at airport terminals, as customers claimed they were slugged with excess fees after scales had over-estimated carry-on bag weights. HAVE YOUR SAY
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Exclusive: Qantas is removing analog scales at airport terminals as testing reveals the old-fashioned devices inflate the weight of hand luggage by as much as 30 per cent.
Checks by News Corp Australia found one of the Flying Kangaroo’s analog scales measured a carry-on bag known to be 7kg as 9kg and another said it was 7.7kg.
While Qantas has more generous carry-on limits than other airlines, if these limits are breached and the passenger has already checked a bag, a $90 excess fee is imposed.
Jetstar, Virgin and Tiger do not appear to use analog scales, but Regional Express does and its one at Sydney Airport was out by 0.25kg.
News Corp tested 45 scales and found all digital devices were operating correctly.
The checks were triggered by reader responses to News Corp’s Fee Fighter campaign series in March and April.
Some airline customers claimed scales were over-estimating carry-on bag weights.
Several reported weighing their bags at home to ensure they were under the limit only to be hit with excess fees at the airport.
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Experts said the discrepancy occurred because bathroom scales — commonly used to weigh bags before travelling to the airport — don’t accurately measure small amounts.
“Bathroom scales don’t work when you try to weigh something under 10kg,” said A&D Australasia national sales manager Brian Johnston, whose company supplies and checks the portable scales now used by Jetstar to check passenger hand luggage.
Mr Johnston said the best way to weigh a bag at home was to first measure your own weight on bathroom scales then get off and get back on while holding your carry-on.
“That is the most accurate way of doing it with a bathroom scale,” Mr Johnston said.
Before doing the airport checks, News Corp visited A&D’s Sydney office and verified the weight of the carry-on bag on a scale identical to that used by Jetstar.
A Qantas spokesman said it was “gradually replacing analog scales with digital scales at our major ports”.
He said its customers could bring a total of 14kg on-board with one piece weighing a maximum of 10kg. If a bag was found to be over the maximum allowance Qantas would loaded into the hold free of charge, he said.
However that is only the case if the customer has not already a checked bag.
For friends Kristin Paull and Sarah Alam, getting their bags weighed at check-in can be a big source of anxiety that can often put a dampener on the holiday mood.
Ms Paull, 37, has had to take items out of her luggage on multiple occasions, once when boarding a Qantas flight.
“I get so nervous about getting my bags weighed, I always weigh them at home, but they’re always heavier on their scales when I get here,” she said.
“It really stresses me out.”
Ms Alam says that even though she tends to be an organised traveller, on longer holidays luggage weight becomes a real concern.
Originally published as Qantas carry-on baggage scales being updated after incorrect weights found
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