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“Just put my 24 yr. old son on a flight...”

Written on: 27/06/2009

Just put my 24 yr. old son on a flight Florence-Zurich-Shanghai, where he will live for the next 2 years studying Mandarin. Yesterday we tried repeatedly to call Swiss Air in Florence to check baggage allowance rules and nobody answered. Their website was also down for about 5 hours and we finally discerned late last night that the allowance was 2 bags at 23 Kilos each. Arrived at airport this morning with exactly 45 Kilos between the two bags and the check in personnel told us the total limit was one bag of 20 Kilos and that the fee for extra weight would be 50 Euros per kilo. This would be a surcharge of 1250 Euros for a plane ticket which was 785 euros. After protesting that the website stated differently, the check in person said we could ship the extra bag with Swiss Air Cargo, but could not give us a phone number or any other help. She said that the 2 bags of 23 K. was applicable only within the US. This makes no sense that within the US the weight limit is more than twice that of an intercontinental flight. My son removed both bags, repacked and we sent him one with one bag of 20 K. and now will try to ship the other things separately. My husband and I were going to book tickets on Swiss Air to visit him in December, but now will book with another airline because of this ridiculously low baggage allowance for an intercontinental flight and unclear info on website.