The $75 baggage mistake I made on a Jetstar domestic flight
Thursday, 2 May 2024
Emma Stanford is a senior travel journalist at Stuff.
OPINION: A great weekend away exploring Wellington and Wairarapa ended with me feeling firmly vexed with Jetstar.
With no checked bag and already checked-in online, I went straight to the gate to fly back to Auckland.
It was a 9pm flight and I was tired. I just wanted to get home when an announcement to line up and weigh your hand luggage came over the intercom.
I picked up my small suitcase and handbag and thought, ‘yes that feels about 7kg’ - as per the airline’s carry on policy which is 7kg of luggage across two items. This includes a personal item that would go under the seat.
On the scale though, it said 8.03kg. ‘That will be okay,’ I thought. Wrong.
“That will be $75 please,” the woman at the gate said.
Already travelling light, with many items being worn or in my pockets, there was nothing left to take out of my bag other than my work-issued laptop. I couldn’t really leave that behind.
All I could do was begrudgingly get my card out and pay for it.
One kilogram!
When booking a flight with Jetstar, a traveller can choose to upgrade from the standard 7kg to 14kg for $16.
But if another 7kg is only worth $16, why did 1kg balloon to $75 at the gate? I accept that my bag was overweight but how is that price justified? I didn’t even have 14kg which is the upper limit.
For comparison, Air New Zealand’s cabin bag allowance is one carry-on bag weighing up to 7kg, plus one additional small item like a handbag or slim laptop sleeve. In this instance, I would have been good as gold.
Air NZ charges $35 to add a prepaid extra bag to your booking for a domestic flight, or $45 if you end up having to check a bag at the airport.
I was not the only one to be stung with the gate charge. There was a line of us and some were over by more kilos than me. All being charged $75.
A Jetstar spokesperson said: “Excess baggage fees at the flight gate are more expensive because it’s at this point that exceeding carry-on weight restrictions could potentially cause disruption to our operations.”
Okay, but if they are going to have a policy, it should be consistent.
On the way down to Wellington, on a peak-hour morning flight, no one asked to weigh or tag bags. I just showed my boarding pass and went on my merry way.
I asked Jetstar why it was not weighing bags for every flight if that was its policy. It didn’t answer that question.
Neither did it answer how many people it charges at the gate.
What the airline did say was: “Our carry-on baggage restrictions are designed to ensure a smooth boarding process, enough room to safely and comfortably stow all carry-on items and the correct weight and balance for take-off.
“We remind customers of carry-on limits during the booking process, in booking itineraries, in pre-departure emails, at check-in and at the boarding gate.
“We give our customers a choice of optional extras including the ability to pre-purchase up to 14kg of carry-on baggage.”
Jetstar’s website also stated the fee for having overweight cabin baggage was “from $60” at the gate.
What justified the extra $15? What determined the gate price? Jetstar didn’t answer those questions either.
While I don’t want what commonly happens in the US to happen here, where if you don’t board first there’s no room in the overheads and your bag ends up 10 rows away, is there not a bit of wriggle room allowed? It’s not as though I was trying to bring a third item onboard.
Once I’d parted with my money, I could join the line to board - but the pain wasn’t over.
The person in front of me insisted on reclining for the hour-long flight, jamming my knees into the back of the seat. Then the motorway was closed on the drive home so detouring through the ‘burbs added 30 minutes to my trip.
My vexation only grew. Note to self, next time, cough up the $16 at the time of booking.