Baggage Question...

So I just packed!! 
And i realized shortly after falling over that I need a duffel bag with wheels. Badly. And a bigger duffel.
I found one on ebay for pretty cheap (about 25 USD) and its HUGE and would fit everything perfectly...
The problem is that the airline guidelines say that the bag cannot exceed 62 linear inches...and mine would total up at 74. I feel like that's pushing it a bit too far, but I don't know what they would do. I'm cool with paying overage charges, (and actually the website isn't very clear on their charges so I might call customer service tomorrow anyway) but I don't want them to like, not allow my bag onto the plane or something awful.
D'ya think I could swing it? Or do you think I should just look for something different?

Not sure about the measurement issues - you may get away with it, you may not - it seems that when I assume something I am always proved wrong when it comes to baggage. Just wanted to say that you should check what the maximum weight for an overweight piece of luggage is.

I didn't check and I turned up at the airport with three big suitcases thinking I'd just pay for the extra one. It turned out it was too heavy for them to put on the plane so I had to leave it with my dad, then he had to ship it to me, then it was detained by customs because he declared the actual value and not that it was personal possessions...believe me you don't want to have to go through that after the big move!

I emailed them, so we will see what they say. Thanks for the advice though!

The maximum weight for any bag coming into a UK airport is 70lbs or 32kgs.  This has something to do with regulations imposed on behalf of the baggage handlers.  However, most airlines standard allowance is 50lbs and anything up to the 70 lbs is subject to excess baggage fees.  American Airlines current excess fees are $50.  I am not sure what their policies for additional bags are though.  I know they allow 2 bags per passenger, but I have never flown with three bags. 

If the bagis over 70lbs they will make you shift weight around or leave stuff behind.  There is no lenience in this rule.   

I have never seen them measure a bag for the linear requirements, but if you have that duffle packed to the gills, it will most likely be overweight, so they would catch you there. 

Good luck!

The maximum weight for any bag coming into a UK airport is 70lbs or 32kgs.  This has something to do with regulations imposed on behalf of the baggage handlers.  However, most airlines standard allowance is 50lbs and anything up to the 70 lbs is subject to excess baggage fees.  American Airlines current excess fees are $50.  I am not sure what their policies for additional bags are though.  I know they allow 2 bags per passenger, but I have never flown with three bags. 

If the bagis over 70lbs they will make you shift weight around or leave stuff behind.  There is no lenience in this rule.   

I have never seen them measure a bag for the linear requirements, but if you have that duffle packed to the gills, it will most likely be overweight, so they would catch you there. 

Good luck!

If you fly Delta business class or are a gold or platinum medallion you get 3 bags up to 75 lbs each - even into the UK. When I moved here I flew to London with 3 bags and each weighed right at 75 lbs and it wasn't a problem at all.

I didn't have a bag refused but they sure did want to accept it and charge me a king's ransom in penalties!

One of my suitcases was both overweight and oversized. We were flying Continental; they were accepting it but charging us about £300 in penalties because it was a no-no on both counts! Fortunately we had an understanding staff member who suggested that, since our other bags were slightly underweight, we could purchase a large Continental duffel right there, stuff as many things as possible from the "over-everything" case into both the new duffel and a little inot the other cases, and although the new duffel would still be slightly overweight, we'd only get charged for that instead of both overweight and oversized (since it was within the size requirements).

This way we only had the one penalty to pay, and didn't have to leave anything behind except, yes, we had to jettison the oversized suitcase! But I considered that no loss because it was of a size that would instigate a penalty charge on any flight (this was it's debut), therefore was useless anyway.

In my opinion, the super-giant suitcase is a rookie mistake, and one that I've paid dearly for a good few times!

Nearly every trip I make I try and bring in as much as possible, and I've found that the very large suitcases aren't feasible at all. For one, if you fill them up they always go overweight. So one giant suitcase will always cost more than 2 normal sized ones. Also, on many airlines, the fee for oversized luggage is much higher than for overweight or for adding an extra bag.

Using American Airlines fee as an example: to take one huge bag, you could pay $150 for the oversize and then another $50 for overweight for a total of $200. In total, this is twice as much as if you just added a third suitcase ($100 fee) or went overweight on your first two ($50 each).

I've found it's the best value for money to have medium sized suitcases and fill them to the brim--they usually end up right around the 70 pound mark, or taking a third suitcase and making sure none of them are overweight. On American, three suitcases ends up costing $100 and getting you 150 pounds and two overweight suitcases costs $100 and gets you 140 pounds.

One other thing to think about is that most cheap suitcases are heavier than the more expensive ones. I'm considering paying extra for the ultra-light kind because I think in the long run I'd save a lot. Some suitcases can weigh around 18 pounds, which means you really don't get to pack too much to get to the 50/70 pound limit.

It makes sense to research your airline before you go and do a lot of sample packing. I've spent a lot of time standing on scales holding my suitcase before trips because the embarrassment of repacking in the airport check-in is too much!

One last thing is that the 70 pound rule is usually a hard stop for most airlines--it's part of their union agreement with the baggage handlers and they can get huge fines if they go over it. I've never been let go with more than about 74 pounds, and that was seriously pushing it. However, I've had my overweight fees waived many times by being really, really polite to the check-in person. It's not something you can count on, but I've found that many times they don't want to bother processing your card or whatever, and they'll let you go if you're nice.

This is also another reason to do frequent flyer--I've found they are much more lenient on airlines that I have gold status on.

In my opinion, the super-giant suitcase is a rookie mistake, and one that I've paid dearly for a good few times!

I feel a tiny bit insulted by that as I'm no rookie, I've made this 5,000 mile flight six times!

I bought the offending suitcase back in the days when its measurements actually did comply with, I think it was, British Airways size requirements, if I recall correctly. I bought it in 1999 but never used it until my trip this year, by which time not only was I flying a different airline, but I believe many had pulled their limits downward an inch or two if I'm not mistaken.

Also, I did indeed "research my airline" --- over and over again, double checking on not just my own baggage requirements but that of my cat's kennel etc. I had the added aspect of bringing my cat under the PETS scheme to concern myself with, a higher priority that worrying too much about my baggage. I knew before packing that the case was possibly going to be oversized, but I wasn't sure which way they would measure it -- believe it or not, it came up different for me on several measuring sessions. I do not know quite how I managed that, using the same tape measure, but.....

So, I went to the airport already knowing I would be looking at an oversized penalty charge. The person who dealt with us was VERY nice even though he could not in good conscience waive our penalty. We too were very nice to him -- the whole encounter was as warm, and friendly as it could be, and the man was even extra helpful by getting for us one of the airlines duffels to solve at least one part of our problem. He went the extra mile just to spare us one of the penalties and we were very happy with that, as we knew going in that we'd be dealing with at least the other. Even though we still had one penalty to pay, the entire moment was all conducted with goodwill on both parts, no lack of politeness.

However, on the weight issue, we were using my bathroom scales and things were very frantic that morning. We did the best we could and figured we were actually just at the weight limit. Admittedly it was not a priority at the time. There was A LOT going on, that final morning. I had a scared cat whom I actually had to cut out of the back of my sofa with a bread knife, in order to get him into his kennel. He tore up my arm and I was bleeding all the way to the airport.
I had been up literally all night packing and realizing I had kept back too many "essentials" from my freight shipment and it wasn't all going to be able to be packed without violating one of the baggage rules. As it was, I still had to get a friend to sneak into my no-longer-mine apartment and pick up the things I had to leave behind.

Remember, this was not a "returning from vacation" or going-on-vacation flight that I was packing for -- this was a full one-time-only "moving countries" flight I was packing for -- there's a huge difference. I was going home for good on this flight, with no further trips back and forth possible (I was closing up a rented apartement and I don't intend to visit anyone there again) and was trying to bring everything that meant anything to me, family heirlooms included. This was my one flight, my one shot to take all my things. No repeat trips.


These things were taking place even within the best possible planning I could put into this operation. I was moving back home to the UK after nineteen years living in the US. I researched like crazy, and with no help, either. I had to orchestrate everything about this re-emigration by myself, and it nearly killed me as it is. I'm lucky MORE things didn't go wrong. The suitcase was the ONLY thing that did not go 100% smoothly. I'm not a slipshod, careless person. The stress almost made me psycho. I'm not used to this kind of disruption, and when I did it the first time I never wanted to do it again.

But please don't call me a rookie. I've made the UK-US trip six times in my life. For someone who considers herself a homebody, that's a fair amount to clock up. And I don't intend any more. I've also now emigrated and re-immigrated twice in my life. I don't intend to be flying around the world like this again and I don't intend to need to ever bring as much in my luggage as I was bringing this trip. This was me trying to move all my worldly goods, including things I did not want to trust to the ocean shipping, back to my homeland, not just a vacation.

I feel a tiny bit insulted by that as I'm no rookie, I've made this 5,000 mile flight six times!

Relax, I wasn't calling you a rookie. I was only referring to my own personal experience.