End Those Baggage Snags at the Airport

You seldom fly without baggage, how come baggage rules fly out of your mind while travelling? Yes, this compendious chunk of literature on baggage rules at the airport will save you time and annoyances. Airline baggage is divided into:

Hand Luggage/Cabin Luggage - that small laptop bag or hand bag which you can carry along with you on board.

Checked Baggage - the big bags that are kept in the belly of the aircraft.

airport baggage snags

Guidelines for Hand Luggage:

Specifications like size of baggage, count of bags and weight of baggage varies from airline to airline. Most airlines allow one bag weighing 5-10 kgs for domestic flights, while baggage allowance for international flights tend to vary from carrier to carrier. You can check this on the airline’s website while making an online ticket booking.

Go dry! Carry no more than 100 ml of any liquids such as beverages, shampoos, gels or other items of similar consistency in the hand luggage, except for medicines and baby food.
Duty-free items bought at the airport can be carried in addition to the hand luggage, provided they are clearly identified and marked as duty-free.
Personal items including laptop, blanket, camera, books, walking stick, baby stroller and wheelchair may be allowed on board.
The rules are the same for cabin baggage of children and adults.

Note: Some operators like Jet Airways airlines, Indigo Airlines and SpiceJet do not allow any hand luggage while boarding flights from locations such as Jammu and Srinagar. Be sure to check with your airline operator if you are flying from any such high-security airport.

Guidelines for Checked Baggage:

Upper limit of the weight of checked baggage varies between 20-40 kgs, depending on your airline and the cabin class you are flying. For international flights, it can vary depending on the country you’re flying to, so be sure to check the airline website.
Pack your checked baggage with utmost care; airlines take no responsibility for the damage of improperly packed or fragile baggage.
Avoid storing any valuables in the checked baggage.
In case your baggage turns out to be overweight, the airlines regard it as excessive luggage, and will charge you per kilogram of excess weight. Hence, it is advisable to pack light.
The checked baggage is inaccessible during the course of your flight, so keep all the necessities in your cabin luggage.

Also, here’s a list of items you must not carry in your luggage, in order to avoid check-in woes:

Apparatus or articles containing acids, alkalis or mercury.
Explosive items, inflammable substances and poisonous gases.
Unidentified objects – never accept any such object from anyone wanting you to ship it to your destination.
Items which are not allowed inside the cabin include knives, scissors, or any other sharp instruments, firearms, cutlery, toy guns, pepper spray and petrol lighters.

Alas, had someone devised a set of (comfortably comprehendible) airline baggage guidelines (like this one!) earlier, I would still be flaunting my Zippo lighter, which I was forced to sacrifice for the safekeeping of my folks on board at T1, New Delhi, while boarding my Go Air flight to Mumbai last year.

Well, at least I’ve managed to keep some of your probable boarding losses off-board… Amen to that, eh?

End Those Baggage Snags at the Airport - Now!

Guidelines for Hand Luggage:

Guidelines for Checked Baggage:

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