A LoyaltyLobby sent us a case about forced gate-checked carry-on on a domestic flight between Helsinki and Ivalo.
Readers are encouraged to send us questions, comments, or opinions by email, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We’ll try to cover them here several times a week.
You can access Finnair here.
Finnair has been in “turmoil” this year with a business class carry-on and checked luggage allowances that have changed several times:
Finnair New Superlight Ticket Type, Decreased Luggage Allowance & Seat Fees
Report Finnair Gate Carry-On Weighing Experiences
Finnair’s Gate Display “CARRY-ON BAGGAGE REMOVAL”
Finnair Changes Business Class Carry-on Allowance Third Time in Two Months
Finnair Completely Walks Back Its Business Class Luggage Allowance Fiasco
Reader’s Email:
Long time reader of LoyaltyLobby here – wanted to share a recent experience with Finnair I had over the past Christmas holidays that may be interesting to you and fellow readers.
I was charged 60EUR to gate check my carry-on (not oversize, just overweight at 12kg), as an OW Emerald boarding with Group 1. It can happen!
I see you have covered the carry-on weight checks issue at HEL quite extensively (ie this series of posts), and the issue was also discussed on FlyerTalk (here).
Gathering experiences shared:
Officially, the carry-on limit is 12kg for J and 8kg for Y – Finnair website
Most posters in the FT thread report checks were not conducted, or pax were not charged even if checked and overweight
“unofficially” business class and group 1 passengers are spared [from the fish-scale gate weighing] – LoyaltyLobby
Specifically, I saw posts reporting gate agents claiming “[pax] had to pay [only] if their ticket did not include checked baggage” – Same FT thread post #318
Summarizing the above, I was not too concerned with my standard-sized carry-on, small backpack, and Group1 BP.
Sadly, this optimism would result in a (rather expensive) piece of coal thrown at me as a Christmas present from AY.
Here are the details (for entertainment; in short, I lost):
I arrived at HEL on the morning of Dec 26 to board AY601 to IVL (only Y offered on this route). Security was efficient given the early hour, and I arrived at the gate just as Group 1 was boarding.
All was normal as I followed the queue to the auto-barriers, scanned my pass, and started making my way to the jetbridge… when I heard the gate agent shout out “Sir! Sir!” behind me.
GA: “Sir, I’m going to have to weigh your carry on” – no justification was given, nor do I believe I stood out from any other Group1 pax.
Out came the famous fish scale, and the agent triumphantly announced: 12kg!
GA: “Economy class carry-on allowance is only 8 kilos, we will have to check this at the gate”
Me: “Ok. I don’t have other checked bags, so I can check this for free as OW Emerald right?” – thinking the FT quote above on “no charge as long as ticket includes checked baggage”
GA: “That does not apply to gate-checked bags. The charge is 60 EUR. Will you be paying by card?”
Me: “You want to charge me 60EUR for a carry-on that I would have been able to check in for free?
GA: “You agreed to the T&C when you booked your ticket” (I guess I was foolish to expect anything more constructive….)
…
I will skip the back and forth, and fast forward to:
GA: “Sir, you are delaying the flight” (Not true, they were barely boarding Group4 at that time) “You can either choose to pay now, or I will remove you from the flight and call security. Will you pay or not?”
Of course, at this point, I knew the fight was lost, and not wishing to be stuck in HEL (lol) for the whole day, handed over my credit card.
Sadly, that’s all I have to share. Kudos to them for at least not losing my bag, I guess?
Conclusion:
A fair word of warning to me fellow travelers – it would be wise to expect fish scale trouble when boarding a Finnair flight. This is regardless of everyone’s favorite gemstone-colored cards and what others may claim, as there is clearly no single book of law. As much as I hate checking in bags, I would recommend not risking drama at the gate, or better yet, any interaction with AY until this nonsense is resolved.
I assure you I have no incentive to randomly slander AY, but I’ve attached some of the relevant documentation for reference (as a kit of “what to expect” if you don’t watch out!)
And finally, an observation that I hesitated to include but eventually felt relevant:
There were only 3 priority-group pax that were summoned to the fish scales. All 3 were of Asian descent, myself included. While I will explicitly not accuse AY of discrimination here without further evidence, I will note it seems a twisted but valid business case to “randomly select” travelers who may:
Have trouble communicating (and hence arguing) at the gate due to language barriers, and
May not be “core frequent flyers” of AY.
The reader correctly noted that there is no business class on domestic flights within Finland and the maximum allowed carry-on weight allowance is just 8 kilos that would have been 12 in business.
We forwarded the reader’s email to Finnair and received the following comment:
In order to ensure smooth boarding and on-time-departure of our flights, all luggage that are to be checked-in need to be checked-in at the departure hall, where customers can also use their tier customer benefits, such as the OW emerald benefit. If a bag needs to be checked-in at the gate, due to it being oversized, or as in this case, exceeding the weight limit for economy class, the charge is always 60e. If the customer in question had checked in their bag at the departure hall, they would have been able to use their tier customer benefit, and if their hand-luggage had been within the limits set for economy class, there would not have been an issue at the gate.
To ensure smooth boarding and on-time-departure, our staff monitors hand luggage at the gate, focusing on situations where there seems to be too many or too large bags coming on board, or where the luggage amount seems to be exceeding the weight limit. The weight limit for economy class carry-on luggage is 8 kg, as the customer themselves also noted, so the weight of their carry-on luggage exceeded the economy class limit clearly.
Checking in bags at the gate always consumes time, as the bags need to taken separately to the hold. The boarding window of a flight is time critical, so it is in the interest of everyone that customers follow the baggage allowance of their ticket, boarding is smooth the flight can depart on-time.
Conclusion
I have flown several times with Finnair after these carry-on allowance changes were instituted, and I have never personally observed this scaling taking place, but the gate agents do have these fish scales available in case they need them (I asked and took a photo once).
The problem is that the 8-kilo allowance is really, really low, and these same Finnair planes flying for other airlines, such as BA, have a much higher limit for cabin luggage, 23 kilos, in the case of British Airways.
Wouldn’t it be cheaper for Finnair if passengers could handle correctly sized cabin luggage by themselves rather than having to check them in?
I am all for policing oversized cabin luggage (if it doesn’t fit wheels on – it must be checked), but the weight of my computer bag alone that fits under the seat exceeds this Finnair limit.
I had a similar experience as the reader when I was on an Airbaltic flight from Tallinn to Amsterdam, and my ticket included checked luggage. The line at the two check-in counters handling several Airbaltic flights was so long that if I had decided to check a bag, I would have missed the flight or cut off for checking a bag.
I took the bag through security, went to the lounge, and, later, to the gate. The agent charged 60 or 80 euros to check the bag, and I could not use the included allowance. So, I practically had no choice.
Have you experienced or seen this Finnair gate-weighting circus? Please leave a comment below.
