Joan Collins excess baggage bill: $4,966 for $180,000 in luxury bags

While you visit Gadling and read my rant about $45 carry-on bag fees, other air passengers are having having fun turning excess baggage into a challenge – not a complaint.

Take for example Joan Collins – Because she travels a lot between London and the United States, she says she feels “compelled to travel like a packhorse”.

And she isn’t kidding either – each trip involves a professional packing firm, 30 Louis Vuitton cases and baggage transport fees for all those bags.

Think about that for a second – every single time she flies between her two homes, she carries clothes, accessories, books, CD’s, DVD’s and a bunch of other household junk.

Lets put this into numbers for a moment – her luggage firm charges $183 for each bag. Thankfully this price does include door to door service, but the total bill is $4,966 each time she travels (she gets a nice discount when she transports more than five bags).

Of course, that is nothing compared to the estimated value of her Louis Vuitton luggage – with an average price of $6000 each, her collection of monogrammed luggage is worth about $180,000. Kind of makes me worry a little less about paying $25 to have my bag placed in the hold.

I do have a tip for her: if you buy two of everything, you won’t have to transport it between your two homes each time you travel.
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Airline chairman in hot water for 840 pound luggage load

When the chairman of Thai Airways arrived at Tokyo’s Narita airport, he did so with his wife, and 30 pieces of luggage. His official luggage allowance is just 132 pounds, so the 840 pounds of stuff he was dragging along with him on his trip was about six times too heavy.

Based on the excess luggage rates for Thai Airways, Mr. Wallop would have been expected to pay about $12,000 for the right to bring his luggage on the plane – but apparently he felt he was too important to pay. And that is where a firestorm of criticism started.

Thai Airways hasn’t posted a profit in several years, and the chairman was already on shaky ground. This incident has finally forced the airline board to investigate the incident, and they placed Wallop on administrative leave.

The whole story gets even better, because apparently Wallop demanded that all his luggage be sent to the lost and found depot at Bankok airport, in order to prevent it passing through customs (and being subject to import taxes). As the storm grew, Wallop even claimed all 30 bags were filled with donations for a local Buddhist temple.

Even the Thai government managed to get involved – and with growing calls for his resignation, Mr. Wallop will probably really regret pushing the limits on luggage allowance, since it will end up costing him his job.

Gadling gear review – On Your Weigh luggage scales by Travelon

In this Gadling gear review, I’ll introduce you to a product that is becoming increasingly important for travelers. As more and more airlines start charging for (excess) baggage, you’ll run the risk of a nasty surprise at the airport.

With the Travelon “On Your Weigh” portable luggage scales, you’ll be able to weigh your luggage before arriving at the airport, giving you plenty of time to juggle things around a bit, or if you need a good excuse to leave some of those horrible souvenirs at your hotel.

The On Your Weigh scales are very lightweight (6.8 ounces) and are just 6″x3″.

To use the scales, you simply press the “open” button on the front, 2 rubber coated grips pop out, and a hook extends from the bottom. To weigh your luggage, you turn the scales on, and hang a bag from them.

After about 5 seconds (when your luggage stops swinging), the scales display the weight on a backlit LCD display mounted on the top. Once it has a reliable measurement, it stores the final weight on the display for 30 seconds.

Despite their simple appearance, the scales are pretty smart – the LCD display color changes from blue to red when the weight exceeds 50 pounds. You can also change that overweight warning to 40, 30 or even 20 pounds, for really stingy airlines.

In addition to the “open” button, the On Your Weigh scales have just 2 buttons – one to turn them on, and one to switch between pounds and kilos. Its maximum weight capacity is 110 pounds, or 50 kilos and it is accurate to just .22 kilos.

One additional reason for using these scales is to beat the airline scales – many airports are operating poorly calibrated scales, and if you come across an airport scale that reports something way out of line with your own measurement, it’ll give you a valid reason to ask for a re-weigh using different scales, or even ask to see the calibration sticker.

The On Your Weigh scales cost $29.99, and are available from many Travelon retailers. Follow this link for a list of their retailers.

I wish products like this were not necessary – but airlines have given us no choice. I’m especially impressed with the compactness of the On Your Weigh Scales, and the extra touches put into its design. The color changing LCD display is sheer brilliance. If you regularly push the limits of your baggage allowance, I highly recommend adding the On Your Weigh scales to your travel gadget arsenal.

Don’t trust the airport scales – weigh your own luggage with the Balanzza Ergo

Last year, Jeffrey wrote about faulty scales at Tuscon airport, the month before that it was JFK airport. Bottom line is that airlines don’t always have their scales calibrated as often as they should, and airlines sometimes even use condemned scales in their daily operations.

Of course, the big issue here is that a bad scale could end up costing you money. If you weigh a bag at home, and think it weighs 45 lbs, but the airline tells you it weighs 55 lbs, who are you to argue? You’ll hand over your credit card and pay the difference.

Of course, smart people do argue with the airline, and smart people come prepared.

This is where the Balanzza Ergo handheld scale can help. This little device can weigh bags up to 100 lbs (or 44kg) and runs off 2 (included) AA batteries. To weigh a bag, you simply hook the strap onto your bag, turn the device on and wait for “the beep”. Once it beeps, you put it down again, and check the weight on the display.

The Balanzza Ergo handheld scale costs $24.95 and ships for about $6. Alternatively, you can find it at many travel product retailers for as low as $17. When you realize that airlines will charge as much as $125 for each overweight bag, you’ll understand the need for a portable product like this.