Mumbai: Air India and its budget airline, Air India Express, have started restricting the weight of hand baggage carried by passengers from Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi after finding many passengers breaching prescribed weight norms with their duty-free shopping.
The free allowance for hand luggage will be strictly restricted to 8 kg for Air India and 7 kg for Air India Express, inclusive of duty-free items. Baggage weighing over the free allowance will be levied a fee of 60 Dirhams (Rs 1,035) per excess kilo and recovered from the passenger at the boarding gate. Some add-ons that are exempted from carry-on baggage weighing include ladies' hand bags, overcoat or wrap, rug or blanket, camera or binoculars, reasonable amount of reading material, infant feeding items and carrying basket, collapsible wheelchair or a pair of crutches or braces for passengers dependent on them, walking stick, foldable umbrella, laptop and medicines required during the flight. Air India officials explained that passenger hand baggage is usually assumed as 7 or 8 kg, but people sometimes carry an excess of 10-15 kg without being noticed.
Niket Sharan, 37, was among passengers who ended up with a heavier bag on July 1. He was lucky his friends were more than willing to take his extra load in their bags.
06/07/15 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror
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The free allowance for hand luggage will be strictly restricted to 8 kg for Air India and 7 kg for Air India Express, inclusive of duty-free items. Baggage weighing over the free allowance will be levied a fee of 60 Dirhams (Rs 1,035) per excess kilo and recovered from the passenger at the boarding gate. Some add-ons that are exempted from carry-on baggage weighing include ladies' hand bags, overcoat or wrap, rug or blanket, camera or binoculars, reasonable amount of reading material, infant feeding items and carrying basket, collapsible wheelchair or a pair of crutches or braces for passengers dependent on them, walking stick, foldable umbrella, laptop and medicines required during the flight. Air India officials explained that passenger hand baggage is usually assumed as 7 or 8 kg, but people sometimes carry an excess of 10-15 kg without being noticed.
Niket Sharan, 37, was among passengers who ended up with a heavier bag on July 1. He was lucky his friends were more than willing to take his extra load in their bags.
06/07/15 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror
