Last Update: Wednesday, November 8, 2006. 10:11pm (AEDT)
Air New Zealand gets tough on excess baggage

By New Zealand correspondent Peter Lewis

There is a new warning for trans-Tasman travellers with Air New Zealand clamping down on excess baggage.

It has almost become one of the time-honoured traditions of holiday travel - squeezing more than the 20-kilogram allowance into your baggage and then slipping it through check-in.

Depending on loadings, staff often turn a blind eye if you are just a little bit over the limit.

But now Air New Zealand is trialling a new electronic system that not only weighs your luggage, it calculates your excess charges.

Five dollars a kilogram on domestic New Zealand flights, $10 a kilogram across the Tasman and up to a whopping $35 a kilogram for long haul flights.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1784240.htm