Saturday, January 26, 2019

Emirates to cut check-in limit of baggage by 50%

Manju.V@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:26.01.2019

Dubai-based Emirates is set to introduce farebased check-in baggage allowance, solely for its economy class.

The new regime, which applies to tickets bought on or after February 4, is expected to hit bargain hunters, especially those on the India-US route, as baggage allowance for cheaper classes of fare has been cut by as much as 50%.

Currently, the most popular route out of India to the US is via Dubai with Emirates being the top carrier in terms of passenger traffic.

Under the new baggage allowance structure, the free check-in baggage allowance for a passenger who buys a cheap economy class ticket on, say, the Mumbai-Dubai-New York flight will be one piece of bag, not weighing more than 23 kg. Currently, all Emirates economy class passengers on the India-US route can checkin two bags for free, each not weighing more than 23 kg.

Emirates divides its economy class into four different fare categories: Special, Saver, Flex, and Flex Plus. Special is the lowest category with the cheapest fare, while Flex Plus is the one with the most expensive economy class tickets. The reduction in baggage allowances applies only to Special and Saver category of fares.

TOI sourced information from travel agents to get an idea of what constitutes a cheap economy class fare on Emirates.

For travel in the last week of February on the Mumbai-Dubai-New York route, the cheapest one-way economy class fare was around ₹34,500 (“Special” category of fare). For bookings done from February 4 onwards on this fare, a passenger will be allowed only one 23 kg check-in bag for free. The fare that allows a passenger to carry two 23 kg check-in bags for free is the “Flex” fare, which began at around ₹51,400 for this route. The highest fare, the “Flex Plus”, was around ₹84,400.

Emirates uses “piece concept” for check-in baggage for flights to and from the Americas and flights originating in Africa (except flights within the Americas and between US and Europe).

The change in this will be that special level of economy fares will be allowed one piece of up to 23 kg from February 4, instead of the current two pieces of up to 23 kg each. Emirates will apply the same change is for special fares on flights within the Americas and between Europe and US.

(With inputs from New Delhi)



TO HIT BARGAIN HUNTERS: Currently, all economy class passengers on the India-US route can check in two bags for free, each not weighing more than 23kg

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