How to weigh a bag on a bathroom scale. Packing luggage at the airport. You paid more than you brought. What to do

Let's face it, heavy luggage is annoying, tiring, and sometimes quite expensive. With the help of this short guide, you will forever forget about heavy suitcases and experience the beauty of traveling light.

Indeed, why not follow the example of experienced travelers who can travel half the world with a light backpack on their shoulders? Why try to squeeze your entire wardrobe into a suitcase every time? A few simple principles will help you break this bad habit.

Before packing your bags, take a few minutes to call the hotel or place you plan to stay. Ask if there are towels, sheets, hair dryer, slippers, toiletries. If yes, leave it all at home.

2. Consider the time of year and weather

Is it winter outside? Take warm clothes. Summer? Bring something light. Don’t pack “just in case” items that you are unlikely to even take out of your suitcase.

3. Choose the right colors

It's not just women who carefully plan their wardrobe. For those who are used to choosing everything in the same style and tone, it is recommended to take clothes in brown, white, black, and pastel colors. This way you can combine them with each other and wear a new outfit every day without overloading your suitcase.

4. Simple rule

For trips lasting less than a week, there is one simple rule: take only as much stuff as you need. No less, but by no means more. One shirt (T-shirt) and a set of underwear for each day of the trip, a sweater (jacket), a pair of pants, two pairs of shoes, plus seasonal clothing: a windbreaker, a jacket, a swimsuit. In 90% of cases this is enough.

5. Read and check

Before you start packing things into your suitcase, you need to make a final inspection. Ideally, you can make a list of everything you plan to take, including even small items like socks and toiletries. Or just lay them out on the sofa or floor. This way you will clearly see what you can refuse.

6. We carry the heaviest things on ourselves

This little trick is well known experienced travelers. That is why they often fly in heavy boots, jeans and a jacket, even in the summer heat. This is not always comfortable, but you can save a whole suitcase.

7. Use the laundry service

There is a 99% chance that the place you plan to stay will have a laundry service. So why carry tons of clothes if you can only take minimum required and wash it periodically?

8. There are no trifles

Have you noticed that most of your luggage is taken up by small items? A bottle of shampoo, a bottle of shaving foam - and free place melts before our eyes. Therefore, you should take with you special, “travelling” versions of the necessary things in small packages. If it is a liquid, you can pour the required amount into a smaller container.

9.Maps, guidebooks and other waste paper

It's amazing how many people plan their itinerary using brochures and magazines, which only add to the weight of their suitcase. Download the necessary applications to your smartphone, send yourself an email with the necessary information (if there is Internet access). If you don’t trust gadgets, write down everything you need in a small notebook.

10. Gifts and souvenirs

If you bring something to all your loved ones from every trip, the best option There will be local food, sweets and drinks. This way you will save space in your suitcase and save yourself a lot of pain for everyone. And upon arrival, you can gather everyone at the table, where everyone can try everything that was brought. At the same time, look at photos from the trip and share your impressions.

→ 10 ways to save on baggage transportation


Very often we go on vacation to a resort, or on a trip, or simply take flights in which we need to transport a lot of necessary and necessary things.

In addition, we all know that a regular ticket on most airlines allows you to carry no more than 20 kg of baggage for free. Anything we carry in excess of this is subject to a hefty fee (from 5 euros for each extra kilogram). Sometimes the amount reaches the cost of the ticket itself. We want to tell you How can you avoid these surcharges?

1. Get dressed!
Usually, when checking in, you place your suitcases and bags on a conveyor scale. But no one will feel your clothes or your pockets. If you feel seriously overweight, put on the heaviest things on yourself: instead of trousers, jeans with a belt, instead of sneakers, shoes or boots. This will make your suitcases a little lighter and you will be a little hotter, but the inconvenience ends right at the check-in counter. Grab a couple of large plastic bags to put your warm jacket in after check-in and bring it on board.
Gain in kg: 1-3

2. Use pockets!
By wearing items with lots of pockets, you can really load them up with a ton of heavy items from your suitcase. For example, chargers, batteries and CD players can easily fit into your pockets. In addition, remove books from the suitcase - each of them significantly weighs down the main luggage. After check-in, all listed items can be put back into your hand luggage.
Gain in kg: 1-2

3. Come with friends
The most important thing is that the weight of your main suitcases does not exceed 20 kg. per person. If you feel you may be overweight, place the heaviest items from your luggage in a bag or carry-on bag. Usually they may also be asked to weigh it along with the suitcase. To do this, enlist the company of a companion: let him stand with heavy carry-on bags during check-in. The tag that the manager hangs at check-in costs nothing, you will be allowed on board without it, and by leaving hand luggage with friends, you guarantee yourself that they will not be weighed along with your luggage and will not force you to pay.
Gain in kg: 1-5

4. Take a lot of bags
Make sure your luggage consists of three small bags rather than one large suitcase. Use permits for additional baggage, such as laptops, cameras and sports equipment (such as skiing). Here's an example: laptops and cameras in a case cannot be weighed. This means that in addition to the laptop, your bag may well contain a charger (and indeed all chargers), and in addition, any equipment that may be needed to work with the laptop, disks, books, and so on. At registration, the main thing is that the laptop is working, they check this. And then - at least stick a brick in there, just not very clearly.
Gain in kg: 1-5
Important! On many budget airlines you pay for luggage by the number of bags, in this case, on the contrary, you should try to fit everything into one suitcase.

5. Leave room for maneuver.
In addition to everything that we described in the previous paragraph, many bags are also an opportunity for maneuver. Imagine, you put your suitcase on the belt, and the weight of 21 kg is displayed there, which, with a ticket costing 1000 euros to New York, costs you 10-20 euros extra. In this case, you can ask for your suitcase back and offer to leave anything unnecessary at the airport. You can stuff the “unnecessary” stuff into your hand luggage, pockets, or simply ask your friends to hold it, and weigh the suitcase again, which, at 19.9 kg, will not make you pay for it. Therefore, do not pack your suitcase in plastic cellophane without knowing its exact weight.
Gain in kg: 1-2

6. Travel with transfers
It’s clear that carrying ten-kilogram hand luggage is not a pleasant pleasure. But you have a wonderful opportunity to include it in your luggage too. If you are flying with a transfer, your baggage is automatically transferred from one aircraft to another. At the transfer airport, you can add your hand luggage to your luggage, and the airport staff will have no way of knowing how many kilograms you checked in the first time. So theoretically, during a transfer you can add up to 20 kg of luggage for free.
Gain in kg: 1-20

7. Shop locally
You should not buy shampoos, creams, soap, toothpaste, inflatable mattresses and circles with you on the road, kites- in a word, everything you can painlessly and simply buy upon arrival. As a rule, you manage to save not only kilograms, but also space in your suitcase.
Gain in kg: 1-2

8. Buy souvenirs at Duty-Free
Quite often you can buy sweets, local alcohol and ordinary souvenirs there. For example, at the duty-free airport in Vienna you can buy, perhaps, everything that you can buy on the streets of the Austrian capital: magnets, toys, sweets! Find out if it is possible to buy any souvenirs at the duty-free airport of departure and shop there.
Gain in kg: 1-2

9. Weigh your luggage at home!
The advice is the most banal, but as it turns out, not so many tourists use it. Just put your suitcase on the scale at home and solve all your problems “on the shore”!
Gain in kg: everything over 20

10. Don't get carried away!
We still advise you not to get carried away big amount and the weight of the luggage. Firstly, it is extremely inconvenient to transport all this to and from the airport. Secondly, large luggage on the plane will certainly cause you troubles, for example, you will have to put your bags under your feet, and you will not be able to fly comfortably. Therefore, one of the main rules for saving on luggage is to travel light!
Gain in kg: priceless

Bonus tip for those who read to the end:

11. Make friends in line
If you are traveling alone, we recommend that you take a closer look at other passengers in the check-in line. 20 kg per person free luggage, and on two - respectively 40, so if someone in line has a suitcase that is much lighter or even just hand luggage, ask them to say that you are together, and you most likely will not be forced to pay anything extra.

These are a few problems for me. Sometimes when I'm packing and preparing to move, I find that I don't have a reliable way to weigh my luggage.

Of course, most of us know that airlines nowadays usually have severe restrictions on luggage, including size, type, but mostly weight.

How can I accurately estimate the weight of my luggage then? It seems that the norm for most airlines is £50 per baggage, but how can I tell if something is below, equal to or above this set limit?

Carlson

I've used it with hard material suitcases and it was accurate to within 0.1 lbs as long as it didn't touch the floor.

Maitre Peser

I often use the Carlson method with any type of bag and it gives pretty good readings.

The system is not working

@MasterSergeantShooterPerson - When all I have is a bathroom scale, I weigh myself, weigh myself with luggage, and then just subtract the two weights.

Answers

Simon

yuritsuki

Changed my accepted answer to this. Even though @Itai noted that feeling is good idea, I never felt enough to know if I would have to pay an overweight baggage fee at the airport.

Simon

@thinlyveiledquestionmark I'm glad I could help.

dat1grl

Weigh yourself on a home scale, then weigh yourself while holding your bag. Subtract the first from the second and you get the weight of the bag. If the bag is larger than the scale, such as hanging over the sides, it will not weigh properly and so you must stand on the scale while holding it.

Jeff Bauer

This is what I did when I traveled by bike.

Itai

As Simon suggested, you don't need to evaluate and can buy manual scales, which you will put in your luggage after measuring if you intend to purchase items while traveling.

Before I drank one of these, I measured it and rarely lost a few pounds. The idea is very simple: find out what 50 lbs feels like. You should do this at home by holding up your suitcase with its various contents and comparing it to something known to weigh 50 pounds. The easiest way to measure is a 50 lb dumbbell or my 5 year old who weighed 49 lbs :)

Mark Mayo

I have gone to a courier or post office in my local area in the past. They have large industrial scales that will easily take your backpack/bag/suitcase/camel and give you an accurate weight reading. Sometimes it's even in public places, so you don't have to check with anyone, and otherwise ask and act like a crazy tourist, panicking about the weight of your suitcase - most people will be keen to help and see if you're going to be overweight - also, if you are perhaps sending things home and look - you are at the post office! :)

Andrew Ferrier

Of course, this depends on where you're staying, but I've found in the past that most mid-range to luxury (and sometimes budget) hotels will have an affordable scale even if they don't. in the room. Just ask the front desk/concierge/etc.

driver

If you don't have access to a scale, and there's no post office around you, and you don't know what 50 pounds is, just go to the airport an hour early, find an empty check-in counter, and weigh it there. Plan enough time so that you can pack some items in your carry-on or even take out some of those heavy boots/jackets/etc. and wear it. Since all airport scales are calibrated, 50.0 pounds on one scale is also 50.0 pounds on another scale, and you can make the most of your luggage!

NSN

This is not a definitive answer, but simply additional advice if you don't have a scale and don't know what to do:

I have seen myself in this situation more than once. I have a portable scale, but it's not hard to forget.

I often weigh my luggage at the airport. I simply walk to the empty check-in counter and place my luggage on the belt. In most cases, the scale is included and has an LCD weighing screen for the user to see. Sometimes I even do this if I'm weighing luggage at home, but I'm close to the limit. Home scales can vary by up to half a kilogram and may be difficult to read accurately unless they have a digital screen.

I know weighing in at the airport can sometimes be too late, but at least you don't have the embarrassment and pressure of being overweight and having a whole line of people waiting to check in while you try to solve the problem (either by paying extra or putting things away).

In either situation, if you don't want to pay extra, be prepared to leave things behind or be able to quickly move things between your carry-on and checked luggage (sometimes only one of which has extra weight) or a friend's luggage that has less weight. Select the items you want to trade or are willing to leave behind and leave them in a location where they are accessible.

What I usually do is:

  1. If it's a returning trip and I weighed my suitcase when leaving (home or at the airport), I know how much weight I have. I'm just trying to fit the same content (or less) and evaluating the additional weight I want to add (souvenirs, documents, whatever)
  2. If I have no idea why it's bad, I try to choose the heaviest items and put them in my carry-on luggage. Carry-on luggage can be weighed, but there are a few situations that are a little easier to handle. A. Some companies do not have weight restrictions for carry-on luggage; B. You can still register and solve your weight problem after leaving the queue. You can then come back and ask for an Approved Carry-on Baggage sticker, if applicable.

In any situation, try not to be late for the airport so that you have time to deal with the situation.

Ashok Nikumb

To make weighing my travel luggage easier, I made a simple help. It has a calibrated portable spring scale that hooks onto the handle of the suitcase. The suitcase is lifted using a two-meter lever until it is released and its weight is registered. The lever is supported by a chain and a hook supported from an arch of steel tube. The arch fits two vertical pieces of pipe that are welded to a bracket with two legs. Because of the lever, less energy is required to lift heavier luggage or suitcases.

you failed

Please use lowercase letters, it's quite painful to read.

David Richerby

Frankly, I don't think a device with a spring balance, a two-meter lever and a welded steel frame is considered "simple". Plus, I imagine most people won't be willing to give up the space needed to store this device considering how rarely it will be used. So I suppress my voice due to the sheer impracticality of it all.

 

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