Air India will now charge more to check in a second baggage for passengers flying from and to Europe or the UK. Air India introduced fare family starting October 17, with the lowest fare offering a checked bag of up 23 kg on these routes. Those who wish to check in two suitcases will have to choose the higher economy fare. The difference in price starts at INR 4,000 per one-way ticket.
Most Western airlines, like Lufthansa, only allow economy passengers to check in one bag. Additional charges are required for the second bag. British Airways has two different economy fares: one for handbags only and another for bags up to 23kg each.
Air India reduced the baggage allowance on its domestic flights from 25 kg down to 15 kg earlier this year. This was to align it with the other Indian airlines. Before its privatization, in 2022 the state-owned carrier offered a larger baggage allowance to attract customers and compensate for its poor on-time performance and aging cabin product.
Tatas have invested billions in Air India and there is hope for improvements to be seen across the fleet within the next few decades. As part of its modernization, Air India is aligning their baggage allowance to major global airlines.
Some passengers recognize this change, but question whether Air India should’ve made these changes after upgrading their wide-body fleets (a process that is expected to be completed within the next two years) and improving punctuality. Air India allows two checked bags up to 23 kg in each economy class on North American flights. However, it is not known how long this policy will continue.
“Air India restructured the fare family on Europe and UK route to better align it with market trends. AI now offer travellers a more affordable ‘value’ fare option that provides one piece of checked baggage weighing 23kg with limited travel flexibility.
British Airways will integrate their code on several key destinations in IndiGo’s extensive network. This collaboration will allow passengers to enjoy seamless connections between India, UK and India. British Airways will add three new routes to its existing network as part of the codeshare initiative. The airline currently offers 56 flights a week to five major Indian destinations: Delhi, Mumbai (including Chennai), Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Hyderabad.
Travellers who seek more baggage allowance and higher travel flexibility can opt for the ‘classic’ and ‘flex’ fares that continue to offer two pieces of checked baggage weighing 23kg each in economy. ‘Value’ fares are available only for economy class bookings,” Air India had said in a statement recently while announcing new fare families across cabins. AI has 264 flights per week to and from Europe, the UK and Canada.
A Delhi-based CA, who is booking a ticket to bring his son home for Christmas this year from Europe, told TOI that the fare difference between a one-bag fare and a two-bag fare was INR 8,000. A leading Gulf airline offers 35 kg of baggage allowance for INR 20,000 less than the other carriers. “But taking that would mean an increased travel time of 5 hours due to its hub.”
As AI improves — overall in terms of cabin product and on time performance — and IndiGo spreads its wings on longer-range planes, foreign airlines with hubs in places like the Gulf, further West Asia, Europe and south/southeast Asia that have historically carried a lion’s share of traffic between India and rest of them world will have to offer lower fares to wean away passengers from the nonstop convenience that these two desi carriers will provide.
A senior AI official stated:
“The difference between our economy fares with one and two checked-in bags for Europe and UK flights is not significant.”
For example, it could be around INR 4,000 for a flight from Delhi to Frankfurt. The idea was “why should a traveller with just one bag pay the same as a traveller with two?”
