A family vacation in Turkey ends with an expensive surprise for a Cologne family. The hand luggage costs you more than the flight itself.
Munich – A family vacation in Turkey ended with unexpected costs instead of relaxation for a Cologne family. After a four-day stay in Alanya, a popular seaside resort on the Turkish Riviera, the five travelers suddenly had to pay an additional 400 euros when they returned. This unpleasant surprise even exceeded the cost of the flight. Emal Fakhri (40) and his siblings and partners were those affected by this situation, as
express.de
reports. The trouble started at the airport in Antalya, 135 kilometers from Alanya. There they were informed that their hand luggage did not meet the guidelines of the airline SunExpress, a subsidiary of Lufthansa AG and Turkish Airlines.
The additional costs for excess baggage amounted to 80 euros per person, which totaled 400 euros. For comparison: the cost of the flights themselves was just over 360 euros. The travel group had booked the airline's so-called SunLight tariff, which allows hand luggage of 40 × 30 × 20 centimeters and a weight of up to four kilograms. Fakhri assures that they adhered to these guidelines. They had even weighed their carry-on luggage with a travel scale. “We weighed 3.5 kilos. If anything, we couldn't have been that much more concerned about it," he told
express.de
. An influencer recently revealed a tip on how to get more out of your hand luggage.
Hand luggage chaos: Holidaymakers pay an extra 400 euros on the return journey
Fakhri reports to the portal that the employee at the counter acted arbitrarily. He neither weighed nor measured the hand luggage and also became loud and rude. The family felt “ripped off” but eventually gave in and paid to defuse the situation. The different hand luggage regulations of different airlines can quickly become confusing for travelers, which is why an EU Commission is now calling for uniform rules for hand luggage.
Upon request, SunExpress told
IPPEN.MEDIA
that customers are informed about the tariff guidelines “transparently in the booking process” and on the website. “If passengers bring hand luggage trolleys or other larger bags to the gate that exceed the permitted dimensions, our colleagues on site are unfortunately forced to charge the surcharge for oversized hand luggage (€80 per piece for boarding),” said the airline. This was the case with travelers from Turkey. Everyone had a hand luggage trolley with them, which “exceeded the permitted requirements,” according to an airline spokesman.
Despite Fakhri's belief that the hand luggage did not exceed the permitted four kilos, the five-member travel group remains stuck with the additional 400 euros. For a long time, many travelers considered it a cost-saving measure to only travel with hand luggage. But this can now lead to significant costs for many airlines. It's important to note the specific policies depending on the airline and fare to avoid unpleasant surprises when boarding.