As of: April 9, 2024, 7:38 a.m
By: Natascha Berger
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A family from Cologne experiences an unexpected cost trap at the end of their vacation in Turkey. Suddenly an additional 400 euros are due for hand luggage. The frustration is great.
Cologne – For a family from Cologne, the family vacation ended instead of with relaxation and with one thing in particular: a lot of frustration. After four days in the popular holiday destination Türkiye, the five holidaymakers suddenly had to pay an extra 400 euros on their return journey. The nasty surprise cost the people of Cologne more than the flight.
Emal Fakhri (40) was at the popular seaside resort of Alanya on the Turkish Riviera with his siblings and their partners for four days. As
express.de
reports, the family lost their mood at the airport in Antalya, 135 kilometers away. When the man from Cologne and his travel companions wanted to start their return journey to Düsseldorf, there was a problem: According to an employee, the hand luggage did not meet the guidelines of the airline SunExpress, a subsidiary of Lufthansa AG and Turkish Airlines.
For hand luggage that is too heavy: a family from Cologne suddenly has to pay 400 euros before boarding
The excess luggage cost 80 euros per person, and the holidaymakers had to pay a whopping 400 euros more in total. The flights themselves only cost just over 360 euros. The people of Cologne had booked the so-called SunLight tariff. This allows the airline's customers to carry hand luggage measuring 40 × 30 × 20 centimeters. The backpack, small trolley or bag can weigh up to four kilograms.
Fakhri asserts that he adhered to these guidelines. What was particularly annoying was that the five-person travel group weighed their hand luggage themselves using a travel scale. “We weighed 3.5 kilos. If anything, we couldn’t have been that much more concerned about it,” he says at
express.de.
An influencer recently revealed a tip on how to get more out of your hand luggage.
Frustration for a family from Cologne: Sunexpress travelers face a cost trap when flying back from their holiday in Turkey. © dieBildmanufaktur/IMAGO & Chris Emil Janßen/IMAGO
Arbitrary decision? Holidaymakers feel “ripped off” because of extra costs on their return flight
Fakhri tells
express.de
that the man at the counter acted arbitrarily. The employee neither weighed nor measured the hand luggage. He also became loud and rude. The family felt “ripped off,” but ultimately gave in and paid to defuse the situation. The different regulations at different airlines can quickly become confusing for holidaymakers, which is why an EU Commission is now calling for uniform rules for hand luggage chaos.
Upon request , the airline tells
IPPEN.MEDIA
that customers will be 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),” says SunExpress. This was the case with travelers to Turkey. Everyone had a hand luggage trolley with them that “exceeded the permissible specifications,” said an airline spokesman.
Even if Fakhri is sure that he didn't exceed the specified 4 kilos, the five-man traveling group remains at 400.
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For many travelers, it has long been considered a savings trick to fly on vacation with only hand luggage. But with many airlines this can now cost a lot. There are also different guidelines to follow depending on the airline and tariff to avoid a nasty surprise when boarding.
(nbe)