The Transport Complaints Board has upheld six Norwegian passengers after the airline charged them because they thought their luggage was too heavy or large.
Norwegian has given fines of between 650 and 750 kroner for passengers who have carried hand luggage that is above the airline’s weight or size limit on board aircraft.
On December 19th, the Transport Complaints Board approved six passengers in their complaints about the fees.
The reason is that the Board considers that the airline has not been able to prove that the luggage was actually above the permitted size or weight for the passengers complaining. It is the company that has the burden of proof that the fee is correctly imposed, the Board believes.
The Board therefore recommends that Norwegian repay the fees.
Don’t bother weighing your luggage
In one case, a passenger was traveling from Oslo airport to Chania in Crete. Upon boarding at Oslo Airport, one of the employees pointed to the complainant’s hand luggage and claimed that it weighed too much. The complainant had even weighed the suitcase before leaving home, explaining that it weighed under ten kilos, which was the upper limit for weight. According to the complainant, the employees did not weigh the baggage, and charged a fee of NOK 750.
When the complainant arrived in Chania, she asked the staff at the check-in desk to weigh the suitcase. It then weighed 6.8 kilos.
Norwegian needs time
It was Flysmart24 that first mentioned the case.
”These cases came in just days before Christmas. We need some time to consider each case individually before making a decision on what to do next,” spokesperson Astrid Mannion-Gibson at Norwegian told the website.
Norwegian admitted this autumn that they have enforced the weight and size regulations for hand luggage too strictly, after several passengers responded to the fees they were charged.
”We have been too strict at the airport. This is the feedback we have received from customers,” said Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen, Director of Information at Norwegian, to Nettavisen.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
How do I contact this Transportation Complaint Board? I didn’t even know such an oversight and recourse was available.
This past July I flew on SAS from Trondheim to Tromso on a fishing trip. After I checked my baggage, I was informed that my fishing pole (which was folded and in a padded case) must be checked in also, and the fee was 450 kr. I just paid, but as I was boarding the plane, I saw a half dozen fellow passengers with fishing poles, some even bigger than mine. I asked a flight attendant about it, and they informed me they routinely have hand carried fishing poles in the cabin especially to North Norway. He advised me to file a complaint with customer service, which I did, but I never received a reply.
I feel like I was arbitrarily charged a fee.
Try Air Baltic. They are much worse than Norwegian. In fact they make it feel like they’re a budget airline while the ticket prices are full price. Their employees hate doing it, saying (in VNO) “not even Ryanair does it at this airport, but we have to, please complain”. They charge a huge fine if your carry-on is heavier than 8(!) kg. Even if you paid 250 euro for your flight. Someone please sue them. I’ve already complained to codeshare partner KLM.
Norwegian airline is such a humiliating and disrespectful airline that they don’t offer free water to drink on international flight from London to Oakland.They always charge for baggage without any reason and very rude on check in.
I am charged without any concrete reason just now. Still in flight. I have been charged NOK 750. I have proof that my bag fits but even then ground staff threaten to either pay or leave the bag. As it was flight time , I have to pay and board.
I need some help here on how to get my money back.
Also I need to know the process to sue these guys which charge money by threatening passengers.
I have always been treated well by Norwegian….even when delayed 5 hrs and when baggage did not manage to come on the same plane as I did…..I have flown Norwegian since it started.
My husband traveled with them in the beginning of December and waited on a long line as they weighed everyone’s carryon luggage and causing the plane to be late on arrival destination. They should have started boarding process earlier with weighing the carry on. They were looking to get any money they could. Rethinking this airline for sure!!!!
I noticed the last luggage fine and was shocked to discover the $30 fee was not for my big case but a combination of $15 hand and $15 big case, well I remember her giggle as I paid, this was at Miami, my hand luggage was on my back and so it was guesstimated, and when we try to analyze it all, they must get a bonus from Norwegian,no one would do that for nothing heh!
I will be contacting them soon, what a feeble shower, if you book premium, when so some fit looking passenger decides their body needs to recline, if your behind them, your totally fuffed for breathing space,and when you need to tinkle they get the hump when they are disturbed.All airlines know the situ,but it is cash bonanza for them,if you book economy with AA,then I have to be a exponent of yoga. My last comment is I had a weight dispute at Detroit,I knew my case was bone fide having left weight behind in Miami,after a long dispute Delta relented and boarded my plane to London, I saw my suitcase 3 weeks later, after it had a trip to New York.
I think there should be a total weight limit for the passenger and the carry-on baggage. It seems unfair that a person should pay extra for a few pounds of extra baggage weight, when other passengers can carry maybe up to 50 extra pounds of body weight.
I was traveling from Oslo to Denmark last summer and as we were getting ready to board the plane , Norwegian airlines employees decided to keep us from boarding under the false pretense that our hand bags were too heavy. One of their employees went as far as assaulting my eldest son .
We complained at customer service upon arriving in Denmark but never heard from them a.
We were only allowed to board in Oslo after paying 350 Euros.
I’ve been traveling with Norwegian for all the years and had 0 issues. The main issue onboard is oversized hand carry luggage, so better they start implementing a system where all luggage being carried onboard is being checked for size and weight to avoid all this confusion.
Yes they are strict on carry-on bags \ depending on the passenger load. I have flown from San Francisco/Oakland to Europe many times. If the over 300 seats are scantly filled they try to make extra revenue by charging unsuspecting passengers last minute for carry-ons \ even tho they already checked in before security.
But on the other hand who will allow you to fly from USA to Europe for 2 to 300$. It’s all relative. Be thankful Norwegian exists, or find another carrier and pay more.
I was pissed when I got hit an extra $100.00 for my heavy carry-on, but I got over it. It was still only 350$.