KEY POINTS:
Air New Zealand will charge domestic travellers up to $20 for a second bag in sweeping plans to overhaul airport check-in.
Occasional travellers will be allowed one bag free and will be charged between $10 and $20 for a second one - regardless of the weight of the
bags.
All passengers with three or more bags will be charged at cargo rates.
Some items, including wheelchairs and other medical equipment, will be exempt from the new charges. But items such as golf clubs will count as a second bag. The airline could not say last night if strollers or prams would be exempt.
Under the plans, to be finalised within the next month, the domestic luggage allowance will rise from 20kg to 30kg a passenger. It means passengers could be better off, if they pack tighter and not lighter.
The airline says its existing $5-a-kilogram excess baggage charge starts at 23kg, so a 30kg bag would cost $35 under the present system.
Frequent flyers, defined as those taking 14 flights or more a year, will get two free bags under the new regime by using a personalised tag system.
Baggage charges for some low-cost carriers in Europe can work out to be more expensive than fares, and from next month United Airlines in America will charge up to US$25 ($32) for a second bag and US$100 a bag for any more than two.
Critics in the United States say it is a revenue-raising measure, but Air New Zealand says its plan is not profit-driven but part of a bigger plan to speed check-in times by 40 per cent and avoid disputes at counters over excess luggage.
"This is not attempting to balance any books - we want speed for passengers and ease of use," said Air New Zealand's group general manager of short-haul airlines, Bruce Parton.
"This way seems fair and simple and gets us out of arguments over who has the correct scales. Our feeling is that customers will be pragmatic about $10 to take the golf clubs or similar on holiday with them."
Mr Parton said passengers took an average of 1.2 bags, and he expected the number of bags would fall only slightly.
"If people are so cost-conscious they choose not to take a second bag then that's a good thing."
No changes would be made to hand-luggage rules.
As part of the plan to shrink check-in queues, passengers will be encouraged to make more use of kiosks for boarding passes, although a reduced number of staffed counters will remain.
Jet flight passengers will attach a bag tag showing their details and destination information, then drop their luggage on conveyer belts to be sorted and loaded on to their flight.
Those on regional flights who opt in to the "fast bag" system will check in on the internet, take their own bag through the gate and put it on a trolley by the aircraft.
Mr Parton said the regional flights competed against cars, trains and buses so speed through airports was crucial and the system enabled passengers to keep an eye on their luggage. Bags on regional flights are not security scanned at present and this will not change.
A two-month trial of this system has just begun. "If customers don't want it we won't do it."
Mr Parton said check-in staff numbers would not be cut. Instead of staying behind the counter, staff would be mingling with passengers helping them to check in using an expanded number of kiosks, and monitoring bag weight.
The new system is due to be introduced in August.
Pacific Blue said it was happy to restrict weight rather than imposing limits on bag numbers.
Travel industry representatives were reluctant to comment without seeing details of the final plan.
Air NZ chief executive Rob Fyfe said the domestic operation was growing faster than any other part of the business. The airline wanted to make "that whole airport piece as seamless as possible. It is by far the most frustrating part for passengers."
A Qantas spokeswoman yesterday refused to comment on the plans. The airline's website says its additional charges for baggage are $20 a piece on domestic flights.
UP IN THE AIR - IT'S A BIT STEEP FOR SOME
Most passengers spoken to at Air New Zealand's domestic terminal yesterday felt the proposed new baggage charges are not justified, and some said they would consider switching airlines when they are introduced.
Two international travellers accused the airline of making life difficult for people catching connecting flights and said the new charges would make things worse.
Cruise ship steward Carlito Sarmiento, 31, from the Philippines, was stranded at Auckland Airport because his five bags, totalling 40kg, were too many even now for his flight to Christchurch.
"There seems to be one rule for international flights and another for domestic, and it makes it very difficult," he said.
'Having a standardised rule would be the best way to ease baggage check-ins."
An Italian backpacker said the charges would hurt the many backpacking travellers who came to New Zealand with "many small bags on a small budget".
Another passenger said Air NZ "should pass on the savings they made by employing Chinese staff".
Susan Moon, 58, who was travelling to Dunedin with four small bags, would have to pay an extra $60 under the new system - almost a third of the cost of her $99 ticket.
"Most definitely I would consider not flying Air NZ if they carry on squeezing passengers for money in every which way they can," she said.
Health therapist Marianne Manson, 47, who shuttles between Auckland and Christchurch, said she put her professional equipment gear in one bag and personal items in another and a large handbag.
"It's ridiculous if the airline is proposing that all that has to be squeezed into one bag," she said.
The Herald spoke to 15 passengers, and nine thought the new charge was another "money-making exercise" by the airline.
But three thought the $20 second-bag charge was reasonable.
Said one: "Air New Zealand has always been good to me, and I believe they must have good reasons to implement these new charges."
