Many Indian travelers are stuffing their travel bags with too much clothes and/or other things and end up paying steep excess baggage fees to the airlines.

A recent survey by online travel agent Expedia found that 40% of Indians have forked out excess baggage fees.

With travelers spending as much as Rs. 7,500 on excess baggage fees, Indian fliers are resorting to creative steps to avoid paying for this extravagance – Some wear extra clothes, including up to three jackets, stuff small things in pockets and befriend fellow passengers traveling with lesser baggage to help accommodate their stuff.

The more enterprising Indian travelers go as far as to use infant strollers to carry heavy items, since strollers are allowed into the cabin.

Excess Baggage Fees

To boost revenues, most airlines have become stringent and charge as much as Rs. 2,250 for excess baggage fees and nearly Rs. 9,000 for an oversize or overweight bag

In Expedia’s online survey of 500 Indian travelers, more than 60% said they had not used all the items they had piled into their suitcases.

Over half of the respondents (59%) spent between one and two days preparing for their holiday. Less than a third (22%) said they spent only two hours in packing and nearly 18% spent more than 2 days in packing their bags.

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