Last week, I first broke the story about how Jet Airways is moving from a weight concept to a piece concept for their domestic baggage, which the major media carried after. The airline is limiting the baggage allowance to one check-in piece per passenger for the economy customers, with a maximum weight of 15 kgs. For Silvers & co-brand card holders, this is 20 kgs, and for Golds, at 25 Kgs.
The new baggage policy will be implemented on July 15 and onwards. If you are not travelling in Business Class or are not a JP Platinum, you would only be able to check-in one bag going forward. It could be 5 kg or it could be 15 kgs.
If, for whatever reason you wanted to bring a second bag along, you would now be paying for it. The airline has announced that the second bag and onwards would be INR 3999 for check-in. I am not aware if this is inclusive of GST or exclusive of that at the moment.
Bottomline
Perhaps this is a good time to start learning to pack light. I usually just travel with hang bags anyways, but this is one bag I am looking at for my 15 kg packing! This is a fair policy, at least in my book, given airlines around the world work on a piece concept, and in exchange for value fares, one needs to make some compromise to be able to get the best deals going forward.
What are your thoughts on the new Jet Airways piece concept?
Does someone know if they have changed this again? In the image from this post a Blue member travelling Premiere is eligible for two pieces for a total of 30Kgs while the Baggage Allowance Calculator in Jet website shows eligibility as 2pcs of 15Kg each. Is the image in the post present in Jet Airways website somewhere?
Also how does this affect co-brand card holders (without Jet status) travelling in Premiere? Do they get 2pcs of 20Kg each or 2pcs with total weight 40Kgs?
so are laptop backpacks exempt from this nonsense or it will count towards 1 piece and will make you pay extra if you had another bag cabin size?
@Tanmay, this is applicable for check-in bags. Hand Baggage allowance is as earlier. They tried to charge for excess handbags years ago but did not manage to make it work. Now, let’s see how long this policy lasts.
Ajay, I’ve been a follower of your blog almost from the time the blog went live and have always looked upto your posts… But this time I differ with your views. You have mentioned at couple of places whereby you feel the policy to be fair in exchange of value fares and cheap ticket.. However this argument is not justified as the baggage policy is applicable across the fares for someone who is not a FF.. Also comparing this policy with Non Indian carriers also seems a bit unjustified with high pricing being implemented instantly. May be you need to look at the policy from a non FF and non business flyer point of view to feel the general anguish which is there among the public.
@Pratik, all fair points and you are entitled to your view just as I am to mine. I will only comment on the second part… High pricing has also been implemented in Maharashtra for carrying plastic, 5000 for the first offence, 10K for second and so on. The same rationale applies, people won’t fear it unless it is prohibitive.
Even looking at this policy from a non-FF perspective, I don’t see why people are ruffled. 15Kg is a lot of baggage allowance, a usual check-in baggage carries 12-13 kg and so people just need to pack better. Alternatively, there are all the other carriers as well to use. But people will be anguished and either Jet will find it hard to keep the policy because it affected their business and reverse it, or people will fall in line and start packing better. which one happens, we need to see.
Ha.. This is hilarious and ridiculous.
I feel this is gonna impact Jet business big time. Unless they are increasing the JP miles value or such, I honestly don’t think those who are travelling for slightly longer duration than 2-3 days would go for Jet.
I know it seems a small subset but still this 4k feels a robbery.
P.S- Agree with few commentators, the blog does seem to be lil biased towards Jet from last few months. Though I guess as only actual loyalty program available, can understand that.
I think it’s time to just remove jet airways from our consideration set. 4k for a bag is just ridiculous when most tickets cost that much or less.
What about American Express/ICICI Jet co-branded extra 5Kg baggage quota?
@Nirmal, in the first bag itself, you get 5 kgs more.
Ajay, recently I have started feeling a bit of biased opinion towards Jet. I have been an ardent reader of your blog since 4 yrs and have loved your insights. But my hunch is that with your promotions collaboration with Jet and paid articles (I am sure there are, since there are posts about JetPrivilege which have been created in conjunction), the neutrality towards Jet has been lost. At least I didnt expect the blog to say ‘4k is a fair game’. Anybody in their right mind would not pay 4k for an additional bag. Even leading carriers in US charge 25$ for a bag. Qantas also has one free baggage and charges 35 AUD for excess which is like 1800 Rs. Jet is almost done for me once I lose my Platinum status next year.
Just because other countries also have a single bag concept, Jet is right to charge? That too $60/Rs 4000? In EU or USA, there is a clear defined rules as how compensation is paid for various things like delayed flights, bumped off due to over booking, etc. Are Indians getting the same kind of compensation? But we should pay maybe 2X the EU/USA checked baggage rate? Heck, WOW Air charges Rs 3299 for a Carry-on and INR 4699 for a checked bag to USA/Canada/Iceland.
I’ve applied for a ICICI Jet Sapphiro Credit Card which is approved and also dispatched (but not delivered). Thinking if I should not even accept it.
@Ankit, I’d be the first to say that as a frequent Jet flyer, their every move is under my radar. I don’t remember have any collaborations with Jet Airways, if you do, let me know. As for JetPrivilege, which is a different legal entity, our exchange was simple, to bring a new product to the eyes of everyone who could use it, and help them try it by getting JP to offer a bonus with it. Is that a bad thing?
And yes, 4K is a fair game. Remember, humans work on conditioning, and this is the same airline which gave away 250 JPMiles for years for you to be able to condition you to check in online rather than offline. Now, as I see it, if the cost was kept at 1000 rupees or 500 rupees, people would have still brought the second bag along. The intention, in my view, is to ensure the airline dissuades customers from bringing a second bag unless eligible. People worldwide travel light. That change started when airlines started charging for bags.
Do we in India really need to bring two bags for two days and 50 change of clothes and 25 pairs of shoes? Not really. And before you feel we have too much of a bias towards Jet, do remember we raised a stink about their boarding policies and they reversed those subsequently.
You have a choice of airlines, of course. But jet is a carrier that works for me with their network, product and loyalty program, and hence I fly them. I recently tried Air India again and all I got was ignorance and nonchalance. Trust you appreciate where we came from, and that my independent view is not to be construed as that of the airline. If the intention was to really side up with the airline, we could have just not published this and that would have been good enough, right?
3999 for an extra bag?
Earlier they charged per kg.
Also any idea what would be the criteria if you are silver and have a Co-branded card? Would that still mean 20 or 25?
@Sachin, if you choose to bring more weight in your first bag, you still pay by the KG. If you bring a second bag, you pay by the bag. If you are silver and with a co-brand card, you get 20 KG
I think it’s time to just remove jet airways from our consideration set. 4k for a bag is just ridiculous when most tickets cost that much or less.
Anyway jet’s quality of service has been going down the drain for a while. Now this is the last trigger.
@Khushi, to balance the price of the cheap ticket, you need to pay extra for extra luggage. And do you really think you need 2 bags on a trip? and if you are travelling for work, your employer would reimburse if you need to travel with extra bags.
I agree that you don’t need 2 bags for a 2 day trip. In fact, I don’t even check in any bag for a 2 day trip.
However, I also travel a lot for 5 days or more. And I prefer smaller bags to big ones. I don’t think 4k extra is a fair price for that, esp if it’s under 15 kg total weight.
But then this move by Jet is not about educating or conditioning people to travel light. That’s what Spicejet and Indigo are doing by offering handbag only fares.
My guess is people with more than 1 bag will book some other airline or have an ugly fight with the ground staff and vow to never travel jet ever again. In both scenarios, it’s not good for jet.
@Khushi, I think they gave a fair 1 month notice so we could all set our ducks in a row. Whatever the logic, we can argue unless the airline doesn’t step in with a stance it is your word against mine. I’m sure there will be people who will book other airlines over Jet for this. It either means the policy is going to harm 9W so much that they repeal it, or people just fall in line and move on. We need to wait 6 months to find out which one works.