Low-cost Airline math lesson

Mikhail Denisenko
Nov 3 · 3 min read
Photo by Brandless on Unsplash

Checking-in for my flight at Schiphol last week. Since I was flying for 3 days in total, I didn’t need any checked-in luggage. I took a small carry-on bag that fits the most strict size requirements.

Low-cost Airline math be like:

- Our max allowance for carry-on luggage is 5 Kg (asks me to put the bag on the belt to weigh it)

- The scale shows 6.5 Kg

- Congrats! it’s 80 EUR extra for the overweight

- The original fare is 170 EUR, and I need to pay 50% on top of it for a 1.5 Kg overweight?

- Yes! Pay, or take stuff out

- Ok. I open the bag, take out my heavy winter shoes and wear them on. My light shoes go back into the bag. The scale shows 5.3 Kg

- Airline’s representative expression was priceless. I also feel embarrassed, but hey! It’s not illegal and it’s not against the rules to wear the winter shoes, so here we go

It’s not just about money, it felt so unreasonable and unfair. Pretty much scam-like. The value for me, as a customer and the way this fee is enforced, goes beyond any tolerable limits.

It’s a typical example of a lose-lose: the total weight remains 6.5 Kg. The plane would carry it regardless of whether the shoes are in the bag or if I wear them. We both wasted time, and the result is still the same. It was funny though, I’ve never had to do anything like that before. I paid nothing in the end and got into the plane with no further questions.

What could the airline have done alternatively

  • Inform the passengers that 5 Kg is a strict limit, and it’s thoroughly enforced. Size limitations for carry-on luggage are normal for the industry, but 5Kg caught me by surprise. I’ve never seen carry-on luggage to be weighted
  • Offer an upgrade for a bit extra (the plane was half-empty) and include the luggage in. I’d most likely have paid if there was more value in the offer
  • Suggest a more reasonable fee as others do. If there’s overweight, there has to be a per-kilo rate or something that you can somehow justify. Here’s just a flat fee
  • At least, check-in the bag if I get to pay this much for it. Nopety-nope, I was still “offered” to bring the bag with me all the way since I didn’t “reserve” the check-in luggage in advance

I totally get it: the airline has to make margins. It’s a difficult and heavily regulated business. It’s hard and I respect it! At the same time, I trust you don’t have to absolutely maximize pain for your customers. There are more, better ways of making money.

What I’ve learned from this

Indeed, thoroughly checking the rules and flight options upfront helps to avoid the additional hassle.

Reflecting on this a bit further, I mapped this situation to a wider perspective. If you think about it, every time an unreasonable limitation is enforced, people would become creative and make sure they comply if they absolutely have to. It won’t make anybody happy. Neither would it bring any value.

From a leadership perspective, it means you have to always make sure people understand why certain things need to be followed. At the same time, if there’s a better way of achieving a result, there has to be enough room for feedback and action upon it.

I can totally imagine a team starts “wearing winter shoes” to overcome the unreasonable requirements of their “boss”.

The entire shadow economy starts blossoming when unreasonable financial and tax reporting regulations are enforced on the businesses. People find ways to get over it, period.

Closing off

Finding that precious balance between getting things done, being compliant and having your customers or employees engaged is a hard thing. Listening, asking open questions, caring and acting upon feedback helps to get there. Simply prohibiting or enforcing would likely provoke people’s creativity and brings value in very specific cases (e.g. law enforcement or safety-related aspects)

Mikhail Denisenko

Written by

software engineer & team lead based in NL

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