95% of the time you are in the clear. Traditionally my carry-on has almost always been a couple kilos over the limit. I can never seem to keep it to 8 kg for a one week trip and I don’t really trust the baggage handling system - not just in Argentina, but anywhere in the world. Remember Frankfurt last summer? Yikes.
I will share an experience that happened to my traveling companion and me in June 2022. We were departing Calafate airport for Aeroparque on Aerolineas Argentinas and the gate agent weighed our bags. I can’t remember the weights, but they were negligible.
I thought while this was happening, worst case scenario - we pay a fine, and she gate checks the bags. In fact, she made us return to the check-in counter on the other side of security to have our bags tagged and checked there. We did not end up having to pay anything, however, the whole experience was very stressful as the plane continued boarding while we ran in and out of security. Luckily, Calafate is a small airport and we made it back in time to the plane for the final boarding announcement. We had already flown on other domestic flights with Aerolineas Argentinas using the same luggage in the past week (and no, we had not purchased things to add weight in the meantime.
Since this occurrence, I have become much more careful. We almost missed our flight, and that would have been a nightmare. Again, this was rare, but worth sharing because it is possible. I believe that most Aerolineas tickets include at least one checked bag for free. If you think you are over the limit, worth it to get to the airport a little early and drop off your bag to avoid the potential heart race. Good luck!
Side note - had our bags weighed in Chicago while checking into a Lufthansa flight last summer in Chicago. They were slightly over. Tickets were business class. Didn’t matter. The agent tried to convince us to check our bags, but I knew that would mean we would not see them for weeks. Frankfurt was losing something like 10,000 bags a day at that point, so I was determined not to check. Especially over a 2 kilo discrepancy.
I told her that, and she didn’t care. She said she would make a note on our ticket, saying that we appear to have overweight carry on luggage, so that we would be flagged at boarding. We ended up taking sweaters and jackets out of our bags and layering them on our body. The kind of thing I remember from my youth with EasyJet and Ryanair. The check-in agent told us that Lufthansa flight attendants were logging complaints about people getting on the plane with heavy luggage. No one trusted bag checking, so I can understand why. I remember getting on the plane and the flight attendant sympathizing with us for having so many layers of clothes, and telling us not to worry. Feel free to re-pack your bag and not sweat to death on the plane.
Travel seems to be getting a little better, but these nightmare stories are probably going to be our new reality. Moral of the story, travel light, and if you think you already are traveling light, remove even more things. My goal is to actually go on a trip and feel like I have packed too little. Then I know I have actually reached the limit! Still hasn’t happened yet
