I recently took a trip on an E170 (as a pax). When I arrived at my destination, my bag was not there. They said it was still at the departure airport. I emailed the airline's baggage person, and asked for a refund of the fee I had been charged for my bag. They refused. They said quote:

"The type of aircraft that you flew on unfortunately has a tendency to be
weight restricted due to weather conditions, and passenger loads. We
determine how many bags the flight can accommodate, and that is our
limit. Our ramp agents try as best they can to accommodate as many bags as possible"

The flight was not full; the weather was VFR at both airports, and the temp was cool at the departure airport. Seems like a line of b.s. to me, but I'm not a pilot.

I told them "sorry, but if I'm going to have to pay for a mis-handled bag, I'm going to another airline in the future".

I used to be a ramp rat, so I know a little about what can go wrong, and I fully understand that. What I don't understand, is getting crappy service and having to pay "extra" for it!

 

I never flew the EMB170, but I did fly the EMB145. It was weight restricted a lot. Why does Embraer build a plane with restrictions? Money is my guess.

Possibilities:
1. They are telling the truth. It was weight restricted and your bag could not be put on.
2. They are not telling the truth. They didn't get your bag on the plane and used the weight restriction thing as an excuse.

Maybe some E170 pilots can help you out, but without the data for your actual flight, you may never know.

Another passenger gets screwed. Welcome to the airlines.

 

Sounds like 100% BS based on the conditions you wrote.

The -170 does not have a lot of weight problems at all.

 

Total BS.

I have about 400 hours in the 145 and the same in the 170. Lots of pax and bags bumped on the 145. I can think of only one flight where we couldn't take everybody and all their crap on the 170 and that required a ton of extra fuel due to two alts being needed and a temp in DEN of about 33 on departure.

In most cases, even with 70/76 pax the aft hold is completely empty.

 

At my airline, we pull pax off before bags so we don't run into this problem. I can imagine its very frustrating.

And if you volunteer to get pulled, you get paid (like most airlines). Sounds like a good deal to me!

 

I am inclined to say that the answer you got was bull. I loaded 200's; DC-9; 75's etc. They could've gotten your bag on.



atp

 

I have never seen a 170 weight restricted and leaving bags or people behind. Yes, I fly it.

 

Well, I got another response back from the airline. Instead of refunding my $15 bag fee like I had asked, they gave me a coupon for $25 off future travel. Don't think I'll be using it.

 

Let them know. Send it back.

 

If airlines insist on charging for bags then they should be required to refund your money if the bag doesn't arrive with you - no excuses.