Baggage check raises the cost of at least R$90 on a domestic flight

On the way to being overthrown in the Senate, the charge for checking bags of up to 23 kg on domestic flights can add between R$90 and R$350 per segment, depending on the airline and destination.

This is the result of the end of the ticket for those who do not check bags, cheaper than the options that already include the sending of luggage.

A trip from São Paulo to Florianópolis, for example, on May 16, 2022, at 7 am, will cost BRL 2,534 for Azul if the passenger checks in a suitcase weighing up to 23 kg. If you only travel with a carry-on bag, the same passenger will pay R$95 less to the company.

At Gol, without luggage, this section costs R$ 2,178. If there is a suitcase to check, an extra fee of R$ 120 will be charged. For Latam, the difference, in this same flight simulation, reaches R$ 189.

If you need to check more than one piece of luggage or if it exceeds 23 kg, the companies may also charge for the extra volume to be transported.

This model of charging for the transport of luggage is used in almost all countries, and in Brazil, since 2017. Each passenger can check a suitcase weighing up to 23 kg without a fee, not exceeding the limit of five pieces of luggage. From this weight, an additional ticket is charged.

According to Anac’s (regulatory agency) rule, the total weight of a single piece of luggage cannot exceed 45 kg for flights within Brazil and 32 kg for international flights.

The amount charged is defined by each airline, both in Brazil and in other countries that have adhered to the model. However, if the passenger uses more than one company on his journey, he must pay attention to the agreement established between the companies. Depending on the destination, there may be a new charge for bags.

This additional fee could end if the Provisional Measure, called the MP do Voo Simples, is approved by senators with this change and if President Jair Bolsonaro sanctions it to become law.

Specialists in the airline sector say, however, that although the separate charge for dispatch seems negative for the consumer, the end of it should not make the ticket cheaper.

Airlines are pressing for senators to remove this prominence from the MP, so that low-cost companies, called low-cost companies, invest in Brazil and expand competition.

“In this way, airlines have the commercial freedom to develop their products and deliver what their passengers of different styles prefer to consume that product”, says Dany Oliveira, director general of IATA in Brazil.

“I, for example, on a trip from Rio to SP, a ‘back trip’, I don’t intend to take a bag, I only take my backpack. Why do I have to subsidize someone else’s ticket? In the outside world that doesn’t happens. If Brazil goes back to the old model, it will be a very negative signal that we will give to the entire market. Moving Brazil away from the best international practices”, says Oliveira.

The lawyer Ricardo Bernardi calls the proposal under discussion a setback and says that it should increase the prices of the service, as it “will force” the companies to embed this cost in the value of the tickets. He states that the international model guarantees that the passenger pays only for the contracted service.

The author of the project, Senator Humberto Costa (PT), disagrees. For him, ending the charge for carrying luggage is a measure that can help reduce the value of the ticket.

When the charge went into effect, airlines expected a drop in ticket prices. The market even registered a reduction at the time, but it did not hold and there is no way to say precisely whether the drop was due to the change in baggage policy or the recession.

The president of Abear (Brazilian Association of Airlines), Eduardo Sanovicz, says that the expectation of reducing prices with separate luggage was based on the fall in the exchange rate between 2002 and 2016, which allowed airlines to reduce the value of tickets half. With the change in the country’s economic scenario, the cost of companies has been increasing and ends up being passed on to consumers.

Only Cuba and North Korea continue to apply the baggage allowance. That is, without charging the bag for part of the ticket price. According to experts, in these two countries, airlines possibly include the value of transport in the tickets.

Airline industry rules

• The total weight of a single piece of luggage cannot exceed 45 kg for flights within Brazil and 32 kg for international flights
• For travel with an infant up to 2 years old, it is possible to check in a car seat, a stroller or a baby carrier per child as an extra deductible, free of charge
• Personal items such as a purse and laptop bag must be placed under the seat during the flight
• Bags of up to 10 kg are considered hand luggage and can be taken in the cabin at no extra cost
• The fee does not allow you to take, for example, two 10 kg bags instead of one 23 kg. It is applied for checked baggage

Cost to check the 1st bag of up to 23 kg on domestic flights*

*Values ​​as of May 12, 2022, according to airlines

Cost to check the 1st bag of up to 23 kg on international flights*

how to save

• To ensure savings when traveling, in addition to purchasing the ticket in advance and the luggage transport service, the consumer should be aware of the rates charged by each company and the times and days of the flights.
• As the amount of luggage and its weight influence the charge for air transport, the time to assemble the suitcase, choosing carefully what and how you will take it on the trip, is valuable.
• There are credit cards and loyalty programs that offer free checked baggage.
• If the trip is all made by the same airline, the fee to check luggage will be valid for the entire journey (round trip), regardless of whether the flight has a connection

Sources: Azul, Gol, Latam and Melhores Destinos