Does Lufthansa round up or round down luggage weight?

Question

I have a bag that's about 23.5 kg. The allowance is 23 kg on Lufthansa, Bangalore to Munich.

Would I have to pay for excess baggage?

Answer 1

As indicated in the comments on the question, people have gotten away with luggage which is a bit overweight and there is the solution to take something out of your luggage and stuff it into your pocket or carry on.

To the letter of the rules they may charge overweight from 23 kilo up, in practice they are rarely that strict.

There is the risk that the scales you use to measure the luggage at home give the weight a bit low, so that the scales in the airport give the weight as just over 24 kg (or even more) and taking out items might not be as easy as people think. There are reports of people who have been stopped putting items in their pockets and your carry on may well have a weight limit as well as a size limit.

I would think hard about everything you have in the luggage, do you really think you need it?
Items which weight much are things like shampoo, very few people need a whole bottle for a holiday, take an almost empty bottle or pour what you need in a smaller bottle.
Wear your heavier pair of shoes and only bring one spare pair.
Most people bring clothing home clean after a trip, bring less and so on.

It is rarely needed to bring a suitcase that is 23 kg, try it to get down to 20 kg at most so you can add a few souvenirs and still be under the limit on the way home.

Even when you move for a longer period it might be cheaper to leave things behind and buy them anew on the other end.

Answer 2

The answer to the question in the title is that they won’t round up or down to the nearest kilogram. As far as I remember they usually keep one decimal, so 23.5 kg is still 23.5 kg, not 23 or 24. They may round up later when it comes to billing excess, if any, though.

However as the other answer and comments say, they will sometimes give a bit of a margin. Whether they do and how much is highly variable though: it may depend on the airline, the airport, the specific flight, the specific agent, how busy the flight is, the mood of the agent, and how friendly you are (don’t overdo it, though, but a smile and politeness can go a long way).

I don’t think I’ve ever been asked to pay excess for such a small amount (and sometimes much more), but I’m sure that can happen.

If you are not travelling alone, most airlines (but not all) will count the total for all passengers on a booking, not each one individually. While this does not apply to you, let me add that this usually doesn’t work for bags over 30 kg which are often outright forbidden because they’re too heavy for baggage handlers.

If you have the time and the money for that, my first recommendation is to check the weight of your empty suitcase and change it for a lighter one. There are nowadays suitcases which are very sturdy but extremely light, and that makes a huge difference: I used to always have issues with weight of my luggage and since I switched I am always way below the limit even when I think I will be over. The difference between two suitcases of the same size can easily exceed 5 kg!

Next, check if there are things you can remove outright. Anything consumable can easily be bought at your destination. It’s easier for people coming from “rich” countries going to “cheap” countries, of course, but still. Clothes can be washed, etc.

Next, if you are still over the limit, plan what you could move to your carry-on or your pockets. Consider that in advance, as you don’t want to spend time with your suitcase open on the floor in the middle of the check-in area trying to find what you could move or not. Remember that a few items are not allowed in the cabin (liquids in containers >100 ml or totalling over 1 l, for instance). Also remember there may be a limit on number, size and/or weight for your carry-on, so don’t just shift the problem from one to another.

Answer 3

On a flight from Munich to Stockholm (Arlanda) this year I had a bag with 24kg at the automated machines. A Lufthansa person working there immediately told me that I just have to remove a tiny bit, because as soon as the scale reads 23.9kg the bag is accepted.

As I was using the automated machines this was not a individual decision by the check-in agent. So at least for this connection the limit is 23.9kg. I would reasonably expect this to be the same for all European flights and possibly for all flights.

Answer 4

My personal experience from flying from Munich to Rome earlier this year was that they round down. The flight was going to be full, so they offered to check a carry-on for free. Thus, in this case, the weight limit was 8kg. My bag was definitely more than that, so I kept taking stuff out to try and get below the limit. This was an automated system, so you put the bag on the conveyer belt, it tells you the weight, then it would scan the tag and either accept it if it was the right weight or spit it back out if it was too heavy.

An attendant at the bag check came over and I told him I was trying to get the bag under 8kg. He told me that it only had to be under 9kg; in other words, up to 8.9kg was fine. And it worked! The machine accepted my bag. To be clear, the scale showed a decimal point (8.9kg), but it would round down for the purpose of the limit (8kg).

Now, as some other people have pointed out, home scales will often show a different weight than the airport scale. I would opt to make the bag a little lighter rather than get to the airport and find that the bag is overweight.