British Singer McElvar tries to outsmart excess baggage ~ collapses on plane

When you travel, often the difeficult part is getting ready – packing the goods required.  Packing by itself is an art and most talented too fail.  The tagline is ‘travel less – travel more comfortably’- yet, there would be circumstances, where you forget or leave out some only to find their requirement elsewhere 0r – carry much more than what is necessary. 

Every Airline have in place restriction with regard to size of baggage as also weight ! -  Air India states the baggage exceeding in size, the sum of the 3 dimensions (length + breadth + height) in excess of 45 inches or 115 centimeters, cannot be treated as hand baggage and will have to be checked in.  For checked-in baggage, it is 40 kgs by 1^st Class and 20 Kgs by some Economy while it is 15 kgs for some other.  The maximum weight permissible for a single piece of baggage is 32 kgs.

Some Airlines allow the passenger to carry up to a total of 10 checked bags per person, including your free allowance; but extra charges will have to be paid for.  There have been occasions where people have attempted ingenuous ways to defeat this….. here is what a singer did and ended up collapsing with heat exhaustion on easyJet flight after wearing 12 layers of clothes to avoid excess luggage fee. 

James McElvar was flying to Glasgow when told he had too much luggage. EasyJet staff said he'd either have to pay £45 or bin his clothes to get on…. He decided to wear them all instead - including five pairs of trousers.  Unfortunately, his body temperature went through the roof, causing him to have a fit and pass out while airborne

James McElvar, a singer with Scottish five-piece Rewind, thought he was having a heart attack when he lost consciousness at 37,000 feet flying from London to Glasgow.Little did he know he'd passed out from heat exhaustion - having dressed himself in six t-shirts, four jumpers, three pairs of jeans, two pairs of jogging bottoms, a pair of jackets and two hats. It was those 12 layers of clothing he had worn to beat excess luggage fee, that caused his collapse with heat exhaustion. 

Staff said he was allowed to take only one bag on board, so would have to pay a £45 ($70, 63 euro) excess charge or bin his second bag.With his bandmates already aboard and just minutes to spare, he made a foolhardy snap decision, emptying his rucksack and donning the entire contents.   Wearing six T-shirts, four jumpers, two jackets, one pair of shorts, three pairs of jeans, two pairs of jogging bottoms and two hats – he tweeted that there was a lot of clothes and added that it was difficult to walk on the plane; he managed to seat for a minute or two but was not able to take the heat. 

Barely able to move, he could not even get the seatbelt round him.  He was sweating profusely and felt sick - cabin crew laid him out, stripped down, on an empty row of seats, where he was violently sick and then fainted.The singer had no memory of the rest of the flight and was taken off the plane at Glasgow Airport to a waiting ambulance.

Do you know that there are restrictions with regard to luggage in Railways too – though we have seen people carrying so many items on Railway coaches – there are restrictions with regard to size, weight and nature of items.  The personal effects of a passenger which are normally required in the course of travel and immediately thereafter alone will be booked as luggage. Some bulky articles, offensive goods, explosives, and dangerous goods will not be booked as luggage. General merchandise, and heavy articles in considerable quantity intended for commercial business shall not be accepted as luggage and should be booked as parcels.

Each passenger is allowed a free allowance up to which he can carry luggage with him in the compartment, free of cost. The free allowance varies for different classes of travel. Children aged 5 and below 12 years are allowed half of the free allowance subject to the maximum of 50kg.  There is also some marginal allowance – free allowance is 70 kgs by AC 1^st Class – marginal allowance is 15 kgs and max quantity permitted including free allowance is 150 kgs.  It is 40 / 10 / 80 kgs by Sleeper class.   If luggage weight marginally exceeds the free allowance, one  will be charged at the normal luggage rates applicable to the class of travel.  Upon payment of prescribed charges, the ticket would be endorsed by cross-referencing the luggage ticket details.  Free allowance is not admissible for articles such as scooters, cycles etc.Only one scooter, motor-cycle, or moped can be booked as luggage (in the brake van) on one ticket.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

20^th July 2015.