Only yesterday, a friend asked me how much are the charges for baggage in excess of the allowed limit on PIA.

Excess baggage is charged Per Kg and the charges vary from airline to airline and country to country. These can be enormously high and have the potential of giving a big blow to your pocket. To give you an idea, excess baggage charges on PIA from Lahore to London could be somewhere around PKR1,200-1,500 (USD20 - 25) Per Kg. Charges on other carriers are also in the same range and could be pretty high.

A rather reasonable way of avoiding this rip-off is to send the baggage as cargo. A more appropriate term for this is UNACCOMPANIES LUGGAGE.

If you are travelling abroad, and your luggage is in much excess of the allowed weight, you can opt to send the luggage in advance (before your flight) by booking it as unaccompanies luggage. All you need to do is show up at the airline cargo office (generally at the airport), show your passport and ticket (leave a copy of both with the office) and book your luggage. This way, it will cost you much less as compared to taking it along in your flight and paying for the excess baggage.

The cost of unaccmpanied luggage on PIA from Lahore to London can be somewhere around PKR250-300 (USD4-5) Per Kg.

If you forget to do it earlier or have the tendency to procastinate your packing endeavour (that I normally do), you can also opt for the luggage to arrive after your departure by leaving it behind for someone else to book it. For this to work, don't forget to leave a copy of your ticket and passport with the person responsible for the booking.

Hope this helps.