Spicejet: India’s best answer for International visitors with lots of luggage
by: unroadwarrior
If you visit India and have lots of luggage – as much as you were allowed on your international flight into India, the domestic airlines will take you to the cleaners for any domestic connections. In the good old days, major Indian airlines like Jet Airways, Air India and Kingfisher (ok, Kingfisher is not ‘major’ any more), allowed you the international allowance on the domestic legs as long as you could show an international itinerary within 24 hours of the flight. That is not true anymore. Almost all the airlines in India now allow the international baggage allowance on domestic legs ONLY if you are flying them on the International flight AND the international and domestic flights are on the same PNR! This is a big problem. The domestic baggage allowance in India is only one 20kg bag. If you fly in with two 32 kg bags (allowed if you are a Star Alliance Gold), you will be paying Rs. 200 per kg for the extra 44 kg or Rs. 8,800 ($158 USD). The key word in my statement is ‘almost’. The only exception here is Spicejet. They will allow international baggage allowance on any airlines itinerary, as long as the international leg is within 24 hours of the domestic leg (and of course, the international and domestic legs connect at a common city). Here is a link to this policy on their website, for your reference. 
Spicejet was a life saver for me on my last trip to India. I came in on business class and had three bags! Spicejet took care of me – no questions asked. All I had to do was show my international itinerary. Being aware of this policy, I actually booked my connection on Spicejet, despite there being better timed and cheaper options available. I still saved myself a few hundred dollars. This is a good example of how this policy earner Spicejet some additional business. I think other airlines are hurting themselves by forcing international passengers to pay for extra baggage.
One cautionary note I will make, while Spicejet accepts international baggage allowances for checked bags, they still restrict you to one carry-on. This is not a Spicejet policy but a security policy by the government of India. So, remember to check-in your second carry-on bag. In India, it is one carry-on, period! Not one carry-on and a purse or laptop bag.
Anyone have a different experience with Spicejet or any other Indian airline regarding baggage and international connections? Share with us by leaving a comment below.
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Not sure about the one carryon policy. I was on kingfisher last october and I had both a carryon and a laptop bag and my wife also had two pieces. Our international segments were on the same PNR though if it makes a difference and I was a ST elite plus on a business class award ticket continuing on AF.
I had no such problem on Jet Airways when I flew this May. They did not charge me additional money for my bags when I flew into India on British. British had a generous carry on allowance of 50 lbs and Jet even took care of that.
Ram, I am glad to hear that. They website does state the contrary: http://www.jetairways.com/EN/US/Baggage/CheckedBaggage.aspx. It says that the domestic and international legs must be on the same PNR.
Ikonos, I don’t the airlines care as much of the one carry-on bag as the security people do. I have seen people be turned away by the security personnel at the gate who verify if your bag has the security screen stamp, because they had two bags.
Hey thanks for sharing a useful post, I agree to you. Never the less Spicejet is amongst the best airlines. Recently I flew from Spicejet and had enough of baggage along but I didn’t face any interruption. I got my flight tickets done from Travelocity.co.in as they offers lowest price guaranteed on leading airlines.
Good warning and info. I don’t go to India anymore, (Thank God!). Somestice air travel in India has always been a nightmare and probably always will be. Yes, Grandma, there ARE good reasons to ban some carriers from the U.S. and EU; some of them are seriously short on operating, safety and maintenance standards. Be careful! Even their international carriers are not “First World” airlines.
Good day
Hi I am Divesh from Chennai now working in Dubai(United Arab Emirates) Next week travelling from Dubai(U.A.E) to Trivandrum airport and after 2 days again travelling from Trivandrum airport to Chennai in spice Jet.my luggage weight is 30kg from Dubai .
my question is should i pay any extra money for my luggage in INDIA for the excess of 10kg please help me.
Thanks & Regards
looks like spice jet also changed their policy
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/livefromalounge/2012/09/15/spicejet-changes-policy-for-international-connections-limits-baggage-allowance/
I will be traveling to india from North America next week. My domestic flight is Jet and I am not sure whether they will allow my baggages
Joe, sorry to hear that Spice has joined the others in charging for baggage on International connections. Jet has been hit and miss with connections. Is your domestic leg on the same itinerary as the international? The only cases I have heard of where Jet allows the bags for free is when all legs are on the same item, or of course, when the international flight is a Jet coded flight (their metal or code-shared). Do share your experience back with us.Thanks for the link.
My wife travelled from Toronto to Delhi on British Airways on Jan 28th, 2013 arriving New Delhi on Jan 30th 1:30 a.m. She flew by Jet from Delhi to Bagdora after a 12 hours wait time in Delhi airport. Jet would not honour her international checked baggage allowande (2 x 23KG). She was forced to pay thousands of Rupees for the excess baggage after a lengthy haggling and arguing with the counter person.
Wish I had found this web site earlier.. Next time would definitely try Spicejet after reading about the positive reviews..
Don’t fly Jet if you have excess baggages….
@yu, thanks for sharing. Sorry about your wife’s experience. Net can be difficult on the topic of baggage. Unfortunately, I have heard that Spice has also started charging in some cases.
Hi,
I am traveling from Germany to Chennai by Emirates. From Chennai I catch Spice Jet to Madurai. Is it possible for me to carry free baggage of 30kgs in Spice Jet?
@krithi, I have heard reports that Spice has also started charging for bags on legs with international itineraries. When I flew them last August, they did not charge me when I was connecting to an International Lufthansa flight.
i want say some thing bcz spicejet is very good flight but baggage is less .so i am request to you increase lagguage……………plz airline department ………….
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