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I will be flying with Turkish Airlines in a couple-weeks' time from London via Istanbul to Tbilisi. When I booked the tickets on their website, there was a note to "check the baggage allowance information" with a corresponding link. Following that link, takes me to a page describing the allowance for various segments (it's not the same everywhere). According to that page, the allowance for my flight is 20 kg.

At the same time, if I view my e-ticket on their website (the ticket is all in Turkish, but it's quite obvious what to look for), the ticket states that the allowance is 30 kg.

Considering that I'll be flying with two small children (1-year old twins), 10 kg is a lot of a difference (just think of all the baby food, clothes, nappies, etc.)

I tried calling the airline to confirm what the allowance for my specific flight is, but all I got from them was "it's listed on our website, refer to it".

Can anyone confirm with any certainty whether the allowance is 20 kg or 30 kg?

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  • Did you get an e-ticket receipt? Ought to say on there – Gagravarr Jun 5 '14 at 11:14
  • Is it Turkish Airlines for both legs? – karancan Jun 5 '14 at 13:07
  • @karancan Yes, it's one ticket, from LHR to TBS, with THY carrier all the way. – Aleks G Jun 5 '14 at 14:35
  • I had the same issue with Turkish Airlines last week as I booked an economy class ticket from Turkey to Germany. The web page states 20kg baggage allowance, but the ticket says 30kg. – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo Jun 5 '14 at 17:25
  • @Tor-EinarJarnbjo Did you book last week or flew last week? If you flew, what was the outcome? Thanks! – Aleks G Jun 5 '14 at 18:20
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Turkish Airlines applies the MSC (Most Significant Carrier) rule. We'll come to that in a minute. Firstly it's worth noting that their 'official' baggage allowance is on their website. So that's the first point of call. It lists economy class limits at 20kg.

However, all over that page are exceptions. Example:

Free baggage allowance from Germany to Turkey and Beyond Turkey for Economy Class is 30 kg and for Business Class 40 kg.

So there's already evidence of exceptions, however, none that cover your instance.

Then the MSC rule comes in.

> MSC (Most Significant Carrier)

If another airline is involved in your whole journey; the most significant carrier’s (MSC) free baggage allowance rule will be applied. MSC is assigned according to which airline operates the most significant and/or longest part of the journey. If Turkish Airline is MSC in your journey then Turkish Airline’s free baggage allowance will apply, if another airline is MSC in your journey than the free baggage allowance of that airline will apply.

> Please pay attention that the free baggage allowance is shown on your ticket.

So it's quite possible that your airline is code-sharing with another airline that has a higher baggage allowance. As a result (see last line above), the final point of call is the value on your ticket. It's the end result of agreements between Turkish's limits, exceptions, and codeshare MSC agreements.

As for if any disagreement comes up about differences between the website and the ticket, it's fairly easy to point to the line on the website that says [the allowance] 'is shown on your ticket' :)

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