What is the British Airways baggage / luggage allowance?

In this article I want to look at what the baggage or luggage allowance is on British Airways.

I want to say at the start that there are different luggage rules for status members of British Airways Executive Club:

If you are a Gold member of British Airways Executive Club, we wrote about your luggage allowance in this article

If you are a Silver member of British Airways Executive Club, we wrote about your luggage allowance in this article

If you are a Bronze or Blue member of British Airways Executive Club, you get the standard BA baggage allowance.  You do not receive any special benefits.

What is the standard British Airways baggage allowance?

As a British Airways Bronze or Blue cardholder, or if you are not an Executive Club member at all, you can only check in the standard luggage allowance:

Basic / hand baggage only ticket

No free luggage allowance.  If you are travelling with a child up to 11 years of age, however, you can check in two items per child for free.  This could include a collapsible pushchair or stroller, a car seat or a travel cot.

Economy / World Traveller / Euro Traveller tickets

With a few specific exceptions (Doha, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria) an adult can check in one suitcase for free, weighing up to 23kg

A child (up to 11 years) can check in one suitcase for free, weighing up to 23kg, plus a fully collapsible pushchair or car seat

Premium Economy / World Traveller Plus tickets

An adult can check in two suitcases for free, weighing up to 23kg

What happens if I am changing planes?

This a bit more complicated than it needs to be.

If you are travelling in a different class on the outbound and return, you get the allowance of the class you are travelling in.  If you fly out in First Class but come back in Business Class, you do NOT get the First Class allowance on your return.

If you are flying in mixed classes on the same journey (eg Euro Traveller from Manchester to London, connecting to Club World from Manchester to Los Angeles), you get the ‘most significant sector’ allowance.  This allows you to ignore the usual rules on the Manchester to London flight.

If you have a stopover en route and change classes (eg you fly Manchester to London, stop in London for two days and then continue in Club World to Los Angeles) you do NOT get the ‘most significant sector’ allowance.  You only get the allowance of the cabin in which you are sitting.

Full details can be found on the luggage page of ba.com which is here.  You can also find the current charges for additional or overweight baggage on that page.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works.  You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.4 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to join the mailing list for our weekly or daily email newsletters.)

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (January 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also good bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These are available to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.