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A new baggage rule introduced by a budget airline at the peak of the current school summer vacation has angered passengers, who are being asked to pay more for carrying hand baggage over  7kg.

A travel industry source said a budget airline had slashed the free baggage allowance from 30 kg to 20kg plus the hand bag allowance of 7kg.

Speaking to an agent at the Air Arabia’s call centre said: “We changed our baggage rules from July 1. Passengers now have to select various categories of luggage allowances -- 20 kg or 30 kg or 40 kg.”

The call centre agent said, while booking an Air Arabia ticket online, passengers can select a 20kg luggage package by paying Dh10 extra. For 30 kg of luggage, passengers have to pay another Dh20 plus the normal ticket price.

Air Arabia sources also confirmed that sometimes they do charge for the goods that passengers buy from the Sharjah duty free shop.

Air Arabia sources said the terms and conditions of travel are clearly mentioned in the company’s documents which says: “You may carry some of your baggage free of charge. Your free baggage allowance may be carried as specified and is subject to the conditions and limitations contained in our travel regulations. On all Air Arabia flights starting from 12th July 2012, baggage allowance is an option. Passengers can pre-book a baggage allowance while doing their reservation through our website, call centre, sales shops or partner travel agents, at the discounted rates or buy their baggage allowance at the airport during check-in.”

“The acceptance and carriage of excess baggage is at our discretion and you will be required to pay a charge for the carriage of baggage over your free baggage allowance. You acknowledge and accept that payment for excess baggage does not mean combining such excess baggage on your flight,” the airline’s terms and conditions says.

“Budget airlines fares sometimes charge more than the non-budget carriers. A one-way ticket to Kochi now costs Dh1,700 which is more than the fare of the main carriers. It is really unfair of budget airlines to introduce such a baggage rule during the peak of the summer vacation on top of the already high fare,” said a passenger, who is changing the airline only because of the new baggage rule.

“I had to throw away the foodstuffs that I bought in the duty free shop because the new baggage rules don’t allow passengers to carry even their duty free purchases without any extra charge. By spending that money in the duty free shop in Kochi, I can buy more and also need not carry the weight of duty free purchases,” said Kabeer, a passenger who returned from vacation recently.

However, budget carriers like Air India Express and the non-budget carriers are still allowing a free baggage allowance of 30kg.

Duty free purchases are normally not included in the weighted luggage of passengers by non-budget airlines.