Baggage Allowance. Don’t you dread those words? Meet your air carrier’s baggage weight guidelines—or pay—big time. What’s a frustrated baby boomer traveler to do? Know before you go.
With the Balanzza Digital Luggage Scale, weigh your bags at home while there’s still time to rearrange the contents or leave items behind. The luggage scale, which uses 2 AAA batteries (not included), literally fits in your hands. Attach the Balanzza’s heavy duty strap to the item being weighed, press the “on” button, and lift. The item’s weight (in either lb or kg, depending on how you’ve set it) will appear on the large, easy to read screen.
Alan and I tried out the Balanzza Digital Luggage Scale while preparing for our 52-day Vancouver to Singapore cruise. When checking the weight, I could not hold the scale and lift our heavy checked bags; but, Alan could. However, weighing our carry-on luggage using the Balanzza was no problem for me.
Before we departed on the trip, I tucked the Balanzza into a pocket of my traveling purse so that we could weigh our bags again before returning home. The scale made it through airport security without any problems.
Since we were visiting Asian countries famous for shopping bargains, I knew that our luggage would weigh more on the return journey home. On the ship, when we prepared to leave, Alan weighed our bags with the Balanzza scale to determine if they were overweight. Oops! Good thing I had brought along an extra soft-sided bag.
At the Singapore airport, we heard the moans of the couple next to us when the airline scale indicated “overweight.” They took a box the ticket agent handed them and headed to a corner of the terminal for a re-packing job that would meet the weight restrictions. Too bad they hadn’t brought the Balanzza Digital Luggage Scale along on their trip.
What do other bloggers and travelers think about the Balanzza Digital Luggage Scale? Check out these reviews:
Go Green Travel Green
An Island Life
Gadget Review
Would you like to win a Balanzza Digital Luggage Scale? Post a comment after this post telling me where you would travel with your Balanzza. Please include your email for contact purposes. Contest ends on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 11:00 p.m. Arizona Mountain Standard Time. Winner will be announced as soon as possible. Remember, according to my general contest rules, the winner must be a U.S. resident and respond within 48 hours of receiving the notification email; or I chose another winner.
Disclosure: LuggageScales.net provided the Balanzza Digital Luggage Scale for me to try. However, they did not pay me to write this post.
UPDATE: November 25, 2009. This contest has expired. As soon as the winner acknowledges receipt of my email, I’ll make the announcement.