Asiana Airlines Baggage Fees

Asiana includes two free checked bags in every fare on US routes. That single fact reshapes Asiana baggage fees compared with the a la carte pricing many US carriers use. Read the Asiana Airlines baggage rules page for the full allowance.

Use this page to see where the charges actually start.

The excess and overweight fee table

Asiana publishes flat excess baggage fees for transpacific routes. It does not run a fare by fare calculator.

US routes carry their own rate card, separate from the rest of the network.

Those are the standard transpacific figures Asiana lists for the excess and overweight bands. On shorter Asia routes the airline runs a lower rate card by distance.

A Seoul to Tokyo excess bag costs far less than a Seoul to Los Angeles one.

What the two free bags actually cover

Economy carries two free checked pieces up to 23 kg each on US routes. Business and First carry two free pieces up to 32 kg each.

A third bag in any cabin is where the 200 USD charge above applies. Asiana baggage fees start later than most US legacy carriers, which allow only one free checked bag.

That difference is worth knowing before comparing Asiana to Delta or American on checked baggage fees generally.

Prepaying and paying at the airport

Asiana’s published fee page lists no discount for prepaying excess baggage online. Some carriers build a 20 to 30 percent online discount into their bag fee structure. Asiana does not appear to.

The airline notes that prepaid baggage service is not available on itineraries with a connecting or codeshare flight. A traveler on a partner airline segment should expect to settle any excess charge at the airport counter instead.

The general how to avoid baggage fees guide covers tactics that still apply here. Packing to the free allowance rather than the excess one is the main one.

Credit cards and elite tier waivers

Asiana’s own page references baggage benefits for elite members of Asiana Club on US routes. It does not spell out the extra weight or piece count each tier receives.

No Asiana page names a co branded credit card that waives checked bag fees. A traveler with a card built for that purpose should check the general credit cards that cover baggage fees list. Do not assume Asiana honors one.

Star Alliance Gold status, which Asiana recognizes, typically raises the free checked allowance by one piece on partner tickets. Asiana’s own fee page does not print that figure for its own flights.

How Asiana compares to nearby carriers

Against other Asia based full service carriers, Asiana baggage fees sit closer to Korean Air baggage fees and Singapore Airlines baggage fees. That is a friendlier starting point than a US domestic carrier’s single free bag.

Cathay Pacific baggage fees follow a similar regional pattern. The free allowance is generous, but the excess and oversize bands still land in the 100 to 400 USD range once a bag steps outside it.

Special baggage: golf, sports gear and pets

Asiana treats a golf bag as one of the two free checked pieces as long as it stays within the standard weight and size limits. Excess weight on a golf bag is charged at the same overweight rates as any other bag.

Surfboards, bikes and other sports equipment work the same way. They travel free within the normal baggage allowance and only trigger a charge once the total weight or piece count goes over it.

Pets flying in the cabin or the hold are billed separately at 200 USD per pet on US routes, outside the checked baggage allowance entirely. Musical instruments too large for the cabin need advance notice and are priced at an applicable fare rather than the standard excess baggage rate.

Route variations worth knowing

Asiana’s standard US route fees above apply to Asia or Oceania to US and Europe to US itineraries. The airline publishes lower rates for some Brazil routings, so a traveler connecting through South America should check the fare specific figures rather than assume the standard US bands apply.

Domestic Korea routes run on a per kilogram rate instead of the flat per piece fee used on international routes. That difference matters for anyone flying Asiana within Korea before or after an international segment.

Packing light enough to skip the fee entirely

The simplest way to avoid Asiana baggage fees is never testing the overweight threshold in the first place. Compression packing cubes let a traveler fit more into the same 23 kg allowance without adding bulk that pushes a bag toward the 158 cm oversize limit.

Packing cubes compress clothing into a smaller footprint. That keeps a soft sided bag closer to its empty weight and leaves more of the allowance for what actually goes inside it.

Weighing a bag before the counter does

The jump from free to a 100 USD overweight charge happens at a single kilogram. A home scale earns its keep on any Asiana trip.

A digital luggage scale hooks onto a handle and reads the weight in seconds. It is cheap insurance against that charge.

Running the numbers through the site’s baggage cost tool before packing shows how close a bag sits to the next fee band. Pack to 22 kg rather than 23 kg for a margin of error. Airport scales and home scales rarely agree to the gram.

The bottom line

Asiana baggage fees stay a non issue for most travelers, since two checked bags ride free on every US route fare. The real cost only appears with a third bag, an overweight case, or an oversize bag.

Weigh and measure before leaving the house. Keep any connecting or codeshare segment in mind, since prepaid baggage service does not apply there. Do that and the 100 to 400 USD bands above never come into play.

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