DR airport tricks

saraece · 05-13-2008, 11:46 AM

Just thought I would share this quote from a review on Trip advisory...
in the DR
"At the airport they were nudging our luggage on the scale, to try and get it to go over 20kg. this was our limit and its $20 for every kilo you go over. Also they dont set the scale back to nought, so you need to watch for this. If they can get away with getting exccess money from you they will."
I am sure this isn't the case every time but beware.

foxytv · 05-13-2008, 12:21 PM

We didn't see this problem. I did have a bag that was over-limit on the way back, and they asked if I wanted to try to adjust some things into another bag, which I did with no problems.

Sometimes those TripAdvisor people will pick at just anything to rile things up. :-)

lucy106 · 05-13-2008, 12:25 PM

When my girlfriends and I went in March the only issue at the airport we had was upon our arrival they were a little pushy about trying to help you with your bags. But just say no thank you and you are on your way! Hopefully that was just an isolated incident or something.

chonee · 05-15-2008, 12:41 PM

I'm from DR and travel there quite often. I do agree with you that the airport workers will try anything to get an extra couple of bucks out of you, but I feel that since they don't get paid much to do the job they're doing they'll try and make a few more dollars off of the tourists (and non-tourists because they pull that on Dominicans as well). I'm not trying to excuse their actions but I think that's why they do it. However, just because they try these things doesnt mean we have to give them the $$. Like lucy106 said - just say no thanks and keep going when they try and help with your bag. As far as the overweight luggage goes, I try to put my own luggage on the scale to avoid any of their tricks and if my luggage is overweight, I always carry bags in case I need to move stuff out of my suitcase and just carry that bag on the plane with me or I'll move stuff into my carry-on.

EricaG · 05-15-2008, 01:21 PM

The last time that we went down there we had a wonderful check in at the airport there, but not everyone did.
There were a couple people in our group of 15 that had to pay for excess weight, but it wasn't too much, and it wasn't too much of a surprise who it was.
Since we had our baby with us, my FI and I were taken to another line that they had just opened up for those with little children and the elderly. We put our bags on the scale and we went over the weight limit, but they let it go saying that we were allowed 30kg each. Sweet!
The guy in the line next to us was not so lucky, as his bag was over the 20kg limit and he had to pay a lot. Then he was standing behind us in line to do the tourist visa thing, and we told him that we were given 30kg each for our luggage. He decided to go back and ask them if it was 30kg or not. Somewhere between the line we were in and the ticket counter, he lost his boarding pass and tourist card. He had to pay for another boarding pass before he could get through the security gate and get in line to pay the $30 for another tourist visa! We had a good laugh with him about his expensive trip to get back home. Then when we landed, we made the comment about still having to get through Canadian customs without having to pay for something. The poor guy then had a 6 hour lay over before flying to Sask. At least he had a sense of humor about the whole thing.
This is not really anything bad about the DR airport, it is more bad luck for one unfortunate traveller! LOL