A passenger on FlyArystan has complained that her cabin baggage was unexpectedly weighed before departure from Almaty and that she was charged extra for excess weight, the website infohub.kz reports.
The post appeared on the social network Threads, where user @artbabes_ described how boarding was handled for flight FS 7061 from Almaty, which was scheduled to depart at 21:50.
"We arrived an hour early and there were no queues, but then they waited until five minutes before boarding and herded the whole crowd off to be weighed like at a bazaar, on floor scales in the middle of the hall," the woman wrote.
She noted that baggage and passengers' belongings were not weighed at check-in. According to her, passengers were already waiting by the time boarding began, but about five minutes before it ended, everyone was asked to go through an additional weighing.
"For 2 kg of excess weight, an 11,000 overpayment, they even weighed the little bag on my shoulder. They kept us for 15 minutes in a stuffy bus with the windows shut and wouldn't let us onto the plane — the reason was that they were seating a person, and the staff's argument was 'WELL, HAVE YOU FLOWN WITH POBEDA?'" the passenger wrote.
In response to the post, FlyArystan thanked the woman for her feedback and said it had reviewed the situation she described.
"We conducted a review of the situation described in your post. We would like to explain that weighing cabin baggage is a standard procedure and is carried out in accordance with FlyArystan's established rules. If the permitted weight limit is exceeded, an additional fee applies. At the same time, passengers were offered the opportunity to redistribute their personal belongings so as to bring the weight of their cabin baggage into line with the established norms without additional cost. We sincerely regret that the boarding process caused you inconvenience and left an unpleasant impression," the company said in its response.