The curse of the excess baggage

We never travel lightly (see a previous post about our packing). We tend to use the airlines’ restrictions as our guide and we’re always near, or slightly over, their limits. This trip was no exception and we knew going in that there would be some excess baggage fees. We were fine with the major carriers–Northwest Airlines for Toronto to Manila and return, and Continental for the trip from Manila to Palau and back. Their guidelines are fairly generous.
The first problem would be our flight from Manila to Tagbilaran City on Philippines Air Line. They restrict checked luggage to 15 kg and carry-on luggage to 7 kg. We had run into this problem last year and had built the extra cost into our budget. When we checked in on Thursday morning, we had to pay an extra 612 pesos. No problem. However, when we tried to go through the security checkpoint, the lady decided that Doreen’s carry-on was too heavy and sent her back to pay an additional fee. Doreen was already stressed over our inability to find an ATM that would accept our Canadian bank card and we had very little money on hand.
Once we got past that hurdle, we thought we were home free. Our next transit was by ferry from the island of Bohol to the island of Negroes. One of the reasons Doreen had chosen this route was to avoid another trip on PAL with their baggage limits. Little did we know that the ferry system had similar restrictions. When we showed up at the ferry dock the following Thursday, they weighed all our luggage and assessed an extra fee of 400 pesos plus tax. In addition, we then had to pay another 150 pesos for the porter to put the luggage on the ferry as you’re not allowed to carry it yourself. (Hope Marine Atlantic doesn’t catch on to this scheme.)
Our final trip on PAL was a flight from Dumaguete to Manila the following Wednesday. We had figured that excess baggage would not be a problem by that time as we would have either consumed, or would leave behind, many of the consumables (sun screens, food stuffs, etc.) we had packed. Doreen had brought her luggage scale and things looked good when we weighed our luggage at the resort before departing for the airport. And then we checked in with the airline. According to their scale, we were heavier than when we’d started on our trip–more than 13 kg over the limit. In addition, since our last trip just two weeks ago, they’d increased their fees (more than doubling the cost/kg).
We were hit with an excess baggage fee of more than 1400 pesos and, at the Dumaguete airport, they didn’t accept credit cards. We had to use the 1500 pesos we’d set aside for the departure tax. If we don’t find a functioning ATM in Manila, we won’t be able to get out of the country.