Can two people share one suitcase weight

Only recently I discovered (the hard way) that not all airlines allow you to pool baggage allowance and even 1kg over an individual's allowance leaves you in trouble.

In our case we were first flying TAP Manchester to Lisbon then Lisbon to Manchester when the checkin agent noted our shared bag was over the allowance for 1 person. This caused a few hard stares off her, but (luckily for us) a supervisor stood next to her pointed out we were sharing the bag and well under the total and allowed the bag through. On the return journey we weren't so lucky; having already moved a few items out we were still over by 2kg and the conveyor rejected the bag and we had to stand at bag drop and pull items out of the case.

So, what is the situation? Well today I've also seen reports of a large airline operating from Manchester who do state pooling is allowed trying to charge excess baggage on a single overweight bag. After arguing the person reports they were allowed through, but felt pretty much the same as us. I can't verify any of it so naming no names.

To help, I've put together a chart based on the best information available today. But this has 2 important notes:
(1) In Manchester, and other airports will be similar, no bag will be accepted over 32kg
(2) Some airlines, e.g. Tui, impose lower per bag limits (25kg for Tui)

Double check these limits against the carriers current website if you are using them, make sure you are all on the same booking and checking in / bag drop together. Don't expect to be pooling yoru baggage allowance if you booked separately or if you turn up at the airport at different times.

Airline	Pools Allowance?	System Type	Key Conditions / Typical Limit
Aer Lingus	No	Piece	Strictly per-person; pooling often explicitly forbidden in terms.
Air France	No	Piece	Strictly enforced limits per bag (usually 23kg).
British Airways	Yes	Piece	Generally allows sharing weight across the group's total bag count.
easyJet	Yes	Weight	Total weight can be split across all purchased bags.
Emirates	Yes*	Weight	*Except for flights to Americas/Africa (where Piece Concept applies).
Etihad Airways	No	Piece	Moving toward a strict piece concept; pooling is rarely permitted.
Finnair	No	Piece	Official policy states allowance is non-transferable between guests.
Jet2	Yes	Weight	Standard 22kg per person can be pooled across the group.
KLM	No	Piece	Strict piece limits; overweight fees apply if a single bag is over.
Lufthansa	No	Piece	Strict piece concept; no weight sharing between passengers.
Qatar Airways	Yes*	Weight	*Highly flexible on weight-concept routes (most MAN routes).
Ryanair	Yes	Weight	Explicitly allows pooling between passengers on the same booking.
Singapore Airlines	Yes	Weight	Very flexible; total weight can be shared across multiple bags.
TAP Air Portugal	No	Piece	Rigid "per piece" structure, especially on Discount/Basic fares.
TUI Airways	Yes	Weight	Encourages pooling; single bag limit usually capped at 25kg or 32kg.
Turkish Airlines	Usually	Weight	Generally allows pooling on weight-based international tickets.
Virgin Atlantic	Discretionary	Piece	Legally piece-based, but agents often allow minor balancing.