Baggage Allowance

[MiniMevsRevs]

Hi all

We are coming out the start of May and we have been looking into what to bring. We have decided that we can manage with just a couple of extra suitcases. Can anyone who may have done this recommend the best method / or companies as Emirates charge something silly like £35 a kg.

Thanks
K

[Mattt]

Etihad/Emirates Cargo will be much cheaper than excess baggage - it's just a bit more hassle.

If you bring Golf Clubs (on Etihad you get 15kg extra free) you could 'pad' your clubs with some clothes. Not sure about Emirates.

[yorky500]

MiniMevsRevs said:

Hi all

We are coming out the start of May and we have been looking into what to bring. We have decided that we can manage with just a couple of extra suitcases. Can anyone who may have done this recommend the best method / or companies as Emirates charge something silly like £35 a kg.

Thanks
K

All you will want is shorts, t-shirts, thongs (flip-flops) and other very, very lightweight clothing - 5kg's should do you fine hahahaha

[cs174]

Good move trying to get this sorted beforehand. I was charged 1378 quid for 3 extra suitcases (60kg excess baggage) on Qatar Airways. Luckily the company paid it. BA only charge 35 quid per case.

[Mattt]

Did they also supply the vaseline?

[Hitch78]

Just contact Emirates Skycargo and make a booking to drop off whatever it is your taking as extra at their cargo terminal on the way to your check in. They use ServiceAir warehouses at all of the airports they operate from, your stuff arrives on the same plane as you and is then ready to collect a day or so later.

We managed even to do this in between checking in and catching our flight from Birmingham because they just wouldn't budge on the cost per kilo.

[Gentleman Geoff]

I agree, it's worth getting this sorted out in advance.

I flew with Emirates from NCL to DXB and was advised to arrange my extra baggage through Emirates SkyCargo. It sounded very convenient - they come to your house a couple of days before you fly, pick up your bags and you collect them from the airport when you land. They quoted me a minimum rate of £200 per bag up to 20kg and £3/kg thereafter. I decided that this was still going to be a bit pricey for what I needed so decided to try to fit everything in my 30kg hold allowance and 7kg hand luggage allowance.

I thought about bringing some ' golf clubs' but decided it wasn't worth the hassle if my bag was inspected and they couldn't see a single club in there! I don't have a golf bag to use anyway.

When I came to pack, I managed to cram 28kg into my suitcase but still had almost 11kg left in my hand baggage. The check-in staff are extremely strict about the 7kg hand baggage allowance and wouldn't let me check both bags as hold luggage unless I paid the full 11kg worth of excess baggage. I smiled at the manager and tried very hard not to point out that my 7kg of hand luggage allowance would still weigh the same if it was checked in the hold and I was therefore only 2kg over the limit in total. There was no way in the world my case would fit an extra 2kg in because it was already bursting at the seams, so I had to hastily unpack all my hand baggage and pack exactly 7.0kg of stuff into a lightweight nylon bag (that I only thought of bringing at the last minute) to take onto the plane. This left my empty hand bag (admittedly a heavy-ish weekend case) containing literally a pair of flip flops and nothing else!! I almost left it behind but it's a decent bag and the jobsworth manager finally buckled and said that now I was only 2kg over the checked baggage limit she would only charge me for 1kg.

I still can't decide if I'm delighted to have got off so lightly for being over the allowance or still annoyed that I had to unpack everything just for the sake of being 2kg over. The biggest lesson for me has been to use luggage that doesn't already weigh a ton when it's empty!

[omohat]

We're currently in the process of moving to Doha. Although we're getting some of our stuff shipped, we also looked into bringing some of our stuff in suitcases (mainly because we didn't want to wait 6-8 weeks for it).

The best option by far is BA because provided you pay in advance they have a very reasonable charge for extra suitcases (32 gbp for the 1st bag, and 72 gbp for subsequent bags).

In comparsison, I had to pay 150 gbp for 7 kilos of excess luggage on Qatar Air.