[nickydwuk]

Has anyone actually managed to get double baggage allowance with Singapore Airlines? We are flying with them in September and their policy is that if you have an unused migrant visa you can get double baggae (40kg instead of 20kg). I had heard that some had been refused at the airport so I am trying to get it clarified in writing. It seems that the visa must be 'an unused permanent migrant visa that states you can stay in NZ indefinitely'. We have PR visa's but the visa doesn't state 'stay in NZ indefinitely' although that is what it means. Because of this, SA will not allow the double allowance :(. I am waiting for a reply from their customer services dept. as I have sent them a copy of my visa, a copy of the letter that came with it saying that we can live, work & study in NZ and some info from the INZ site. They have, however so far said that we can have an extra 10kg each making the total allowance 30kg. Are there any visa's that state 'stay in NZ indefinitely'? :confused:

[Carey]

This is the answer I got in reply to an email asking the same thing:

Passengers emigrating to New Zealand are entitled to double baggage allowance provided they are holding the correct visa.

The visa must be an unused migrant visa that states to remain in New Zealand indefinitely. If you are holding this visa you will be entitled to double baggage allowance on production of the visa at check in. If you are not holding the correct visa then you would be allowed only 20 kilos in Economy Class, 30kilos in Business Class and 40 kilos in First Class.

As I haven't seen a PR visa yet, I'm now also panicking as I assumed PR meant it was the correct visa?

[andrewp]

We have tickets booked with SA. I was told by the travel agent to contact SA as soon as I had my PR stickers and they would amend the ticket. I will certainly want some sort of proof before I pitch up at the airport with 40kg each.

[mgbridges]

Back in August last year when we came out we didn't have anything in writing from Singapore Airlines but we did have PR visas in our passports. Admittedly we arrived fairly early for check-in but didn't have any problems at all with extra luggage and weight. Can't remember exactly how much we had with us but it was easily 40kg each! Chap on the check-in desk didn't bat an eyelid once he'd seen our passports, visas and one-way tickets.

What did catch me out was that we were only allowed one piece of hand luggage so somehow I squeezed my handbag into the back-pack I had already got stuffed with stuff for DS!

Anneliese

[Caroline and Dave]

We came through with Singapore and used the extra baggage allowance and came through no problem.
Please note that Singapore Air are incorrect. You do not get your residence permit that states on it you are entitled to remain In NZ indefinitely until you arrive at the immigration desk at New Zealand. They will then give you this stamp.They should know this.

[nickydwuk]

I will email them again with this info. Not had an y reply yet from my letter.

[JandM]

What did catch me out was that we were only allowed one piece of hand luggage so somehow I squeezed my handbag into the back-pack I had already got stuffed with stuff for DS!I'd heard about this thing of a handbag 'counting' as a piece of hand-luggage now, luckily before we travelled last year. (And it's such a pain - I know people laugh at big handbags, but just you wait till you need three pairs of glasses AND all the stuff you carry in the pockets my clothes don't have:mad:, and over time you get used to where everything is inside. Anyway, that's a by-the-by.) We were both of us pushed on the hand-luggage weight allowance, as M had the laptop in its bag (another thing that USED to be as well as hand-luggage, but now isn't), so my flight bag already had a couple of things for him, and wouldn't take my handbag as well. In the end I put some stuff in a bum-bag that I wore in front of me but under my raincoat, and decided I'd call it a 'body-belt' if challenged. At security, I had to take off the coat AND the bum-bag, and put them through X-ray in the little trays, but nobody made an issue of it.

[StevieD]

We got it, didn't need to produce visa or anything, just told SA when we booked that we emigrating, they did the rest, but this was the London call centre.

I notice from my recent dealings that they have started using an Indian call centre, and sometimes the language barrier really does cause problems.


I would have a go to see if you can contact the SA office in London to make your bookings, they were fantastic last year (assuming they are still open).

And yes, be very careful with the hand luggage, we were in total chaos and ended up losing (very expensive I can tell you) a good number of after shaves and colognes. They should go in the suitcase or you get stung for the liquid ruling. Also, you don't need them because there are colognes and washing kits / toothbrushes and razors on the aeroplane.

[Alan]

I believe that the London office has been significantly scaled down and don't believe it handles general calls any more.

[Potato]

We were both of us pushed on the hand-luggage weight allowance, as M had the laptop in its bag (another thing that USED to be as well as hand-luggage, but now isn't),

If I remember right, something has changed at Heathrow. I think that a few months back they upgraded their facilities and now allow for passengers to take two pieces of hand luggage through (i.e. a bag and a laptop separately).

[JandM]

If I remember right, something has changed at Heathrow. I think that a few months back they upgraded their facilities and now allow for passengers to take two pieces of hand luggage through (i.e. a bag and a laptop separately).That would've made a big difference to us! I guess they're changing all the time, and the only thing to do is check your departure airport's website frequently, right up till the day before you leave.

[Bunstar]

That would've made a big difference to us! I guess they're changing all the time, and the only thing to do is check your departure airport's website frequently, right up till the day before you leave.

We checked Singapore Airlines website the night before we flew and it stated you could take a laptop seperately...needless to say the check in staff hadn't read the same and would only allow us one piece of hand luggage each. We'd printed out the relevant part from the website, but they still wouldn't budge.

As for the extra luggage allowance, we had PR but they told us we couldn't have extra baggage as that only applied to people emigrating to Australia...not New Zealand!?!?!?

[JandM]

Oh, dear... Well, that must've been a great start to your journey, NOT.:(

[benandclare]

Clare's son and mother flew with SA on Friday and Sam has full PR and all relevant visa's in his passport.

Clare's Mum, Jean, had booked the flights and had twice phoned up SA about Sam's baggage allowance as he was emigrating and both times she was assurd he was allowed 40kgs........ Alas at the check-in desk at Heathrow the girl informed him that he was 20 kgs over and would have to pay £25 a kilo excess baggage :mad::mad: Jean pointed out that she'd twice phoned and twice been assured that he would be ok, and after much badgering the girl relented and pulled them to one side and let his bags through and also sorted out 2 bulkhead seats as Sam is 6 foot 5" .

So right result in the end but un needed stress at a very stressful time, we will be contacting SA to ask why there appears to be no communication between their departments.

Anyway they arrived safe and well and managed to stay awake all yesterday and slept most of the night :nice1

[nickydwuk]

Glad Sam arrived ok, Ben.

After many emails & letters to SA - they initially agreed to 30kg instead of 20kg. Then today I got an email from them saying that as we had unused Permanent Residency Stickers we would be entitled to 40kg and our booking had been amended accordingly. I will, however call them prior to leaving to confirm it is on our booking as I don't want to argue at the airport. :clap

[benandclare]

Clare's son and mother flew with SA on Friday and Sam has full PR and all relevant visa's in his passport.

Clare's Mum, Jean, had booked the flights and had twice phoned up SA about Sam's baggage allowance as he was emigrating and both times she was assurd he was allowed 40kgs........ Alas at the check-in desk at Heathrow the girl informed him that he was 20 kgs over and would have to pay £25 a kilo excess baggage :mad::mad: Jean pointed out that she'd twice phoned and twice been assured that he would be ok, and after much badgering the girl relented and pulled them to one side and let his bags through and also sorted out 2 bulkhead seats as Sam is 6 foot 5" .

So right result in the end but un needed stress at a very stressful time, we will be contacting SA to ask why there appears to be no communication between their departments.

Anyway they arrived safe and well and managed to stay awake all yesterday and slept most of the night

Have had numerous e-mails with SA now and recieved this one today

I appreciate your concern below however I have only extended the information passed on to me from my colleagues in London and I am sorry if this has upset you.
I will be pleased to follow up on your additional information below to ensure that the check-in staff in London read things correctly or otherwise?
We extend the additional baggage allowance to immigrants as a courtesy to assist in their passage to whatever country they are emigrating to and are pleased to extend where the necessary criteria is met and which I will seek clarification of in Samuels case and where I ask for your understanding in the meantime.


The problem with Sam was that the check in clerk looked at the wrong visa in his passport:mad: Those of you who have had Blue stickers issued will know you get the 2 visa's and she was looking at the returning visa and assumed he was doing that, explains all the questions of did he like living in London and was he looking forward to going home , which confused him no end as he'd never been to NZ

Anyway looks like the wheels are in motion to hopefully ensure this doesnt happen to other immigrants.

[aberdian]

It was a pain for us as we used our PR visas for the recce in October, prior to emigrating in April. SA relented and gave us an extra 10kg each but it was like pulling teeth.....

[smitjo]

We are in exactly the same position - used our PR visa for our recce back in Oct 06 therefore SA would not budge one single bit! Do you know who you contacted at SA to arrange the extra 10kgs as the guy I spoke to would not go off script at all.....urgh!

[Carey]

After 2 emails to SA, they have admitted that their wording is wrong and as we have PR and RRV in our passports, we are entitled to 40kg each. Phew!

So my advice to anyone else, keep pointing out that the word 'indefinitely' DOES NOT appear in PR visas and hopefully they'll get the message soon.

[nickydwuk]

Well done Carey. I would imagine a lot of people would give up once they have been told 'no'. It's always worth it to keep on plugging away. I will call them next week to make sure it is marked on our booking as I don't want any surprises at the airport :roll

[benandclare]

Spoke to SA on Friday and today their Auckland office are going to contact NZIS to clarify the visa's that are issued and then will contact London so that the check in staff can be further educated so that the problem Sam encountered wont happen again to other emmigrees flying with SA on an unused PR visa

May take some time to filter through but they've been very helpful and we give them a big :nice1

[marcia]

Good luck to you all - and hopefully now we know these companies trawl the site Singapore Airlines will look at the wording on their policy and amend it so they don't cause already stressed passengers more agro and remember this is IMHO!

Our personal experience was great - we emailed to see if we could have extra luggage allowance and they emailed back giving us an extra 10kg each, which for five of us was fine (i think we were still under - but thats Kev he travels light!!:laugh) Have travelled 3 times with Singapore Air and can't praise them enough, service excellent, food excellent and they put the kettle on for me whenever i asked so a big :nice1 from me!! :D

[Helsandfamily]

We have just arrived with SA, They were great IMHO. I was initially told that we had 25kg baggage, and i emailed them a question about car seats and was told that this was wrong and that it was only 20kg per person. When I emailed them again, and advised them that we had unused residency visas they immediately upped the luggage allowance, and we had no trouble at all on either leg of the flight. I made sure that I kept a copy of the email though to be safe.

Hels

[Scotty69]

Just a wee question am i right here that you get double ie 40 kilos EACH including children. As it will me OH and 5 year old son so we would have around 60 kilos is this correct or have i picked this up wrong. Thank you
Natasha:o

[Helsandfamily]

Scotty, That was what we were told, although I don't think that it applies to infants.

hels

[Carey]

Yup, you're correct AFAIK.

[Rusty]

As said earlier, they may have changed the wording as I had an emaiil that said:
"As per Singapore Airline policy, passengers emigrating to New Zealand holding a Permanent Resident Visa or a Returning Residency Visa are eligible for double baggage allowance irrespective on the class you are booked.

If you are holding this visa, all you need to produce the visa at the time of check-in before your flight departure. If you are not holding correct visa, you would be allowed your normal baggage allowance only. "

My only concern is the 'permanent' part as it does not actually say this on the stickers, even though in practice it is.

Also, from this wording, all kids with full tickets and visa's also get the double allowance.

[Mr TW]

I'm sure John Mason sent us a link to a website that gives you 50kg baggage with SA. I will check it out when I get home to see what the t&c's are and if we can share the info

[Rusty]

I'm sure John Mason sent us a link to a website that gives you 50kg baggage with SA. I will check it out when I get home to see what the t&c's are and if we can share the info

We had that, it was with Movingplanet.net.
The 50kg seems to be with Emirates.

[Mr TW]

Thanks Rusty, you are quite correct. I've got back home and had time to check now, they are indeed for Emirates

[sasvanb]

After 2 emails to SA, they have admitted that their wording is wrong and as we have PR and RRV in our passports, we are entitled to 40kg each. Phew!

So my advice to anyone else, keep pointing out that the word 'indefinitely' DOES NOT appear in PR visas and hopefully they'll get the message soon.


I just emailed SA for clarification on this and guess what response I got??

To be entitled for the Migrant Baggage Allowance, passenger need to hold a valid Unused Resident Visa which is not stamped and states that it is valid for an Indefinite stay in New Zealand. :uhoh

I have emailed them back again.... sigh...

I haven't actually booked with them yet cos I wanted some sort of positive response to this, but maybe they would be more willing once I've paid up!! hmmm...

Have also emailed Emirates for their policy, but sometimes I wonder whether you just get a diferent story depending on who you get! :mad:

Just an added stress you don't need... :wah

Saskia

[Rusty]

I just emailed SA for clarification on this and guess what response I got??

To be entitled for the Migrant Baggage Allowance, passenger need to hold a valid Unused Resident Visa which is not stamped and states that it is valid for an Indefinite stay in New Zealand. :uhoh

I have emailed them back again.... sigh...

I haven't actually booked with them yet cos I wanted some sort of positive response to this, but maybe they would be more willing once I've paid up!! hmmm...

Have also emailed Emirates for their policy, but sometimes I wonder whether you just get a diferent story depending on who you get! :mad:

Just an added stress you don't need... :wah

Saskia

Have you looked at booking Emirates via the movingnet.com link? You get 50kg each.

[sasvanb]

Have you looked at booking Emirates via the movingnet.com link? You get 50kg each.

Oooooh, I will do that! Cheers :cheers

S