[Billy]

The CP website says one piece of handluggage is the max, but I'm sure I've read somewhere you can have one piece, plus a laptop bag. Can anyone answer this one?

Also, we're on one-way tickets. Has anyone recently managed to blag an extra allowance above the max 20 kg for economy class? We've booked direct via CP; I plan to phone them but would be interested to see if they are currently sympathetic to us emigrants.

Thanks
Billy

[Hannah]

We flew with Malaysian air a few days ago and their guidelines allow one piece 20kg main luggage, a 5kg hand luggage plus one additional piece of luggage eg. " a laptop, briefcase, purse or similar". When we got to check in my additional laptop went through fine and our largest piece of hand luggage was 7kg - this went through fine. They are more worried about size than weight. Also, our tickets and Malaysian website said main luggage was 20kg and when we got to check in we were told that the main luggage is actually a 30kg each allowance but they tell people 20kg as they know many go over. You can combine weight allowances also - eg. 2 people can have one 30kg bag and the other can have a 10kg bag. It took us ages to find this out!!
This is not cathay, but maybe they are similar? We worried and worried for days around size and weight of bags, but the guy at check in didn't seem too bothered. They do advise that if you take a laptop it must have the power supply with it so that it can be checked to see that it does actually work (ie.its not concealing something else?).
Travel agents are usually a good source of info on this also
H

[veronica]

thats a good and accurate summary, we have travelled with singapore air and they have told us the same thing, ie. they say 20kg but won't worry to much until it gets near the 30kg mark.

[Jo and Andy]

I phoned Singapore airlines to give our frequent flyer numbers and they upped our baggage allowance to 30kg each.
I am looking at taking about 5kg hand luggage each as well, Ihave a laptopbag I am using to carry all the papers so if I can have this as well as a bag that's great.

[Billy]

Phoned CP today; they were not up for giving an additional allowance at all. 2 reasons: we are stopping over in HK for 2 nights, and we are not on a "more expensive migrant ticket".

A bit of a shame really. In terms of PR, all our friends and rellies who might visit us over the years might not get a good recommendation from us for CP.

Cheers
Billy

[Smiler]

Billy

That's a shame, I would have thought they would allow migrants extra. Is it possible to speak to someone a bit higher?

Most airlines now allow 7 kg carryon plus slimline laptop bag or handbag. It is the size they are worried about, I think it's 145cm x 45 cm deep.

Deborah

[Voice]

I found that over the phone, all airlines will give you 'the party line' but in practice (when you turn up at the desk) they are often more flexible. Air NZ told us that the allowance for our domestic flight couldn't be shifted from 20kg, because we were not travelling straight on from international to domestic flight (we had a few days in AKL first) As we were allowed up to 30kg on the flight from UK to NZ we decided to just pay for excess on our onward flight. However, when we turned up to check in for our domestic they asked who we came over with and when we said ANZ they just waved us through without charging us extra at all!

Edit: Ooops! Have just realised that this thread is about hand luggage, so my ramblings are no use at all! Sorry! :laugh

[Hannah]

Malaysia give 30kg (although unofficially - see my post above) and we weren't even migrants - we had return tickets and going on a holiday visa! I understand they give a bigger allowance if you say you are emigrating and have one way tickets. i thought other airlines did the same. Air NZ offer about 60 kg i think.

[Smiler]

Yes we have 64KG each with AirNZ, I thought someone was having us on and waited to be thrown off the plane. :roll


Deborah

[Singel]

We have no PR so we bought one-year open returned tickets from Singapore Airlines. We packed our only desktop computer into 2 huge suitcases and when we check-in the luggages, the scale tip a combined weight of 52 kgs. To our big surprise, there is no demand for extra payment. So we guess that each person is allow up to 25 kgs.

:cheers

[Carol]

Both my hubby and me took laptops with us on CP flights in December.



As long as the bag is separate from your hand luggage it seems to be fine.
(They dont want really heavy bags in the overheads - fair enough too!)


By the way - I thought CP were fantasdtic to fly with.
We flew via Hong Kong too - bleedin awful airport!

I was expecting to buy tonnes of cheap duty free and it was the same price as NZ!!!!!
:mad:

[Ebeee]

Hi there,

We have also booked one way flights via Hong Kong and have been given the same information regarding baggage. 20kg max.

We have tried pleading with them, but they offer a 'migrant package' which I think is £200 more and allows almost double the usual allowance. Others that I have spoken to say that Cathay will not bend the rules at all.

However, you may want to contact excess baggage who can air freight small packages or boxes relatively cheaply. We have looked into this.

For us it has been a trade off as the flights were really good value so we can live with the restricted allowance.

Good luck with everything.

Ian.

[Billy]

Thanks for all replies.

I've been behind people at check-in desks when they have been overweight (the luggage that is!) and the check-in people were very ruthless, charging hundreds of pounds extra, so we dont want to take the risk. It's not a problem for me, but 'ur indoors will have more difficulty living off 20 kg for 10 weeks.....

Cheers
Billy

[veronica]

From the other point of view our daughter used to be one of those check in people. She was often verbally abused by people who would turn up at the desk with both their hand luggage and normal baggage well over the limits but who expected special treatment. Why!! We all know the limits on Baggage, we all pay about the same fare.

If you want the maximum baggage travel Air NZ (or at least that way round the world) or if you want the cheaper fares go the other way. I can understand that Air New Zealand would give dispensation to migrants because theirs is the country that will benefit. But why should other airlines from other countries be expected to give dispensation to us because we are migtrating to NZ, its of no benefit to them. Sorry if this is a bit harsh but its the facts as I see it. When we came over we checked it out and had 25 kg each as Singapore Airlines had said they would be happy with that, and the max on the hand luggage. (they state the 20kg but thats because they expect people to turn up over the limit, just imagine if they said 30kg we would all still be turning up asking for 35kg!!)

[Billy]

I'm not complaining, just disappointed. The one-way fares are nowhere near half the price of return fares; still, rules are rules.

I've been AirNZ via LA, and wouldn't want that experience again. Not the airlines' fault, but the endless queuing was difficult. I dont think my kids would be too happy.

Cheers
Billy

[Radders]

We flew over with Cathay just over a year ago, and were told the same then.
We took hand luggage and a laptop bag , and a camera bag on board with us. We packed all our heavy items in our carry on, and were still well over the limit. We got there early, and were one of the first to check in. When we said we were emigrating they let our stuff on no problem. I had so much stuff stuffed into my laptop bag. We weren't stopping in HK though.

Another tip if flying on with Air NZ but staying in Auckland before heading further south. When returning to the airport for your domestic flight with all your luggage - go to the international desk for domestic transfers. They will not bat an eyelid at your excess baggage - otherwise its about $5 for every kilo over 20.