Sending unaccompanied luggage back to Australia

[Warren]

My wife & I will be skiing in the States next April & will then be heading to Spain to tour Europe. We will have our ski bags which we do not particularly want to carry around Europe. The cost of sending ski bags back from the States to Australia by air freight or evening shipping is not cheap. Does any one know if it is possible to purchase a seat using FF's & then sending skis bags unaccompanied back to Australia??. Failing this does anyone know of a method of forwarding ski bags to Australia that is reasonable in cost. We are flying Bus Class to the States & then to Europe & back home to Australia, so we can take the ski bags for free with us but it is a pain> Appreciate any suggestions.

 

[RooFlyer]

You are continuing east from Europe back to Oz, obviously, else you would store in USA and pick them up on way back.

I very much doubt an airline would take bags without an accompanying warm body on the flight.

Last time I sent something substantial back from USA I used the US Postal Service and sea mail. I think there are combinations of sea and air too - maybe sea to Singapore and air from there as a compromise on cost / time.

 

[Warren]

Thanks for the advice - checked US Postal Service - they have competitive prices but will still cost over $300 per ski bag to sent from US to Aust. Hopefully someone else may know of a more economical way.

 

[markis10]

I very much doubt an airline would take bags without an accompanying warm body on the flight.

Most airlines in fact do this but its not cheap, for instance

Qantas: Qantas Courier Unaccompanied Baggage services

NZ Unaccompanied Baggage - Excess Baggage - Baggage - Air New Zealand - Australia Site

Thai Thai Airways International - Luggage Allowance

Have a look at sevenseasworldwide.com and excessluggage.co.uk

I looked at getting two skis from London to Sydney with sevenseas:

		Cost	Transit Time	Max.Weight
	Door to Door by Sea (GEF)	£78.00	76 Days	30 Kg per box
	Door to Door by Air Economy	£187.04	15 Days	30 Kg per box

 

[Warren]

Thanks for this info - will check it out. much appreciated

 

[RooFlyer]

Most airlines in fact do this but its not cheap, for instance

<snip>

Yes, of curse you can do unaccompanied baggage but I was addressing the OPs q re what i understood to be getting a FF ticket and sending just the baggage.

 

[vantage03]

I feel like I could write a book on this topic, specifically referring to sending skis to and from Australia, but I'll keep it brief.

Best experiences:
http://www.luggageforward.com/
Service fantastic, very competitive prices, super quick turnaround.

Worst experiences:
Using hotels to send via FedEx (or similar). Sometimes it's been great but others were nightmares. They've over-charged a few times so they could clip the ticket, and filled out the paperwork so badly that my skis were lost... With no insurance (even though I'd requested it!)

Tips:
1) Fill out any paperwork yourself (or in the case of Luggage Forward, they will do it for you)
2) be prepared that this isn't cheap, but still much more convenient than dragging your gear around the world.
3) Take out insurance.

Good luck!

 

[Warren]

Thanks for the tip - I'll check out luggageforward.com -

 

[BAM1748]

Just pay the $300. On a world trip the $600 for two bags is peanuts.

Matt
PS, I use the US Postal Service all the time, never had any issues and staff always very helpful