30 Kilograms to Europe, then the Excess Baggage Question.

[Renato1]

Hi Everyone,
In previous trips to Europe my wife and I have tried to knock off European capital cities, either flying there direct, or driving there after arriving at our home base near Venice, and have used Ryan Air once. Having done all the easy capitals, I've been exploring where to go next year using the Cheap Flights finder. We have gotten used to travelling over there taking 30kgs of luggage each, since we stay there for several months when the weather goes from hot to cold. But when the plane lands there, most domestic carriers to take us to Venice airport have excess baggage charges, as their free checked baggage allowance is 22 kg or even as low as 20 kgs with Turkish Airlines (and even lower with Ryan Air).

So I looked at flying to Edinburgh. The price of the flight from there to Venice with Jet2 is good, but the excess baggage was A$276 each.
Flying to Copenhagen - excess baggage is 50 Euros each to Venice, which isn't too bad.
Flying to Stockholm - excess baggage is 50 Euros each, but as there needs to be a stop in Copenhagen, it's not clear to me if I have to pay the excess baggage twice.
Flying to Istanbul - but, they have an odd table for calculating excess baggage using zones, and the best I could gather was a very great expense for 10kgs of excess baggage each.
Flying to Malta - excess baggage to Venice with Alitalia would be 60 Euros each, but given the flight is to Rome and then to Venice, I'm not sure if I'd have to pay that twice.
I also looked at going to Lisbon - I can't remember the details, other than I ruled that out for high price on excess baggage.

My question is - am I missing something here?
How does everyone else cope with excess baggage on domestic European flights after having flown in with 30kgs of baggage each?
Do you just grin and bare it and cough up the exorbitant excess baggage fees?
Regards,
Renato

 

[sezza]

If all flights are issued by one airline, then the domestic flight has that limit too. e.g. emirates have a 30 kg limit. Tap air portugal have a 20kg limit. I fly ek syd to lis then tap lis to opo. If all flights issued by ek on same ticket then the baggage limit is 30kg. This is what we usually do.

If you're looking at booking tickets seperately than thats when you'll need to buy excess baggage unfortunately. Unless you get business for that domestic flight.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

If all flights are issued by one airline, then the domestic flight has that limit too. e.g. emirates have a 30 kg limit. Tap air portugal have a 20kg limit. I fly ek syd to lis then tap lis to opo. If all flights issued by ek on same ticket then the baggage limit is 30kg. This is what we usually do.

If you're looking at booking tickets seperately than thats when you'll need to buy excess baggage unfortunately. Unless you get business for that domestic flight.

Agreed, booking on a single ticket (or more accurately, booking) is the only way around this.

 

[RB]

Maybe not what you want to hear but I think the easiest solution is to examine your luggage requirements. We have travelled to Europe for 7 weeks (so seasonal change) and carried about 14kgs each. We use public transport.
Maybe the material of clothes you take is an issue. I am sure with your experience you are well aware of layering?

 

[Renato1]

If all flights are issued by one airline, then the domestic flight has that limit too. e.g. emirates have a 30 kg limit. Tap air portugal have a 20kg limit. I fly ek syd to lis then tap lis to opo. If all flights issued by ek on same ticket then the baggage limit is 30kg. This is what we usually do.

If you're looking at booking tickets seperately than thats when you'll need to buy excess baggage unfortunately. Unless you get business for that domestic flight.

Agreed, booking on a single ticket (or more accurately, booking) is the only way around this.

Thanks very much to both of you.

It seems I now have at least one feasible solution.

But I am still puzzled by this.
If I want to compare airlines and costs, does this mean I would have to go into their individual sites and click the flights e.g say with Emirates, Qatar, Qantas and Etihad?

Also, does this rule about flights issued on the same ticket having the same baggage allowance apply to all carriers? When I read the Etihad site, it said that some of their partners may have different baggage allowances.

Any idea what section this rule would come under in there flight conditions?

Thanks for any further help you can give me.
Regards,
Renato

 

[Renato1]

Maybe not what you want to hear but I think the easiest solution is to examine your luggage requirements. We have travelled to Europe for 7 weeks (so seasonal change) and carried about 14kgs each. We use public transport.
Maybe the material of clothes you take is an issue. I am sure with your experience you are well aware of layering?

Thanks. I must admit that while I typically only take about 17kgs of my own stuff over, plus another six or seven kilograms of gifts (mainly perfumes to give as gifts to people who do things for us e.g. for those who cook us huge meals, or collect us from the airport) the rest of what goes into my suitcase is what overflows from my wife's suitcase.

When I look at what she is packing as essential - my eyes roll. But there is nothing much i can do about it if I want to maintain family harmony.
Regards,
Renato

 

[dajop]

Is the 30kg spread across 2 bags ? If it is, one quick way to get an idea of the total cost (including 2 bags) is to use kayak.com.au (or kayak.com.whatever country), and after initial search for your flights, and then on the left hand side of the screen you can select number of bags under "Baggage fees", this should give you an idea of total cost including two bags.

 

[RB]

Thanks. I must admit that while I typically only take about 17kgs of my own stuff over, plus another six or seven kilograms of gifts (mainly perfumes to give as gifts to people who do things for us e.g. for those who cook us huge meals, or collect us from the airport) the rest of what goes into my suitcase is what overflows from my wife's suitcase.

When I look at what she is packing as essential - my eyes roll. But there is nothing much i can do about it if I want to maintain family harmony.
Regards,
Renato

I think there is another answer right there. Plenty of lighweight gifts available that could take the place of perfumes.
I am no expert on perfumes but would like to see a photo of what 7kgs of perfume look like!

 

[Peter D]

Have you thought about sending some of it direct to your final/base destination as unaccompanied baggage and traveling with a lighter load.

My children have often done this when returning from OS and wishing to wander about a bit on their return journey.

Sometimes it gets delivered and sometimes I pick it up from a freight agent near Tullamarine.

It would cost, but might be cheaper than some airlines excess fees. Would also make traveling a bit easier.

 

[Renato1]

Is the 30kg spread across 2 bags ? If it is, one quick way to get an idea of the total cost (including 2 bags) is to use kayak.com.au (or kayak.com.whatever country), and after initial search for your flights, and then on the left hand side of the screen you can select number of bags under "Baggage fees", this should give you an idea of total cost including two bags.

Thanks, but no, it's 60kgs in two bags.
I tried the kayak site in Maxthon Browser and it wouldn't work, then I tried it in Firefox and it worked sluggishly and then crashed. I'll try it on another computer with Edge and see how it goes.
Regards,
Renato

 

[Renato1]

I think there is another answer right there. Plenty of lighweight gifts available that could take the place of perfumes.
I am no expert on perfumes but would like to see a photo of what 7kgs of perfume look like!

The thing about perfumes is that there is very little discounting of them in Italy. So I pick up well known designer brand ones over here for $17 to $22 and use them as presents over in Italy where they cost anywhere from 40 to 90 Euros. My best haul was when David Jones were getting rid of Comptoir Sud pacific scents for $20 a bottle, and giving them away over there where they cost around 90 Euros each. Women love my gifts! And if they go to a lot of trouble for my wife and me, I like to think that I am giving them something substantial. There is little point buying them a bottle of wine or liqueur over there, as they are so cheap as to be unsubstantial gifts.

7 kgs of perfume looked very big last year when I stocked up on Dolce & Gabbana perfumes that Target were getting rid of for $17 a bottle. I had to substitute some of the bottles for other makes with less glass in them to get the weight down to 5kgs, as I still had 2 kgs of non-perfume gifts in the suitcase.
Cheers,
Renato

 

[Renato1]

Have you thought about sending some of it direct to your final/base destination as unaccompanied baggage and traveling with a lighter load.

My children have often done this when returning from OS and wishing to wander about a bit on their return journey.

Sometimes it gets delivered and sometimes I pick it up from a freight agent near Tullamarine.

It would cost, but might be cheaper than some airlines excess fees. Would also make traveling a bit easier.

It's a good idea, but then I'd be obligating cousins to drive an hour and a half to Venice airport and pick it up for us - whereupon I'd have to then think of something else to buy them as gifts for their efforts. We try to minimize our impositions.
Regards,
Renato

 

[sezza]

Thanks very much to both of you.

It seems I now have at least one feasible solution.

But I am still puzzled by this.
If I want to compare airlines and costs, does this mean I would have to go into their individual sites and click the flights e.g say with Emirates, Qatar, Qantas and Etihad?

Also, does this rule about flights issued on the same ticket having the same baggage allowance apply to all carriers? When I read the Etihad site, it said that some of their partners may have different baggage allowances.

Any idea what section this rule would come under in there flight conditions?

Thanks for any further help you can give me.
Regards,
Renato

The part about different baggage allowances on partner airlines is a standard disclosure. Not sure of a particular rule in the terms and conditions, But typically it's their allowance for the whole journey. I think they do this in case the can't code share for a particular reason. Best that you call the airline you're looking at directly and they can confirm price and baggage allowance for all flights. When you get the tickets it'll say how many kgs on all flights.

 

[ftm]

Agreed, booking on a single ticket (or more accurately, booking) is the only way around this.

It needs to be the same ticket. Different tickets in one booking will not have the allowances inter related between them.

 

[Renato1]

The part about different baggage allowances on partner airlines is a standard disclosure. Not sure of a particular rule in the terms and conditions, But typically it's their allowance for the whole journey. I think they do this in case the can't code share for a particular reason. Best that you call the airline you're looking at directly and they can confirm price and baggage allowance for all flights. When you get the tickets it'll say how many kgs on all flights.

It needs to be the same ticket. Different tickets in one booking will not have the allowances inter related between them.

Thanks again to the both of you.
I'll have a month or so to figure this out and where we're going, as I want to lock in any early bird fares that come along.

Regards,
Renato

 

[whatmeworry]

Hi Everyone,
In previous trips to Europe my wife and I have tried to knock off European capital cities, either flying there direct, or driving there after arriving at our home base near Venice, and have used Ryan Air once. Having done all the easy capitals, I've been exploring where to go next year using the Cheap Flights finder. We have gotten used to travelling over there taking 30kgs of luggage each, since we stay there for several months when the weather goes from hot to cold. But when the plane lands there, most domestic carriers to take us to Venice airport have excess baggage charges, as their free checked baggage allowance is 22 kg or even as low as 20 kgs with Turkish Airlines (and even lower with Ryan Air).

So I looked at flying to Edinburgh. The price of the flight from there to Venice with Jet2 is good, but the excess baggage was A$276 each.
Flying to Copenhagen - excess baggage is 50 Euros each to Venice, which isn't too bad.
Flying to Stockholm - excess baggage is 50 Euros each, but as there needs to be a stop in Copenhagen, it's not clear to me if I have to pay the excess baggage twice.
Flying to Istanbul - but, they have an odd table for calculating excess baggage using zones, and the best I could gather was a very great expense for 10kgs of excess baggage each.
Flying to Malta - excess baggage to Venice with Alitalia would be 60 Euros each, but given the flight is to Rome and then to Venice, I'm not sure if I'd have to pay that twice.
I also looked at going to Lisbon - I can't remember the details, other than I ruled that out for high price on excess baggage.

My question is - am I missing something here?
How does everyone else cope with excess baggage on domestic European flights after having flown in with 30kgs of baggage each?
Do you just grin and bare it and cough up the exorbitant excess baggage fees?
Regards,
Renato

Have you got any status with any airline? Sometimes you get extra baggage if gold or above.

Is it maybe cheaper buying one or two biz tickets then getting Y tickets plus excess?

Do you have to return to Venice everytime? Maybe a circle around Europe with less returns to Venice?

Be aware of your luggage limits. Check in + hand luggage. Remember layering clothes and wearing the heavier clothing when boarding.

Take luggage scales with you.

Don't take things you can buy locally.

 

[wandering_fred]

Dare I mention the FlyerTalk thread on European rail travel?

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[Renato1]

Have you got any status with any airline? Sometimes you get extra baggage if gold or above.

Is it maybe cheaper buying one or two biz tickets then getting Y tickets plus excess?

Do you have to return to Venice everytime? Maybe a circle around Europe with less returns to Venice?

Be aware of your luggage limits. Check in + hand luggage. Remember layering clothes and wearing the heavier clothing when boarding.

Take luggage scales with you.

Don't take things you can buy locally.

Thanks, but no, I have no status (we're just retirees travelling around the world every now and then).
And I did check Business for a couple of those trips I mentioned, and the price was double that of the standard fare plus excess baggage.
It would be hard wearing 8kgs of layered clothes - each.

All my relatives live an hour and a half's drive from Venice, which makes it our home base - at least a month is spent living like locals over there in my parents' home town. My wife is Australian and still finds it surprising how many people know us over there, and feels part of the town now.

I do have an electronic luggage scale which works very well with 22kg suitcases. The weight repeats perfectly every time. But it doesn't work so well with 30kg suitcases, where the weight doesn't repeat, and jumps around by plus or minus a kilogram - which makes it useless when a kilogram can add a $105 when flying say Emirates.
Regards,
Renato

 

[Renato1]

Dare I mention the FlyerTalk thread on European rail travel?

Happy wandering

Fred

Thanks Fred,
But while rail travel is extremely good over there, where we consider it feasible in terms of time involved, we prefer to drive. The distances involved from those places to venice is just too great for us to consider them feasible by rail.
Regards,
Renato

 

[Renato1]

Just a follow-up to this thread.

My travel agent came up with a good deal for going to Stockholm, Copenhagen and finally to Venice next year, and doesn't think I'll be paying excess baggage with the Scandinavian airline.

So that's where we are going - tough luck to all the other places we could have gone to, but which made things too difficult with very excessive excess baggage charges.
Regards,
Renato.