An excess baggage question!

[sinophile888]

I have a question about excess baggage. Next month, I am cruising from Beijing to Bangkok and then flying home with Thai Airways to Perth. I am sure I will have a suitcase of up to 20kg excess baggage. What are my best options for getting the suitcase home?
My initial thoughts are:-
a) Thai Airways as excess baggage
b) Fedex or DHL or similar from Singapore
Has anyone had any experience in this area?
I cannot find any rates for Thai Airways and the DHL/Fedex options look prohibitive.

 

[JohnK]

There are a number of companies that deal with unaccompanied baggage. It is not a cheap service but much cheaper than airline excess baggage. One company I looked at PER-BKK was charging a minimum of $215 for 20kgs.

You can always give Qantas Unaccompanied Baggage a call for rates. You do not need to be flying Qantas but hold a valid international ticket (for travel on any airline) between the origin and destination airports.

 

[kiwi2768]

I've often wondered about this:

You can send unaccompanied baggage, but if you check in for your flight and they load your bags and you don't board the aircraft, they then offload your bags.

What's the difference? :-|

 

[JohnK]

I asked Qantas Baggage Services the same question earlier this evening. Obviously my luggage failed to make the same flight as me for an extremely simple BNE-SYD itinerary.

Still do not have luggage but when I have been a little late for check-in and ask for my luggage to be put on a later flight I am told regulations state the luggage has to be on the same flight as me. Obviously Qantas are allowed to bend the rules when it suits them.

 

[Mal]

You can send unaccompanied baggage, but if you check in for your flight and they load your bags and you don't board the aircraft, they then offload your bags.

Unaccompanied bags are treated as cargo, so go through other screening methods. You don't see someone who ships beef to Asia for example having to accompany their packages on the plane... so it's a similar concept.

Luggage is treated differently and it must accompany the passenger unless operational reasons dictate otherwise (and I assume it is treated as cargo in that case).

 

[trooper]

As already mentioned cargo has its own screening process....


The situation the airlines seem to want to avoid (logically in my view) is that of a person checking bags for a specific flight.. and then failing to board.

 

[steve00]

Hi sinophile888, am in the same situation as you. Need to get a 20kg suitcase back to Brisbane from Beijing. How did you end up going about it?

Regards,

Steve

 

[sinophile888]

steve00,
We chanced it and brought 25kg over our allowance back on Thai Airways. It was a week after the riots which killed 23 and injured 900 and a few days after the volcano eruption in Iceland. We were surprised and pleased.