Excess luggage and Air NZ

[elight]

I will be traveling from Melbourne to Shanghai with Air NZ via Auckland in December.

Unfortunately my check-in luggage will be around 25kg and Air NZ allows 20kg (contra Qantas 23kg).

Anyway, tried to upgrade the leg between Melbourne and Auckland to Business Class so I could squeeze 30kg all the way to Shanghai (as I understand it that I don't need to check out my luggage at Auckland for Shanghai leg) but my travel agent said I have to upgrade the Auckland to Shanghai route as well plus re-issue fee.

As I see it, I am facing three choices:
1. abandon some excess weight - unlikely;
2. upgrade at Air NZ counter at Melbourne International - I can't see there is such a counter at Melbourne Airport via its website, could someone kindly advise me on vif there is such a counter and if they allow me to upgrade one segment if there is such a counter and if they allow me to upgrade one segment; and
3. possibly, get some excess luggage company to send a separate suitcase - not familiar with this but open for your kind advice as well.

If you have any alternative suggestions, please do tell.

I am very grateful for your time and advice.

Thank you.

 

[opusman]

Surely the fourth option is to simply pay an excess baggage fee upon check-in?

 

[futaris]

If you have some Amex Membership Rewards points, you can convert them to NZ Airpoints, and try for an upgrade to Premium Economy or Business.

Air New Zealand Upgrade Chart - Cheap Flights, Airfares & Holidays - Air New Zealand Official Site - Australia

200 AU ApD = 20,000 MR points for a standby upgrade to Premium Economy
660 AU ApD = 66,000 MR points for a standby upgrade to Business

NB, you should only need to upgrade the longer segment to Premium Economy to get the 30kg.

Also, even if the upgrade doesn't go through, you can still claim the extra luggage, according to this thread.

Alternatively, if you have *A Gold, then you will get 20kg extra allowance.

 

[abc12345678]

Usually depends on attitude of check in attendant.

< 5kg usually pretty lenient.

Otherwise, from memory, I think it's $10 per kg.

 

[futaris]

30 AUD / kg to Asia, according to this page.

 

[harvyk]

Is it just yourself that is travelling or are you travelling with a companion? The reason why I ask is that AirNZ will usually combine all luggage together as a single weight and divide that weight amongst all travellers in the party. Which means that you can have a bag of 25kg, and yet have a travel companion with only 15kg of baggage and not pay excess baggage.


They are not like some other airlines where weight "disappears" depending on which bag it is in...

 

[SeaWolf]

If you were still interested in going down the route of upgrading your MEL-AKL leg then you could try giving AirNZ a call directly instead of going through your agent. They might be able to do this where your agent couldn't. I've found their call centre to be very, very good. (In contrast to just about every other call centre on the planet.)

 

[elight]

Thanks to opusman and futaris for the information on paying for the excess luggage - I lost sight when focusing on the excess, instead of costs of upgrading. I mean: it is more expensive to upgrade than pay for the excess : )

Also thanks for harvyk and SeaWolf for suggesting alternatives.