How to take (lots) of excess baggage?

[bismarck]

Hoping to draw on the community's expertise to help my Dad out.

He is planning on take some long service leave this year, and will be travelling around Europe on a bike. As a result, he needs to take quite a lot of baggage (60-70kg he estimates).

Plan would be to fly in and out of Geneva (from SYD).

Is anyone aware of a particularly generous airline when it comes to baggage allowances? He has no status, so even flying business class it looks like only 40kg would be permitted.

Have investigated shipping, but these are also quite expensive so wondering whether an excess baggage / business class approach might be more affordable (obviously added benefit of flying the old man in comfort)

 

[kookaburra75]

I'll ping my brother-in-law, as he cycles in Europe quite often and takes his own bike and gear. He uses a special bike box, but I don't know how he pays for it all

 

[Happy Dude]

International shipping costs are such that business class is viable?

It'll depend entirely on the carrier, how many pieces you talking, but surely buying additional luggage before the flight is next most economical.

Or buy things over there.

 

[Kerrodt]

Traveling around Europe on a bike with 70kg of luggage in tow. That’s a lot of weight to be hauling around on a bike.

 

[Mattg]

Is the bike part of that 70kg? If so, surely it would be better just to buy/rent a new bike once in Europe?

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Your best bet if he has to take 70 kilos is shipping the excess of the 40 kilos J allowance is the best bet as excess rates per kilo can be AUD60.00 to AUD80.00 per kilo!

I believe MU give Y pax 2 @ 23 kgs & J 2 @ 32 kgs but that's generally on 100% MU itineraries so no mixed carriage. Heavy fees and oversize items incur a fee of AUD210.00. MU fly to Frankfurt as well as a few other European cities so your Dad could always get the train to GVA however with all that luggage it'll be a challenge.

MU through checkin is a bit of a pandoras box however it appears that they will through check to European cities when the flight departs same eveing or just after midnight. If your connecting flight is around noon the next day then you'll need to collect your bags in PVG. That of course means that if you have any excess luggage you'll need to pay those fees again.

 

[opusman]

If he joins Qantas Club and flies EK business he should get 52kg (or at least that's what the Qantas page on Checked baggage suggests).