Help Needed re: Best Long Haul Baggage Allowance

aretsa9 on 18/06/2018 - 05:22

Hi everyone, sadly my mother has passed away in the UK and I need to bring a lot of items back to Sydney.
I would appreciate help with:
Most generous hold luggage allowance - ideally 2 bags
Lowest cost per extra hold bag
Most generous hand luggage allowance, also cheapest cost for overweight hand luggage.

Plus cheapest, reliable options to ship some things to Sydney by sea.

I will be travelling economy and can fly back either via Asia or US.

I have googled but am now thoroughly confused as it appears previously generous airlines like Etihad have changed their baggage policies in the past few months.

Many thanks in advance.

Travel

Comments

  • donbot on 18/06/2018 - 08:55
    +1

    Unaccompanied luggage might be an option? I've never used it, but might be of assistance to get a lot of stuff back to Sydney.

  • slow on 18/06/2018 - 09:17
    +1

    Can't help with specific companies, but when I moved back from the UK to Australia quite a few years ago it was surprising cheap to ship stuff using a "Tea Chest". Company dropped some large boxes, I filled them up, and they arrived in Melbourne a while later. If you google tea chest there are a lot of options

  • sparkles on 18/06/2018 - 09:32
    +4

    I used these guys when I moved from the UK. The boxes take a couple of months to arrive, but the process was smooth. They will drop off boxes for you to fill, then come collect when you book a pickup, and then deliver the boxes to you at an address here. Also it was quite a bit cheaper when delivering to metro address as opposed to a rural address here in Australia. You can choose book boxes (which are smaller) or larger tea chest boxes.

    http://www.sevenseasworldwide.com/

    • GG57 on 18/06/2018 - 09:49
      +3

      I've also used these, albeit a long time ago. They are well established and reliable.

  • donga100 on 18/06/2018 - 10:55
    +1

    In general, baggage allowance via Asia will be weight based (20-23kg) whereas via USA will be piece based (2 x 23kg or 2 x 32kg bags). Keep in mind though that it might cost more to fly via USA than Asia.

    • NancyCat on 18/06/2018 - 11:50
      +3

      30kg for economy on Qantas, Cathay, Singapore Airlines & Etihad.

      • Domingo on 18/06/2018 - 13:16
        +2

        add Emirates to that list. 30kg per economy ticket, 42 if you have silver qantas frequent flyer status. From memory it wasn't ridiculously expensive to add more at the time of booking, but is ridiculously expensive to add on later. Can be 2 bags.

        • branners on 18/06/2018 - 18:32
          +1

          Add Thai and Royal Brunei, if the cost of the fare is an issue.

  • peterpeterpumpkin on 18/06/2018 - 11:49
    +2

    Is this for a one-way flight or return? And is the date fixed? And do you have an idea of how much weight you'll actually need. If your excess baggage is only a few kilos it can still be worth it in terms of cost and convenience to take the cheapest (or best value) flight (say a 30 kg or 32 kg carrier) and add on $400 or whatever it costs for (pre-booked, if available) extra baggage.

    If the flight is return, I've heard you can fly on a mixed-class ticket, economy one way and premium economy on the return leg, potentially giving you a better flight experience as a bonus (I imagine for many airlines one way premium economy may be inflated as per one-way economy). It might be worth contacting a travel agent to enquire. However, a lot of these "premium economy" airlines (e.g. http://www.traveller.com.au/guide-to-premium-economy-class-w…) are less competitive on the London to Sydney leg to begin with.

  • JimmyF on 18/06/2018 - 12:31
    +3

    Just ship the items back, going to be cheaper…..

  • Fier2 on 18/06/2018 - 12:53
    +3

    Sorry for your loss.

    Air china have a great baggage allowance: 2×23kg and a cabin luggage. They are not the best company but their are cheap and will allowed extra. I haven t see my sister for years so when she came visit me she fill up her luggages with lot of gift for my kids. They were 3 passengers so they ended up with 9 luggage at no extra cost. All the luggage were transfer from paris to sydney. And if you got their membership, tney don t bother if each luggage is 2 to 3 kg in excess.

  • Love a bargain on 18/06/2018 - 13:00
    +1

    Do you have any FF points. Might be worth considering redeeming a premium economy or business class ticket for the way back. That'd give you a lot of extra baggage allowance (both check in & carry on)

    With some airlines, you can buy extra bags but they don't normally let you buy extra carry on.

    For stuff that is not of huge monetary/ sentimental value (but obviously valuable enough for you to wanna bring them to Australia), consider shipping them by sea. This would be far cheaper than taking them on the plane with you, with the added benefit that they'll be delivered directly to your home.

  • aretsa9 on 18/06/2018 - 19:07

    Many thanks, everyone. I really appreciate all the helpful suggestions.

  • wfdTamar on 21/01/2020 - 19:49

    If an airline has 2 x 23kg checked bag allowance and say this :

    Maximum total linear dimension (length + width + height):
    158cm (62in)

    Does that mean both bags added together can't exceed 158cm, or each bag can be that big (158cm total)?

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