Looking forward to Oz

Hi.

When I fly to oz it will be my first time and I will be validating my visa and staying (i.e. flying on a one way ticket).

I have been told that laptop bags are in addition to your hand luggage bag.

1] can anyone confirm if this is correct

2] my laptop bag is a rucksack type of bag - would this be classed as my hand luggage? If so i'm gonna have to buy a satchel style laptop bag so I can have a laptop bag and a hand luggage bag!!!

(p.s. - im trying to maximise my kgs because im not shipping any thing over!)

shabee

There was 4 of us and we each had a small case each, 2 laptop bags and I had a handbag. No problems. We flew with Singapore airlines.
x

Pollyana

Make sure you check with the airport you are flying from. Some only allow on ebag as hand luggage, and this takes precedence over whatever your airline says.
Heathrow, you should be fine with what you said here, but if flying from anywhere else, check with the airport.

MarkMC

I took a small trolley case as hand luggage and a separate lap top bag (satchel type) There was no problem with having 2 bags.

Kooky.

Ditto to all the above - check with airline's website and airports. Rucksack type should be fine so long as it is not huge, and make sure it's easy to get the laptop out as you'll have to do this to go through security.

By all means maximise your kg but:
1. Make the bags look light while you are checking in; I am expert in this. Wear any cardigans/hoodies/coats until you get through Passport control.
2. Be prepare to check one of them in if necessary, i.e., to switch your bare essentials over to your laptop bag if necessary.

How well you get away with it often depends on the mood of the ground staff on the day. Be polite.

MarkMC

I agree, we took about 25kg each in luggage (20kg limit) as well as hand luggage, lap top bag, small camera bag and a handbag. We were friendly and polite to the check in lady and she never mentioned it. I noticed a guy furhter down having a bit more trouble than us. He obviously got the person in a bad mood.

Pollyana

Another good trick is to get a mate to come to the airport with you, and they stand round the corner with the hand luggage while you check in
Thats a good tip about being prepared to check one bag in, I always have one that can go in the hold if necessary, as even at the gate they can insist if one bag ois really too big. So keep the essential stuff in one bag, and make sure the bags are labelled.

Kooky.

I do believe we may have done that when we moved to Singapore Still ended up paying 500 quid in excess baggage though.

margy

Hi,

We arrived just over a week ago and brought our laptops as hand huggage. OH had a proper laptop bag and put everything including two laptops in there. I had a wheely laptop bag and filled that up, plus carried a handbag. Daughter had a rucksack and had laptop, gameboy, ipod etc in hers.

The only problem that we did have is that I was way over the weight limit. The kind lady at the desk just told me to carry my laptop through customs and then the weight for the rest would be ok. As you have to remove the laptop from the bag anyway this was no great shakes. I knew the bag was too heavy because when I tried to put it on as a ruck sack I almost toppled over backwards.

My large case was also the heaviest - a girls gotta have her shoes!

The hand luggage was never weighed again after check in, so we were very lucky. Wouldn't have trusted them going in hold luggage.

Good luck.

Thanks.

M

Babsw

we left the hand luggage with our sons while we checked in but the guy insisted on seeing each piece of hand luggage and weighing it.That was emirates.However there was no problem about having a lap top bag as well as hand luggage. He also tagged each piece of hand luggage and wrote on it what each one weighed. I guess to prevent us off loading contents of pockets etc. he did let us transfer some hand luggage into suitcases as they were slightly under. Very nerve wracking though. Spoilt the time spent at the airport bacause he said the boarding gates would be where we would get fined if they wanted to be awkward.