deeb81

Are we allowed a separate laptop bag on Thomas Cook/Canadian Affair?

I'm just taking a backpack with my laptop and camera in it as hand luggage. I'm also taking a "ski boot bag" which we're allowed up to 10kg (plus my 20kg suitcase) to go in the hold. It wont have any ski boots in it so I'm praying they dont check it!!

JulieandDave

We went premium, and yes 30kg sounds alot until you start packing!

They weighed both of our hand luggage, my OH had a laptop backpack, when he told the check-in that his lap top was in it she said 5kg one piece of hand luggage including your laptop.

And charged excess baggage.

Oink

They are all at it. Even the nice airlines, apart from United, are going to limit checked luggage to one bag and charge you extra for anymore. My advice, don't pack so much crap.

Airlines charge baggage tax

Paul5455

my plan of wearing lots of clothes doesnt seem so good anymore!
gonna be a hot sweaty flight!

Aviator

UA will follow, they however have already made a lot of cuts on other things, such as aircraft and crews. Steel cutlery is going in favour of plastic, headrest covers for some are gone, many are eliminating or charging for blankets. It is a cut throat business to survive in now. Expect more cuts and charges for things that used to be included. If they cannot push the fares up, the service and frills will go down. If you want the frills, you'll soon need to be going business or first. A much more civilised way to travel.

Miss Clinique

[QUOTE=. If you want the frills, you'll soon need to be going business or first. A much more civilised way to travel.[/QUOTE]


All right for those that can afford it

kate holt

they shouldn't check it - they don't check our "fishing bag" !

Paul5455

so if i read this right.....
we are allowed the suitcase allowance, 5kg of hand luggage (which may include laptop) PLUS a ski boot bag (or equivilent) which goes in the hold and weighs 10kg?

Paul5455

from the Canadian Affair website....:

Skiing Equipment

Canadian Affair are implementing a new policy with Thomas Cook Airlines flights, effective from 21st May 2009.

As of 21st May 2009 passengers will be allowed 1 FREE ski/snowboard/boot bag up to a maximum weight of 10 kilograms, in addition to their normal luggage allowance for the cabin they are booked in (Economy or Premium).

Any excess weight in addition to this one FREE bag will be charged at normal excess rates.

Air Transat do not charge for the carriage of ski equipment.


YEEEEE HAAAAAA

Yogi-Bear

Hi,

I'm so glad someone posted on this subject with Thomas Cook as we flew from Manchester to Calgary Sunday just gone 27-09-2009.

When we got to Manchester Airport, we were standing in the "premium" line when this lady asked me about our hand luggage.

This happened to weigh 8.9kg, Ok, I know its 5kg and I was over but it's never been a problem before. Anyway, she then proceeded to read the riot act to me, so I then said I would empty the case and weigh it empty.

This I did in front of her and the case empty was 6.3kg!! I said:

"Wow, look at that? The case empty, is 1.3kg over the limit so we have no chance!"

She replied: "Yes, you need to throw the case away or buy another one that's more suitable"

Yes I said "It amazes me today that these moronic companies are allowed to sell these things when they know they're not to current standards"

"I'd take it right back she said and demand my money back ASAP"

"Yes that's is exactly what I intend to do. By the way, where is your nearest THOMAS COOK SHOP then?"

The colour drained from her They sold me a case that is 1.3kg over before we start!

I then had to pay for the case to go as extra and we then had to shuffle our cases about in order to get the kg down. I then asked to see their manager as this was now ridiculous as they were saying it will still cost me £100.00 extra!! I then had some 4ft 10" "Jobsworth" reading the riot act too! None of these people reading the riot acts had name tags on, and would only give me christian names only!

I then said I would be asking to see a current "certificate of conformity issued by the weights and measures board to confirm the scales accuracy once I landed"

At this point I then started to take pictures of the scales empty, where ours had been weighed.

I managed to get a great picture of the scales, empty, and showing 4.3kg on the LCD screen! Even when she weighed ours she said:

"Hmm, I have to deduct some because the scales are playing up

After I had taken the photos I was swooped on by, you guessed it, "Mr Jobsworth" who then proceeded to demand I delete the image for security reasons, I said ok, I'll do it as I knew I was risking flying no where at this rate.

I did point out though, that was no sign displaying that YOU can't take photos Anyway, I quickly showed him the image and it being deleted - so he thought What I actually did was save it to the memory

As soon as we're sorted it is my intention to write to Thomas Cook HQ, asking for a copy of the certificate of compliance, I shall aalsoenclose the picture, as I'm sure the BBC's watchdog would be very interested indeed

I'll keep ya posted.

Y

kate holt

Love that bit!! That's so funny - you must must complain! Its a crazy system just designed to charge us more money. Lets face it why should skiers and fishermen have more luggage allowance- if they can give the allowance to them can they not give to others too? Is this not discrimination against non fishermen and skiers LOL

Yogi-Bear

Hi Kate,

I agree with you totally. After all, it's not about the saftey or load factor on the aircraft because if you "PAY" it gets boarded!

I shall follow it through - no worries there, especially the photo showing the scales reading 4.3Kg with nothing on them! If I didn't know better, I'd say some "think tank" inside Thomas Cook came up with this idea of ripping everyone off because of the recession, and sales are drastically down!

It really is a disgrace! I don't mind paying if I'm over that's my fault, what when I have dodgy scales and the attendant is juggling the weights in her head as she knows they're not accurate, then she guess's a figure of £100.00 to charge me, then yes I do object!

I've since found out that when flying from UK to Canada it's 5Kg and they stick to it, but coming from Canada to Uk you're allowed 10kg as hand luggage, so if you're on a return trip from Canada to the UK, beware, because whislt you will be ok outward bound, coming back you'll be charged £10.00pr Kilo over the 5Kg limit.

I shall pursue this because it is law that you have a certificate of compliance from the Uk's weights and measures dept to certify the scales as accurate, and given the use they get I'd guess that test would be at least every month or so...

I'll keep you posted, once I get chance I may even post the photo on here of the scales reading with no luggage. I'll see what they say first.

Cheers

Y

debbiem

I used to work in aviation (disclaimer, not Thomas Cook lol) and was once responsible for a flight that was largely filled by a group of travelling minors on a youth trip. We knew we were going to be pretty tight on weight as the crew had opted to take extra fuel (blah blah aircrew blah), but thought it would be fine as these were all kids, right? So at a push we could bang 'em on at MFCI weights (effectively load them to the aircraft at the 'child' weight instead of the adult weight - it gives you a fair bit of extra wiggle room when you are kg counting).

but omg, I have never seen such huge kids, with soooooo much baggage. We ended up weighing the kids (seriously, honestly, I swear on my mother's life) to put them on the manifest at their 'actual' weight to see if we could get some leeway between the 'adult' and 'child' weight and get everything on the aircraft. (We did not charge excess baggage lol - if we could get everything on, weight and balance/ size wise, it would go).

Funniest day of my life, I swear.

(We ended up offloading some of the bags and putting them on the next flight - it was either that or stick the kids in a sweat box to lose some poundage before take-off). Sometimes, just sometimes, it really is a weight issue lol.

I'm not a fan of charging for this stuff - but I do have a healthy respect for baggage limits and always weigh my bags before leaving home. This time we knew one bag was over, and were prepared to pay excess on it (we flew BA from T5 to Calgary), but the lovely lady at the check-in refused to let us pay excess baggage and demanded that we repacked the extra weight into two or three of our bags that were under, despite them being already packed to the gunnels... in the end she insisted we put the extras into the travel bag with the pushchair so that we didn't have to pay. To be honest I'd rather have paid than get my knickers out in T5, but she was very persuasive.

Yogi-Bear

Lol

ExcitedBrit

I was wondering if anyone of you have had any experience with Air Canada. Do they check hand baggage for internal flights within canada? Can I have my laptop separately with my handbag?