Hi there I am thinking when I get to stage of moving to just pack all the essential things in suitcases and sell rest here in UK before I leave.
I just wanted to know how many suitcases can I take with me. Also what the weight each one can be. Please more info about this would be great. For example would it be ok if I pack 3 or 4 suitcases. 1 or 2 with clothes and the other 2 or 3 with each much things i need to take.
Any one else done something similer. Also what about computer related things. I have alot of work stuff like paperwork, computer discs, dvds. Also can I pack my whole DVD collection in one case, I have like over a 1000 and dont really want to leave them behind. If I just take dvd cd and not hardcase is it ok to put in suitcase. Is there a list somewhere of things I can put in suitcase.

Any info would be great. Thanks

You need to check with your airline as they vary. They will have strict guidelines on the number of cases and the maximum weight per case and in total you are allowed.

Usually the weight limit for one bag is 66lbs and you're allowed two. Some airlines allow you to bring more and pay an excess baggage charge at the counter. Each airline publishes a list of things they don't allow in bags. Generally things that can explode or catch fire are not allowed, livestock is not welcome, illegal immigrants strongly discouraged and printed material deemed to be unacceptably pornographic or to contain race hate is banned. One should also be careful about fertilizers and animal byproducts, especially when transitting through a third country; you don't want the Americans to grab your salami.

^^^^^ - what he said.

Air Canada for example have limit of 25kg per case assuming travel in cattle class (32kg for business.). You can pay excess baggage charges for additional weight/suitcases BUT depending on how full the flight is there is no guarantee that they'll accept them. Maybe use someone like Excess Baggage company to airfreight a couple of suitcases for you?

AX

32 kg is the maximum for any one case/box etc passing through british airports. Its a health and safety thing, not an airline thing. There are also some weight limits on the overhead baggage now but I'm not sure what the security regulations are at the minute as to what you are allowed to take into the cabin. We came right at the peak of the security thing with only the plastic bag and essential documents allowed so we packed our laptop very carefully in the suitcase, made backups on two smartsticks and then sent one of those plus all our documents that would have been carryon via courier. The other smartstick we posted. It may be worth yoru while to send stuff courier and for you to pick it up at office in Canada if you dont have an address yet

I'm aware of the 32kg limit for UK airports. Until a year or two ago, AC allowed scum class to go up to that 32kg limit. These days however you are restricted to 25kg unless you are in business class or probably if your are an air canada super-duper-elite member. So if the OP is travelling AC economy then the 25kg limit is the one to consider.

What about a small externel hard drive which would have all my computer files on it. It very small but if i take this will it be ok. I guess its same as when people take there laptops. Also nowdays are you not allowed to take hand luggage or can i take a small rack sack with most important thing in it.

They're quite strict with hand baggage now too. When we were checking in they weighed our hand luggage and made us take things out and put them into another bag. It was a bit embarrasing me on the floor trying to stuff things into other bags with the passengers behind tutting!

If you are taking a rucksac, make sure it is a small one and don't over fill it.

We recently went through that palaver with the duty free. It's allowed in the cabin on some flights but not others so we had to reclaim the bags at the transit point and shove the booze in. This despite my being a super-duper member.

3 of us came out with 3 x 30 kg bags full of assorted things and 3 pieces of hand luggage , there was a sign about weight , but no one worried , and i also carried on the laptop computer , it does say that is classed as one piece of hand luggage , but again no one queried that , it just went through a different x-ray and it was taken seperatly and tested.

the addition to the above is my son flew 2 months before us and the airlines lost the luggage , so poor kid turns up with no belongings , after weeks of calls , Gatwick finally found it,in all that lost luggage they have there and offered to fly in on to toronto , i refused and collected it and got a letter so we could take it with us ,so we did end up with 2 more 30 kg bags.

There was four of us travelling and in total we had 11 suitcases (2 huge, 2 of those real small ones you get in a 3 set! the rest in between sizes) a set of golf clubs and hand luggage. oh and 2 laptops, camera and accessories, camcorder and travel DVD player!
They did charge us £100 for excess baggage though
Mind you it wasnt till afterwards that i realised they weighed cat in her box aswell and im not sure that was added to the total, which if it was is not right as i had already paid for her seperatly. They (Air Transat) also added the weight of the golf clubs which on other flight carriers we have never had before
We had 5 boxes of stuff....CD's,DVD's,Photo's, additional clothes,coats,shoes etc and kitchen equip that we wanted to bring. we called the airline about paying to get it on same flight and they said that we could try but it would depend on the day if the flight is full so we went sent them with a different company as cargo. The cost was reasonable we thought.

oops, what i meant was that you cant just plan to pay for the extra weight, or average it out if its over in one and under in another in one suitcase .They just wont take any baggage over 32kgs.

Do you mean you cant even pay the extra for weights over 25kg in peasant class?

It's funny we went over last October and we were totally following the weight/size guidelines and tghey never looked at or even weighed our bags.

I thought they would

It's a matter of luck. It depends who you get. I always warn my wife of the risk. We got away with it on two trips, but the last time we went over we went way over on both her cases and hand luggage, we had no problems on the way out but on the way back a miserable lady tried to charge us over £200 for excess baggage.

Luckily a nicer check-in person seeing me throwing away lots of stuff took pity and let us check-in our cases and our excess hand luggage for free.

I looked quite a state. I had three layers of clothing on and every pocket was full; I could barely walk. Going through the x-ray machine was a real laugh as I filled about 3 trays.

It probably would have been cheaper to pay the £200 as my wife has enjoyed updating her wardrobe since then. We wouldn't take the chance again.