I'm going to New York for four nights in a couple of weeks time and intend only taking hand luggage, I have a small trolley case, take only the very small sizes in cosmetics that will fit in the plastic bag and find the luggage allowance (8 kilos with Lufthansa) enough. When my parents were alive I travelled to the Uk on a regular basis and travelling with hand luggage certainly made the journey a bit less of a hassle and if you can get a seat near the exit on the plane so that you are one of the first off, you will then avoid the lines and be out of the airport pretty quickly. I am not really intending doing any/much shopping in NY but there should be enough room in the case for a couple of small purchases.

Hi there.

I too had to travel on a 15kg limit a couple of years ago.I was flying with Thomas Cook and was charged an excess baggage fee (around £5 per Kg over) this will probably apply to all UK operators.With regard to single baggage weight I think that the limit for each bag is 30Kg.This is due to the Health & Safety for the baggage handlers.So if 4 people are travelling with a limit of 15Kg each,it is possible to take two large cases.Though I would make the little beggars carry some too!
Please don't take this info as gospel as things can differ between different carriers.

David

I swapped my large trolley case to a holdall as my case weighed 5 kilos when empty. I stayed on holiday for nearly 5 weeks and managed fine with the 15 kilo allowance. I think my bag weighed in at nearly 17 kilos on check-in but they didn't charge me any extra.
sam

Bear in mind that they weigh your suitcase not you, so here are a couple of tips. Wear as many clothes as you can and a jacket with large pockets. Take a spare carrier bag in your hand luggage and once you've passed through security, use the ladies to take off your spare clothes. Most airports have a Boots and anything you buy after you've passed through security doesn't get weighed, so buy all your toiletries in Boots at the terminal. Good luck!

Further to Dave Dee's post regarding maximum baggage limits for a single case, this varies between airlines. The maximum for First Choice economy is now 23Kg though this may be higher if you travel in Star Class Premier.

Hi there.

As I said previously, the limit with Thomas Cook (per case) was and still is (according to their latest brochure) 30Kg .This is not to be confused with the luggage allowance PER person which can range from 15 - 25 Kg dependant on the type of holiday and price paid.
With regards to First Choice (tropical) the maximum single case weight is indeed 23Kg.As far as I know the maximum allowed PER PERSON is 20Kg unless you have booked "Premier" accomodation,where an extra 3Kg is allowed

David

What a minefield!
I'm confused!
But at least I now know why so many people are now carrying small cases as hand luggage rather than 'flight bag' size

I doubt there will be many small cases on TC flights. I checked the hand baggage allowance for someone today and it is only 5kgs per person.

luci

Hi Luci.

That's in addition to the allowed hold baggage...................................isn't it LOL
What annoys me is that, if for instance my ticket says that my hold baggage allowance is 20kg max and there is 25kg in it and I've no hand baggage,then I'm 5kg over but if my case has the stated 20kg and I've got small hand baggage weighing 5kg,then I'm OK!
My hand baggage has never been weighed and I think that airlines should issue a ticket stating the maximum combined hold AND hand luggage

David

Hi Dave

I was replying to Sal-ad-daze who stated that people were taking small cases to make up for only having 15kgs hold baggage. I doubted this was on a TC flight with them only allowing 5kgs hand baggage.

Thomas Cook doesn't allow you to pool hold and hand luggage so if you have 25kgs hold luggage and no hand luggage, you will still be charged for 5kgs excess baggage.

You can check out TC's luggage policy in Item 3 HERE

luci

Hi again Luci.

Yeah, I knew what you meant.I was just saying that it's a pity that the two couldn't be combined.

David

You're right, it wasn't a TC flight, it was a jet2 flight. They were really hot on the 20kg limit for hold baggage (somehow we ended up 9kg (between 6)over going home when we'd been fine outward and we'd left books and were minus sun lotion/toiletries etc ) whilst totally ignoring the size of cabin baggage some of which was the size of a small suitcase.

We were "stung" at Tenerife South last week for excess baggage. I had been very careful before we left Manchester and between the three of us we were about 3-4kg underweight.
We only did a little bit of shopping on holiday (just our non-EU allowance of cigs/tobacco and perfumes - and we didn't buy any booze because of weight worries) and I used up and threw away nearly all the suncreams at the end of the holiday and left our shampoo, shower gel etc behind in the hotel bathroom; but on arrival at TFS check-in we were told we were 8kg over I said "no way!" and explained to the English lady assisting the Spanish clerk that we were underweight flying out and they looked at his sums again and decided he'd added up wrong and it was actually 3kg over, which I still wasn't happy about (at 9€ per kilo) but agreed to pay rather than hold up the queue making a fuss. When we looked at his sums again (after we'd paid) we realised it was still wrong and we were only 2kg over.
We complained to our Thomas Cook rep (and we weren't the only ones from our queue to complain) and she said they'd look into it, and if there were a lot of complaints they would raise a query with the airport. I wouldn't mind but I'd already paid extra when booking the holiday for us to have 20kg each instead of 15kg, and our "suitcases" are the lightest wheeled holdalls I have ever found. I don't know how we would have managed with a 15kg allowance on a two-week holiday. We've done a 7 night holiday with 15kg, but it was a struggle, especially when you add in the weight of the suitcases.
Anyway, being philosophical about our "surcharge" - it's the first time it's ever happened to us and there's been loads of times in the past when we've been a few kilos overweight and we've just been waved through, so I consider it a bit of bargain really... and I know for a fact our hand luggage was well over the 5kg limit but nobody weighed that - I just use a squishy beach bag for hand luggage and try not to look like my shoulder is hurting while standing at the check-in desk

This has all got me worried as we fly back from Dalaman which is supposed to be really bad for charging for excess baggage, so even if we get away with it from this end on our way out, we prob won't on return. We are 2 adults and 3 kids, how many suitcases do you think is usual for our size family? We used to use the huge roller holdalls but they were so big that they weighed a ton when full and they need to be quite full to stop your clothes falling all over inside as there are no straps to keep the contents in place. We don't need to take any towels at all (inc beach ones, all provided) but I have only bought 3 medium soft cases and already have one small overnight case, do you think this will be enough to stay under the 15kg? Or should I buy another medium case to give us that bit lee way? This would make a total of one case each rather than the 4 between 5 of us at the moment? We are going for 2 weeks by the way

I would have a case each and distribute everything around. That gives you an extra 15kg if you think about it from what you would normally have it.

Thats what I am going to do SandC, 4 small cases of 15kg or under, ie one each, rather than the 3 slightly larger ones that I used to take. I don't trust either Thomas Cook or the staff at Dalaman coming home.
I reckon the tour ops are in league with the people who sell cases.

Chris, both holidays I booked with Mytravel has 20kg, so you may be ok for Turkey.

The way nearly all airlines are ripping us off with all the extra charges,Extra luggage allowance,Leg room seats ,sitting together and meals,I think it will only be a matter of time before we all have to stand on the scales with our cases.

I too am thinking about getting a wheelie holdall this year rather than using my suitcase as it weighs 5.5kg and with a 15kg allowance that doesn't leave much packing allowance.

We aren't taking towels to keep the weight down...shall buy some cheap ones out there plus shall share shampoo, body wash etc to keep weight less. Only thing is I have to be really particular with sun creams as get awful prickly heat so have to take it with me. My OH said about taking 14 Tshirts ie 1 per day......I soon told him that he wouldn't and would halve it and wash them out there.....and I thought us females were supposedly bad at taking too much!!!! Mind you in the last 10 years of holidays I have always worn everything I have taken as I really don't pack many clothes......no point as no one is going to notice if you wear the same few outfits anyway. I take several core items that I can mix and match and that does me. No iron, no hairdryer, no straighteners....etc.......My OH very amazed at this but hey I am on holiday and like the natural look!!!!