Very normal on budget airlines. If you fly with Globespan you are only allowed 20kg in total, including any hand luggage.

Son flew with Excel a couple of weeks ago and his allowance was 20kg hold luggage and 5kg hand luggage (which they were allowed to include in their hold luggage as the security checks had only just come into place then)

If you are in any doubt phone your airline for clarification.

Rgds Jackie

Hi kat225club ... baggage allowances vary not just according to tour operator, but also according to type of holiday booked.

I believe Olympic Holidays normally allow 20kgs of hold baggage plus 5kgs of hand baggage, but allowances should be shown on your flight tickets or booking confirmation.

You will find more on Olympic Holidays in our Tour Operators forum, and about baggage allowances in general in our Airlines & Airports forum.

David

we are only allowed 20kg each???

That's your allocated allowance per person, you can take more by paying a premium. I'm not quite sure what the charges are with Olympic. Also if say six check in together, then usually they combine all allowances, therefore 120 kg allowed, etc.

Robby

Kat225club

Just checked with my son and he said he flew out with Excel but home with Olympic (he went to Crete)

He said that they were allowed 25kgs (including hand luggage) both ways.

Perhaps your sis in law is talking about 20kg hold luggage and has not realised that you can take 5kg hand luggage.

If you check with the airline there can be no confussion.

Or as Robbie says you can take extra and pay for excess baggage.

Regards Jackie.

20kg seems to be the norm these days with the Charter Airlines. I know with Thomson, AJet & Thomas Cook it's been that for a while for hold luggage

But most allow 5kg hand luggage. I have to admit I find it pretty unfair that whether your going for a week or two you still only get the same allowance. Thomson are very strict with the 20kg as I found to my detriment earlier this year when it cost me & my brother £63 each in excess luggage charges returning from the Canaries

Having said that I never take hand luggage and therefore most of them allow for the 5kg you could use on hold luggage instead giving you 25kg. But that's only my experience with AJet & Thomson.

This is something that is talked about often here on HT - I personally fail to see what the problem is.

Years ago we booked a late holiday and were restricted to 15kg - at that point we looked at what we took and did not wear/use. Since then we have had no problems.

It is a fact that people do take far more clothes than they need, combine that with the weight of some suitcases you have a problem.

Consider that 20kgs is 44lbs in weight or 3.1 stones. That is a lot of clothes.

There is also the bonus that you have less to wash and iron on your return.

fwh

I don't think 20kg is really adequate for a two week holiday. It is possible to do it, but cut backs need to be done and it allows not much scope for bringing back spirits/tobacco etc, along with any gifts, with of course having to bring back all that was taken in the first place. I personally think an extra allowance should be included in a two week holiday compared to a one week holiday, if you know what I mean.

Robby

If you pack sensibly then 20kgs is more than adequate even for a 2 week holiday. You really do not need a different outfit every day/night. Try and co-ordinate your wardrobe. Underwear dries very quickly overnight on a balcony.

We take more than enough clothing and because we often travel out of main peak season we usually have to take a cardigan/jacket/fleece for the cooler evenings. I am also one for a fair few pairs of shoes

If in a hotel I also take a kettle/mugs for that morning/evening drink plus tea and coffee etc. Also books and games.

Despite this our cases usually only weigh 17 - 18 kgs each on the way out and often a bit less on the way back due to toiletries being used etc.

Spare a thought for the baggage handlers who day in and day out have to handle heavy cases.

It may be that your luggage weighs too much before anything even goes in it - in that case perhaps it is time for some lightweight luggage.

Pippa

We always fall out about what we are taking or not and weigh ourselves on the scales without luggage and then with Luggage adjusting if neccessary, It it is ironical that after all the discussion we usually come in within 20kg, and when travelling with Ryanair 15kg. we always take so much stuff that we never wear and as you say Pippa the balcony is an ideal place for drying.

i think 20kgs is fine- i understand you're a bit miffed cos its changed, but 20 kgs is a hell of a weight to lug on and off carousels and into coaches. we have 2 kids and even with toys, nappies, milk, bootles, towels etc, we have never even come close to usin all our allowance, even for 2 weeks.

We have just returned from a week's cruise and our cases weighed 16kg and 18kg going out. The only hand luggage we had was my handbag and a small rucksack which only had the travel documents in it.

The cases are large hard bodied ones and weigh 6kg each empty. I have looked at lightweight luggage, but it still weighed 5kg each so it wasn't worth changing.

I am brutal when it comes to packing and only take what I know I am going to wear, not what I think I will wear. Most things can be worn twice. I could have got all my clothes into a holdall, I took so little. Hubby always asks if I want to take more! This time I should have taken one more dress for evening, but it just meant I had to wear one three times. Shock, horror! I actually came back with one T-shirt and one vest top unworn.

However I do agree that it's different if you're going for 2 weeks as you need more stuff.

When we fly to Vegas in November we're each allowed 2 pieces of hold baggage at 32kg each! I'll still only pack what I need, but the extra allowance will be handy for bringing stuff back.

luci

No disrespect to anyone but personally I do not go on Holiday to do washing, even underwear. I take a small travel wash in case one of the kids spill something down them and I can rinse it through so as not to stain but that is as far as it goes. I also take a different outfit for every evening for all of us, underwear included. We tend to eat in our favourite restaurants of which there are about three when we visit Tenerife, how can we turn up in the same clothes night after night. Even with all this we are never normally over the limit. As Miss Chief stated in a previous post we do not take hand luggage either so this fact has always been taken into account when checking in on various airlines and they have always allowed us the extra 20kg (between us) on the hold luggage. Have to admit it was a bit harder at Christmas when we went for three weeks. This is the only time I have ever not taken the normal amount of clothes that I would and I would not do it again, I would rather pay for excess when travelling for this amount of time than have to wear the same clothes twice. Even after a shower you are hot, clothes just don't feel fresh when you wear them more than once without washing them.

As I said, no disrespect to anyone who chooses to do this but it is just not for me.

Regards Jackie

I agree with Jackie.......the only items I rinse out to wear again is swimwear. I probably spent the 3 weeks run up to the hol washing & ironing and I ain't doing it whilst on hols

I suppose alot depends on how high maintenance you are toiletry wise, I have no probs being brutal with clothing but despite decanting EVERYTHING into small travel bottles my toiletry bag always weighs a ton I like to think I know every trick in the book with regards to trying to travel light but those darn haircare (too many to list), sun creams, aftersuns, make-up, mossie repellants still make my suitcase a tad heavy. I even updated all my luggage last year to lightweight but still a problem.

I just think an extra allowance for 2 weeks hols would be a great help.

You do not have to wear exactly the same each evening. For instance a pair of black trousers/skirt will team with numerous tops and I'm pretty sure no-one is going to say "She wore those trousers last night".

Rinsing through underwear at the end of the day is really not a major undertaking. Personally the thought of coming home with 14 days of clothing to wash and iron would take the edge of my holiday - I would need another one to get over it!

Pippa

We are a family of 2 adults and 2 kids.We always come under our allowance between us and i always take more than i need(every year i vow never to do that)...i always end up wearing my favourite outfits twice or even 3 times and the kids always want to wear the same things.I dont wash anything except for underwear....non of us has 14 pairs of pants....ummm maybe except for me and even then i have my favourite undies that i like to go with a certain outfit so they need to be rinsed out.So really baggage allowance has never been a problem for us...nicole

I have to agree with the point about wearing something different every night because you go to the same restaurants - nobody notices! Especially not the staff at the restaurant.
I pack for one week, then go to the launderette in resort in the middle of my 2-week holiday. I take the clothes there, leave them and come back a couple of hours later on my way back from the beach. They are always ready, washed, dried and ironed beautifully. And it doesn't cost any more than the price of a couple of drinks.

Elaine

We go to Tunisia every winter for 6 months and if flying with Thomsons, only have the 20 kilo luggage allowance. 25 with BA and Tunisair. It is a nightmare which gives me weeks of stress before we go, as, apart from our personal things, we have lots of friends who we like to take little gifts for. I consider suicide every year as October approaches!! Jenny

Remember, the limit is set for good reasons. Baggage Handler's Health & Safety is one. There are strict guidelines now on how much one person can lift alone. 20kgs is quite a lot.....as I'm sure everyone of us is aware when we lift out own suitcases up.

The heavier your case the more likely it is to get damaged......

Plus the more weight on board the aircraft then more fuel is required....I think More fuel.......increased prices for tickets......etc.

Remember, the limit is set for good reasons. Baggage Handler's Health & Safety is one

That's why heavy cases are marked as "HEAVY". It's not compulsory to put all luggage in one case.

Plus the more weight on board the aircraft then more fuel is required

So should overweight people pay a "premium" ???????????????????

Robby