18 replies to this topic

[MagDiver]

I'm traveling to Fiji next month to dive with Aggressor... This is my first foray into the Pacific and I'm starting to look over my travel plans. Air Pacific says that a total amount of 44lbs of check on luggage is allowed... My dive bag usually weighs close to 50lbs and I'm bringing a second large hard case for my camera equipment... I suppose I'll have to pay extra for my additional baggage... Has anybody experienced this? Any suggestions?

I also see that they say you are allowed a maximum of 15.4lbs carry on luggage... Do they really weigh your bag? I've never had my carry on luggage weighed, but I'd guess that my carry on bag usually weighs closer to 30lbs... Will I run into difficulties?

For anybody who is familiar to travel to Fiji, is there anything else I need to be aware of?

Thanks!
-Mark

[secretsea18]

I'm traveling to Fiji next month to dive with Aggressor... This is my first foray into the Pacific and I'm starting to look over my travel plans. Air Pacific says that a total amount of 44lbs of check on luggage is allowed... My dive bag usually weighs close to 50lbs and I'm bringing a second large hard case for my camera equipment... I suppose I'll have to pay extra for my additional baggage... Has anybody experienced this? Any suggestions?

I also see that they say you are allowed a maximum of 15.4lbs carry on luggage... Do they really weigh your bag? I've never had my carry on luggage weighed, but I'd guess that my carry on bag usually weighs closer to 30lbs... Will I run into difficulties?

For anybody who is familiar to travel to Fiji, is there anything else I need to be aware of?

Thanks!
-Mark

The baggage allowances on the website are here and they state that if you are traveling from the US the Economy weight limit is TWO bags 23 kg each.... that would be almost 50lbs each. The carry on is 5 kg. I would still take the camera in the carry on, but unless you pack lead, for a liveaboard trip you just need your dive gear, a few t shirts and shorts, one long pants and long shirt and a windbreaker. Or rather three sulus!
Take the camera as a carryon, as it is "photographic equipment", and they always want you to carry that stuff on. Have fun and DO try the kava. Yes it tastes like mud, but the social interaction is priceless!
Robin

[shadragon]

I also see that they say you are allowed a maximum of 15.4lbs carry on luggage... Do they really weigh your bag? I've never had my carry on luggage weighed, but I'd guess that my carry on bag usually weighs closer to 30lbs... Will I run into difficulties?

Hey Mark. My carry on is always over the limit; My regs alone are over 10 pounds and I carry books, logs, computers, camera gear on top of that. I am yet to have someone complain. As long as you carry it then there should not be an issue.

[secretsea18]

I also see that they say you are allowed a maximum of 15.4lbs carry on luggage... Do they really weigh your bag? I've never had my carry on luggage weighed, but I'd guess that my carry on bag usually weighs closer to 30lbs... Will I run into difficulties?

Hey Mark. My carry on is always over the limit; My regs alone are over 10 pounds and I carry books, logs, computers, camera gear on top of that. I am yet to have someone complain. As long as you carry it then there should not be an issue.

Simon,
If you have never been hassled about the weight of your carryon, you have not traveled enough The worst has been two airlines Air Nuigini (with Qantas agents at the ticket counter in Sydney) and Air New Zealand (who strictly WEIGHED my bag, and made me take stuff out to make it < 5 kg, and this happened at their security screening as well {two times} in Auckland).

I am just glad I did not have my camera bag (37lbs) on the ANZ flight!

Robin

[MagDiver]

I am just glad I did not have my camera bag (37lbs) on the ANZ flight!

As a carry on bag I have a medium-sized backpack style camera bag with a large digital SLR and a collection of lenses, my laptop, ipod, headphones and dive computer.... there is no room in that bag for my regulator. I haven't weighed it but it feels like I'm carrying a bag of bricks! I'd have to guess 35-40lbs.

The carry-on bag regulations in the US is mainly focused on bag size... When I saw weight limits for Air Pacific I'm thinking oh no!

-Mark

[secretsea18]

I am just glad I did not have my camera bag (37lbs) on the ANZ flight!

As a carry on bag I have a medium-sized backpack style camera bag with a large digital SLR and a collection of lenses, my laptop, ipod, headphones and dive computer.... there is no room in that bag for my regulator. I haven't weighed it but it feels like I'm carrying a bag of bricks! I'd have to guess 35-40lbs.

The carry-on bag regulations in the US is mainly focused on bag size... When I saw weight limits for Air Pacific I'm thinking oh no!

-Mark

Going out to Fiji from the US you should have no problem. It is when I was returning on ANZ that they gave me the hassle. I got no response to "but you let me take this exact bag here from the US, so why is it now unsafe to bring it back as carryon?" I guess it had to do with the water spinning counterclockwise, or somthing....

[Scubatooth]

Robin

I used that line in PI, when i got tagged at MNL when rolling my pelican case instead of carrying it around like i should have (so it seems light) and how it did it on the outbound flight and got away with it. PAL says 7 kg (15 lbs) as the limit but they will do 2 10 kg bags. I got two tags that had 10 kg written on them. They wanted to check my pelican because of weight but i didnt and wasnt going to let that happen, they never did weigh the backpack.

according to the scale at home my camera bag when normally filled weighs 54-62lbs, it was 29 for PI because i was taking bare min on lenses, the rest was taken up by external hard drives, laptop gear and my laptop. the pelican was 36lbs. If it doesnt show that its heavy in your face or the way you carry it they wont know or test it.

[shadragon]

If you have never been hassled about the weight of your carryon, you have not traveled enough

Well, lets see. At least 22 domestic flights in Canada. 14 - 16 US flights. Germany (4), France (3), Scotland (2), England (6), Cyprus, Qatar, Italy (4), Bermuda (6), Egypt (3), Iceland (2), Grenada and that is in the last 15 years.

One lost bag for 24 hours is the worse experience. Never been tagged for over weight bags or carry on.

As Tooth says, maybe I just carry it well.

Most fun was when I was in the artillery flying out of Toronto and they put my bag through an explosive detector in the early eighties. It went ballistic and I was surrounded by 4 security people in seconds. Here I am in full military uniform, green beret and shiny boots. Buddy asks have I ever been exposed to any explosive substances? "Yes" says I with a smile... "Semtex, C-4, DM-12 and about half a ton of propellant charge bags, white phosphorous and HE (high explosive)..." The Commisionairre looks at my hat badge takes a quick gander through my bag then gives me the thumb and tells me I need to cut down a little cuz its bad for my health...

[secretsea18]

Simon,
I have not had any trouble in Caribbean and as I have only flown to Europe one time, without heavy camera stuff. But I do travel in the Pacific alot, and although they will let you take the standard carryon allowance we have when we are domestic in US/Canada on the outbound flight, going home is a completely different story, at least on Air New Zealand (where they were doing this to everyone). They had two places to weigh the carryon, one at the counter, and the other in security. And enforced the 5 kg limit, despite my protests.

Now, Qantas agents are just downright MEAN. Refused to even consider to let me to put my camera carryon (hardcase Portercase) inside one of my other bags. They were working the Air Nuigini counter in Sydney, and I was checking in at 5am. They then misweighed my luggage resulting in a $300 luggage overweight charge that I should never have gotten. Then I saw that they let other carryons of similar size on with other passengers. Needless to say, I will not willingly EVER select Qantas if there is ANY other airline to choose from. (not the first time that they are nasty!)

Of course YMMV.

Dan, yes I get the same from PAL in the PI. I have a strategy now and that is to put the Portercase really close up to the counter so they can't see it. Oh and pay the $40 extra for the First/Business class seat on Domestic PAL flights. Never been restricted from my 2-3 pieces of carryon. The checked in bags are always also overweight (going to Cebu, at least) but not so much going back to Manila, so I can't plead that my checkins are small. Well worth the nicer seat, extra storage room and entry into the PAL lounge (free, although the new terminal at NAIA is nice) and boarding priority line. Oh and much nicer experience (usually at security, except when I tried to bring a pineapple aboard.... that they considered "dangerous").

Edited by secretsea18, 11 October 2007 - 10:16 AM.

[shadragon]

Good to know Robin, thanks! I do plan on getting to the South Pacific at some point and visiting my buddy in Japan will not be too far in the future. I don't plan on diving when in Osaka so I am fairly sure I will get by...

I was planning to go Thai Air. Seems they give you weight based on your ticket type...

The luggage allowance for Royal First Class is 40 kg. (88 lbs.); for Royal Executive Class passengers: 30 kg. (66 lbs.); and for Economy Class passengers: 20 kg. (44 lb.).

Hmmm, you would not think a bottle of Gray Poupon would weigh that much...

[Scubatooth]

oh yeah dont get me started on whats dangerous. they though a empty coke can was dangerous, along with a long handled wooden soup spoon but the other items in my bag werent (TSA "ideas" are creeping) to PI and US security including one of these that i even forgot was in my bag till after i got home.

I havent flown quantas before but thats not the first time i have heard that especially after watching the flyertalk threads.

Simon its for reasons like that i dont use one particular backpack anymore because even after 4 commerical washings it still has enough trace to be a hassle.

[Fordan]

Simon,
I have not had any trouble in Caribbean and as I have only flown to Europe one time, without heavy camera stuff. But I do travel in the Pacific alot, and although they will let you take the standard carryon allowance we have when we are domestic in US/Canada on the outbound flight, going home is a completely different story, at least on Air New Zealand (where they were doing this to everyone). They had two places to weigh the carryon, one at the counter, and the other in security. And enforced the 5 kg limit, despite my protests.

Definitely can vouch for this... On one of my trips to Australia on Qantas, had no issue with my carry-on leaving out of JFK. Unfortunately, my carry-on bag was pretty heavy in and of itself. Pretty much every flight after that, I was leaving it mostly empty or checking it (they usually didn't give me any trouble if I was checking it, even if it was an extra bag). Ended up on my flight back to the States shifting a number of Tim Tam (excellent chocolate biscuit) containers I was bringing home for a friend into checked luggage at check-in to shift weight. The nice agent did offer to take care of my tasty Tim Tams for me so I wouldn't have to repack them, though.

Generally I'm a fan of Qantas, and a bigger fan of the deal their Aussie Air Pass is if you are going to Australia. But when you have "real" Qantas staff versus the once-a-day temps they use at JFK, they definitely care about enforcing their weight limits. Seems to be a general pacific thing...

[secretsea18]

Simon,
I have not had any trouble in Caribbean and as I have only flown to Europe one time, without heavy camera stuff. But I do travel in the Pacific alot, and although they will let you take the standard carryon allowance we have when we are domestic in US/Canada on the outbound flight, going home is a completely different story, at least on Air New Zealand (where they were doing this to everyone). They had two places to weigh the carryon, one at the counter, and the other in security. And enforced the 5 kg limit, despite my protests.

Definitely can vouch for this... On one of my trips to Australia on Qantas, had no issue with my carry-on leaving out of JFK. Unfortunately, my carry-on bag was pretty heavy in and of itself. Pretty much every flight after that, I was leaving it mostly empty or checking it (they usually didn't give me any trouble if I was checking it, even if it was an extra bag). Ended up on my flight back to the States shifting a number of Tim Tam (excellent chocolate biscuit) containers I was bringing home for a friend into checked luggage at check-in to shift weight. The nice agent did offer to take care of my tasty Tim Tams for me so I wouldn't have to repack them, though.

Generally I'm a fan of Qantas, and a bigger fan of the deal their Aussie Air Pass is if you are going to Australia. But when you have "real" Qantas staff versus the once-a-day temps they use at JFK, they definitely care about enforcing their weight limits. Seems to be a general pacific thing...

Perhaps you are a fan of the Qantas fares, but I can't see anyone being a fan of the personel working for that airline. Counter agents, and FAs in my interactions are not the most pleasant. It must be nice to have such a monopoly going on. End of rant.....

[secretsea18]

Good to know Robin, thanks! I do plan on getting to the South Pacific at some point and visiting my buddy in Japan will not be too far in the future. I don't plan on diving when in Osaka so I am fairly sure I will get by...

I was planning to go Thai Air. Seems they give you weight based on your ticket type...

The luggage allowance for Royal First Class is 40 kg. (88 lbs.); for Royal Executive Class passengers: 30 kg. (66 lbs.); and for Economy Class passengers: 20 kg. (44 lb.).

Hmmm, you would not think a bottle of Gray Poupon would weigh that much...

Simon,
You need to keep reading. See this directly from the Thai site:


'How much luggage am I allowed to check?

For travel To/from Canada and the U.S.A., the following regulations apply:
Passengers in all classes of service, from First to Economy, are allowed two pieces of luggage. The sum of the three dimensions (length + height + width) for each piece cannot exceed 158 cm. (62 inches) and the weight of each piece cannot exceed 32 kgs. (70 lbs).

So you see you really can pack and take it all with you!


Robin

[CaptSaaz]

Flying out of Fiji they will measure size and weight of your carry-on. If over 7 kilos, they will tell you to check it. Had a similar experience with Qantas employees in Sydney when traveling Air Pacific to Fiji but I have a way around it, but most prople don't.

Their excuse??? "You don't want 40lbs falling on your head do you?" My quiet response... "I'm not an idiot and I open the overheads carefully". This falls into what I call the "least common denominator". One person was stupid and got hurt so now they have to treat everyone like they are stupid.