luggage allowance

[sharpblade]

Hi,
I am curious... what do people bring in their luggage when they get a 64 kg allowance ? What is so essential that you can't leave it with the shippers ?
I am starting to think about what we will need for the first few weeks.. To complicate things, we have 4 young kids, but apart from tee shirts, swimming togs, a few toys, crayons, easy stuff like that, what will they need ?? the problem is that we have to fly to Manchester from Ireland first, and that means flying with BMI (and we only get a 15 kg allowance..). So even if we get a bigger allowance from Manchester, we are still limited because of the first flight to UK.. I could always call BMI and explain our situation, although I won't hold my breath..
Anyway, what do you bring in your luggage (apart from the obvious ) ?
laura

[Glenda]

Hi Laura,

I have four kids and we took 11 suitcases of varying sizes which amounted to about 40kg each.

We packed:-
clothes, cleaned shoes and boots
a few towels, sheets and duvet covers to use until container arrives
saucepans and cutlery
a few kids toys, books and stationery needed for school
a case was full with papers, folders, important documents and stationery
things like travel plugs, hairdryers, torches, medical boxes and a few tools

Of course, it depends how soon you will get your container, whether you are getting an unfurnished rental and how much money you have free to spend. In our case, we spent a month in a rental without furniture and even with our 40kg each still had to spend several thousand dollars on things we needed straight away.

Of course, as you say, you only have 15kg limit each on that first leg. I would say that is a medium-sized suitcase. Bit stingy, even domestic flights in NZ allow 20kg.
::):

[MotherBear]

Glenda?s list is a good one. I might just add to take anything of value that is small enough to fit in your luggage (probably better in your hand luggage though) e.g jewellery.

What a shame to lose out on 64kg. allowance just because of BMI. Are you booked straight through from Ireland to NZ? Perhaps you could check some cases in as unaccompanied baggage which will be cheaper than excess baggage. I believe that there is a standard charge for excess baggage and probably the same with unaccompanied regardless of how far you?re travelling, otherwise you could have put the extra as excess/unaccompanied as far as Manchester and have it checked in as normal baggage when you fly out of Manchester (that would only be if you were stopping over in Manchester and not booked all the way through where you wouldn?t see your luggage again until the other end).

Still wouldn't hurt to contact BMI to explain and see if you could get an exemption or if they could suggest a way around your problem. We came up against BMI when we were moving stuff one time and explained, but were met with an icy stare, but that was at the actual check-in desk not when contacting them. We'd just turned up hoping we'd get through.

[selchie]

I take it they don't increase the baggage allowance if you're connecting with an international flight? It's worth a query.

[themcclarences]

Hi sharpblade,
I used to work for bmi and know that a few years ago they would always honour any baggage allowance that an onward carrier was giving you so its definitely worth having a word. I do wonder though whether things might have changed with the introduction of all the low fares many airlines make much of their money by being far stricter with luggage allowances and charging people for any excess.
Hope that helps

Sian

[sharpblade]

thanks a lot ! Yes, I am going to call BMI.. And Mother Bear 's suggestion is a good one too.
I have to say, I am a pretty low maintenance kind of girl, one or two outfits will last (I mean, I will wash them of course, but I am not fussy), and I have no jewellery (apart from the really nice necklace I wear everyday). My husband is the same, very happy wearing a short and whatever teeshirt he can find..
I will probably take some of the basics (sheets, etc..) but we think we will rent a furnished accomodation at first (or holiday house) and hopefully won't need to much. ? Toys for the kids, although I am sure we will end up buying a few new ones, just to keep the "holiday spirit" up while sorting out everything else.
sounds easy...
cheers, Laura