Beware of Inghams...

A snowHead

Just booked for Hinterglemm in January with Inghams. Couldn't see an option for ski carriage when I booked online so phoned them afterwards and was told that it was a BA flight and that it was not possible to pre-book ski carriage. You had to pay on check in, and details were on the BA website. I checked and it appears that Inghams have block booked a number of seats on that flight (Gatwick-Salzburg) and as I haven't booked direct with BA it is not possible to find info on their website (eg cost, weight restrictions) and I would be worried about just turning up at the airport and being told there was no room for the skis.

So I emailed Inghams and received the following reply:

"The information provided to you previously was correct, we cannot prebook ski carriage on this flight. Carriage should we paid directly to BA at check in. This is a large aircraft and we have not heard of anybody having issues with availability.
Although subject to change, the cost is usually £80 return per set of skis.
http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/baggage-essentials/sporting-goods-and-musical-instruments " (the link doesn't tell you max weights etc)

So it's £80 (perhaps) per pair of skis return which compares to £35 for Inghams flights (with Monarch) to Innsbruck. I looked at some other weeks randomly and it seems that Inghams are only using BA and Easy Jet to Salzburg this year. No prebooking of ski carriage available with either carrier which seems very unsatisfactory for a major ski company such as Inghams, and I have told them so.

A snowHead

Usually with BA scheduled flights you can take your ski bag as your only item of hold luggage, stuffed with all your clothes etc. I assume this is just a block booking on a scheduled service, so do the same rules not apply?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I've booked on a BA flight to Salzburg in March and the charge for an additional bag - skis or anything else - is £60 each way paid in advance online or £65 each way if paid at the airport.

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You can take skis and a a lot of clothing in a bag like this from conrad sport (other similar bags are available but as far as I know cost more), using the other bag for the rest. According to BA's website they currently do not charge extra for a bag this size.

http://www.sport-conrad.com/en/skiing/backpacks-bags/ski-bags/magnum-wheelbag.html
http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/baggage-essentials/sporting-goods-and-musical-instruments

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

It's always interesting when "ski" companies have poor attitudes to customers who carry ski equipment.

What they're really saying though is that it's a scheduled flight. Just make sure it's no more than 23Kgs and that's your checked bag.

If you want to take more, it's the same as anyone else wanting to pay more. Either upgrade your class or pay for the extra bag, or take less stuff.

I can't remember if it's the Warsaw or the Montreal convention, but if your gear doesn't arrive (very unlikely with a short haul scheduled flight), they have to ship it to you, and pay you compensation whilst you wait for it. They'll just stick your gear on the next 'plane and cover any consequential costs you may face. You don't need to pay for this.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Ski Total who are Inghams cheaper Relative use FlyBe for regional flights. I tried to book ski carriage in September to be told the slots had been taken so no guarantee😡. Now renting that week

Using a Damien Skiline bag maybe okay if you travel light.

I have only used BA Business with Avios points so always been sweet.

It is getting more difficult with airbags, shovels, fatter skis. Can see myself only going Business in future.

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@hawkesbaynz, I wouldn't say Ski Total are Inghams 'cheaper' relative. They are both part of Hotelplan group along with Ski Esprit & Collets travel. The each serve a different market segment. Total specialise in Chalets & chalet Hotels whereas Inghams are more about staying in Hotels, (just take a look at their home page), though of course they do have some chalets. Prices for both are comparable, for similar properties.

After all it is free

BA aren't bothered if its a suit case or its a ski bag, just don't put it on with more than 23kg. It's just part of the hold luggage. The £80 is an additional 23kg of hold luggage and not ski carriage. I had a triple sports tube that went through with BA this year no problem, I paid the extra thinking it was ski carriage, and then went under weight on the rest of our luggage, wont be doing that again!
Boots as cabin bags, skis as one bag and a suit case for the rest, that's the plan this year with £80 in my pocket.

Seems to be a thing with the scheduled flights they are using this winter.
Edinburgh - Salzburg is Jet2 if you want to take skis you need to book that with Jet2.
May be they hope folk will hire in resort with them and that may be a few £ extra commission for them.
Personally i'm just going to hire skis in resort and yes I'm still booking trip with Inghams.
They are doing the resort and hotel I want cheaper than I can do it independently.
Edinburgh - Innsbruck you can get the ski carriage for £35 but the number are limited per flight.

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We've been on hols with Inghams a few times. We were generally pretty impressed. However, each time there were messages that came up about ski carriage. At the time it didn't matter to us as we didn't take skis with us.

On one occasion it was pretty much down to the size of the plane a tiny Embraer thing.

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We looked at inghams from Inverness two years ago. Meant a 40min drive compared to a 3+hr drive down the A9. Never went for it in the end as you had to book the holiday then call the airline to reserve ski carriage, this was limited to 15no. carriages per flight. We reckoned as we were late bookers the carriage would be full, esp. outta Inverness where a higher %age are likely to own their own.
Last yr, with inghams they offered free ski carriage from Inverness. We booked it. Best ski flight I have been on, everyone got talking, everyone was interested in each other, we all got chatting about where we were going. Typical Highland fayre.
We were told the uptake was high enough that this season was guaranteed. But The flight has been dropped, so it's back down the A9 to share a plane with weegies or whoever has just moved in to Edinburgh. Ho hum.

Easy Jet will let you pre-book ski carriage, or at least they did on both trips I made last season.

You know it makes sense.

@Big Dave, Can you get your BA confirmation number from Inghams? Then maybe you can login to their website, go to manage my booking, and add on the necessary extras. Not sure if this will work for a tour operator booking, but for a normal booking that's how I'd do it.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

That's how iGoski work. They give you a booking ref number and you just go in as if you made the booking yourself. Even though they block book seats, they will still have to send through separate bookings for each passenger with all their information at the time of booking. Unbelievable that such a well established ski holiday company is so unhelpful about people taking their own skis. Surely they're the guys who you know will be going skiing year-in, year-out, so look after 'em!

A snowHead

A snowHead

We've done this. Just need the BA confirmation number/ticket number from Inghams. You used to be able to then book online, but I think now with some changes you have to ring BA to do it. Never had a problem doing it this way.

We're away with Crystal this year. Edinburgh to Heathrow is BA and I have been given the ticket number by crystal. I can log onto the BA website and see my flights, but need to ring to book an extra bag (my snowboard bag).

The Heathrow to Calgary leg of my journey is covered by free ski carriage.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I was talking rubbish before. I just booked with iGoski and they use EasyJet. I told the girl on the phone I needed to add baggage and she said she'd put it through as it was and I could go onto EasyJet's website and add it myself - that was the easiest way to do it. Easiest for her maybe, as she didn't have to do anything, but impossible for me, as EJ wouldn't let me change the booking because I didn't make it. So I had to call them back and get them to do it.

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@robboj,

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

we are with inghams flying to italy, going out of manchester on a Flybe flight i think, we managed to get ski carriage for freinds going out of brum but the manchester ones had not been announced at the time we booked, so they also told us to book direct with airline...after a few strong letters they said they would do it for us...after 8 weeks we finally recieved an e.mail saying that we all had ski carriage at £35 per person return. doing early bird booking we assumed we would get first dibs... turns out the carrier had not released any ski carriage details so early to the manchester flight.. if you try and book a holiday now you can get a great deal but ski carriage has all be taken out of manchester...so it seems its a first come first serve basis..

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I am pleased to say that Inghams have now provided a reference number and I have been able to pre-book an extra bag. Shame I had to nag them to do this, given their previous unhelpful attitude (see my original post).

A couple of tips: the extra bag is not specific to skis, and goes up to 23kg. Mrs BigDave and I can therefore put our skis together and only pay for one extra bag. Just as well as the cost is £36 each way pre-booked (£40 at the airport).

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

I'm in the same boat. Called Inghams and was told that there is no space for ski carriage left on the flight. I asked for the Jet2.com booking information and was refused it. Have called Jet2 direct and been sent back to Inghams. I might do as you suggest @BigDave and just book extra weight allowance which will mean I can turn up with the ski bag.

Given the vast amount of money the holiday has cost its still a massive pain in the @rse to have to jump through hoops; it shouldn't come as a surprise to them that people want to take skis on a ski holiday... Evil or Very Mad

EDIT: update; just spoken to Inghams (again) and they in turn have now emailed Jet2 operations on my behalf to allow me to manage my booking direct on the Jet2.com website. Apparently it will take up to 72 hours to take effect (presumably based on how quick Jet2 open their emails...) and I can then manage the booked from here http://www.jet2.com/inghams

It still leaves me with a bit of a poor impression though to be honest, I normally organise all my ski trips direct without using a TO and this is obviously the reason why.

After all it is free

@Big Dave, Will they let you take skis as just and extra regular hold baggage item? I thought that because of the odd shape and size they had to pay more for ground handling so that was why they charged more. There are also insurance considerations. Doesn't the Warsaw convention mean that regular baggage is only covered up to $60 per bag, whereas sporting equipment will be insured up to the full value? i could be wrong but it might we worth checking

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@Screaming Dave, The email I got from Inghams says:

"This will just need to be added as an extra hold bag up to 23kg – British Airways do not specify ski carriage."

And that seems to be borne out on the website which just says that skis need to be packed in a recognised ski bag but nothing else (oh and a 190cm limit by the looks of it).

Here's the link to BA website: http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/baggage-essentials/sporting-goods-and-musical-instruments

And this is what it says:

"Sporting goods on British Airways

You can take many types of sports equipment as part of (but not in addition to) your free checked baggage allowance:

All sporting equipment has to be packed appropriately to avoid damage and meet the size and weight restrictions of your allowance.

You can take larger items of up to 190 x 75 x 65cm (75 x 29.5 x 25.5in) for an additional charge. (Currently, we waive this charge so you do not pay it.) Any items larger than this require shipping as cargo.

Items over 23kg may incur an overweight baggage charge.

If required, you can pay to take more checked bags than your allowance. This also applies if you're travelling on a hand baggage only (Basic) fare.

There are specific safety and security restrictions for some items and you might need to contact us to get approval first.

If you are checking in a large piece of sports equipment, please allow an additional 15 minutes so that the item can be safely and securely handed over to the Baggage staff.

If your equipment isn't listed below or you have any questions, please contact us."

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@Big Dave,
BA don't care as long as the bag is under 23kg. I often take a double ski bag as my hold bag. You don't have to tell them your hold bag will be skis.

what @musher, said...

You know it makes sense.

@Big Dave, That's really good. But then, BA usually are. I usually fly with them given the choice (hate it when they do a route share and you get a bunch of muppets like American Airlines on the return leg, like we did from LA in October). I think it was EasyJet who said we could take two pairs of skis in a single bag (how nice of them: it was under the weight limit) but they would only insure one pair.

Maybe I need to go back to organising trips myself rather than packages .......

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Help!!

Beware of Inghams...

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