 Poster: A snowHead
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We have booked for Banff with Crystal and could do with some advice reference ski carriage.
Their website says that BA charge for ski carriage but that this is free with AC and their booking confirmation states that "luggage allowance is 1 piece up to 23kgs" and that "Ski Carriage is free with Air Canada".
On the face of it I would therefore assume 1 bag at 23kgs and my skis are included however is this the old "smoke and mirrors" scenario and what is really meant is that I can take one or the other but not both for free.
On checking the AC website it states a fee of C$200.00 each way for ski carriage which means that either Crystal have a deal with them for free ski carriage or Crystal are being a bit disingenuous on this.
Has anyone got any recent experience which might help clarify this ?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Last season skis were free with air Canada but only on international.. Not Inc USA I think.... or connecting flights. Are you looking at charges for internal flights only?
I would phone air Canada
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I think you'll find that with scheduled bookings made with the airline or through an agent (but not necessarily a tour operator like Crystal) Air Canada give you the 23Kgs baggage allowance and you can take your gear in there. That's actually pretty standard. It's not "free", it's included in the ticket, if you see what I mean. The price they're quoting you may be for additional hold baggage, although they'd need to know the weight to tell you the cost I'd say, so perhaps not.
What you can't do, and never could on AC in my memory, is carry more than that 1 piece of 23Kgs in the hold without paying extra. It's a scheduled flight. Perhaps tour operator people get more than a standard ticket gets you, but that seems unlikely.
As far as domestic segments are concerned, if you buy those on the same ticket as the trans-Atlantic segment, in my experience your bags are covered by the same international rules. If you buy the segments separately, then the domestic segments are subject to the domestic ticket rules, and typically that means you will be charged for all hold bags these days. There are other reasons to buy all your segments together - the airline is responsible for all costs if they screw up (not relevant for those of you with insurance, but brilliant if you're a cheapskate like me). Offset against that is that sometimes it's cheaper to buy the local flights locally, in local currency. That's worth checking in Canada particularly, where sometimes the price you see in the UK is completely insane.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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BA don't charge for ski carriage if it's a part of your "regular" baggage allowance. It certainly used to be the case that skis were free, in addition to your 23kg normal baggage but this is no longer the case (for some considerable time). Skis are accepted as one of your regular baggage items up to a 23kg limit, so in effect this means that I carry a double ski bag, containing 2 pairs of skis and as much else as I can around the skis. Generally I can get everything that I need in the ski bag and still come out at under 23kg (I carry my boots as my carry-on luggage).
Also, since the second pair of skis belongs to Mrs A, we still have her 23kg regular allowance for everything else (plus the allowed carry-on).
As far as I know, this also applies to AC, but it's a few years since I last used them. - Note that all this is in relation to flights booked directly with the airline: I wouldn't be surprised if Crystal tried to maximise their profits by charging extra for a ski bag irrespective of whether it's a part of your airline-specified allowance.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Acacia is spot on with that explanation for AC.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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When I flew with AC last year the allowance was as Accacia describes. We decided that between the two of us we'd have a bag each and snowboard as an extra. Oddly Air Canada asked me to prebook space for the snowboard, but wouldn't let me pay for it in advance. I was told to pay at the airport as part of check in. When I arrived at the desk I presented the two cases and my snowboard bag commenting it was "prebboked and everything". I don't know if the girl assumed I meant prepaid, but it was checked in without charge. 
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In March this year my air Canada allowance was hold bag plus skis plus boots. As often happens the skis didn't make it onto the internal flight and arrived next day. This was with ski independence and I was told it was to encourage tourists from overseas. It wasn't specifically a TO thing
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