Researching Ski Fees On Airlines For Newspaper Article

A snowHead

I'm researching excess baggage fees and other ski-related scams by airlines - both the low cost variety and the regular verge-of-bankruptcy traditional type - for a newspaper article. I'd be grateful for any feedback on bad or good experiences both in terms of cost and the practicalities of actually getting skis and boots checked in and then freeing them from the airline at the other end. Thanks to anyone who can take the time to help on this.

A snowHead

snowhunter, if you're wanting to do an un-biased article, I'd suggest you drop the word "scam"! Very Happy

Never had problems with:
North West
United
Delta
American

With regards to skis. Also, never had to pay any of the above for ski carriage.

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

I've had no problems when flying BA to Geneva or Lyon. No additional charge for carrying skis; ski bag has never been weighed, so possible to pack lots of other gear in with skis; and easy check-in of ski bag at the over-size drop. The only frustration has been the occasional delay in retreiving the skis at Geneva. Never had any problems with skis not turning up, or being damaged in transit.

Same experience with easyjet, subject to paying their additional fee for carrying skis. As the fee is obvious when you make the booking I don't think I'd describe it as a scam.

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Good point - Ok scrub SCAM and replace with "legitimate business practices" Actually I'm hoping to praise the good players and expose those that hit people with high fees and hassles in the airports without making that very clear on their websites, so that may mean I am already biased.

I've never had any probs flying West either, more East and South.

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No problems for me either, except for an over-zealous check in girl at Newcastle who insisited we checked our boot bag into the oversized baggage desk, much to the amusement of the guys at the desk. Most of the time the fees are clear when booking. We did bring skis home from a couple of holidays that we didn't take out with us, and weren't charged on the return journey.

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snowhunter, I think you need to look at the "high fees" within the context of the overall price of the ticket. I'd by happy to pay any airline £50 to carry my skis if the overall price only came to £51 Wink

Are there any carriers who hide any additional charges for ski carriage?

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

'Hide' is probably a bit strong, but there are airlines making a point of selling to the ski market that don't make a point - on the page where they deliver flight prices - of noting that skis and boards will be charged extra when selling a 'ski flight.' Obviously most people are savvy enough to know that they will and can go in to the baggage pricing bit of the small print to find the details. Several low costs are now offering pre-booking of skis and one at least charges a higher fee if you arrive at the airport with them without having pre booked and states that it may not carry them if not pre booked, so that could be an issue for those buying skis cheap in resort.

Helen - can you remember which airline it was that didn't charge you on the return leg for unused skis, they deserve praise!

After all it is free

I've had no problems at all on BA, Swiss, BMI and, subject to fees, EasyJet and Ryanair.

A couple of years ago I got a Ryanair return to Turin for £0.01 each way plus taxes and then had to pay £15 each way for my skis. But I'm not complaining - the whole deal was still £100 odd cheaper than BA.

For me the most offensive end of the business isn't the low cost airlines, but the tour operators.

They sell you a skiing holiday and then charge you for the privillage of taking your own equipment - often claiming it to be a fee levied by the charter airline when in reality the tour operator is simply offsetting their profit on ski rental.

The ones I hate are those (mostly charter) operators who charge extra for skis, and then still insist it all comes within your 20kg weight allowance.

It's also unclear if you are paying for a pair of skis, or a ski bag. I regularly use a double bag and pack three pairs of skis into it: should I be paying one ski carriage or three?

Also Ryanair(?)'s idea of not sharing luggage allowance across the party is ludicrous.

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Never had problems with BA or Easyjet. And I don't mind paying the extra if it's obvious. Having said all that, we like to ski tour, and so have quite a lot of kit (ropes, ice axe etc) so most often drive.

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EasyJet have always been great.....subject to paying the money.

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We had one guest who arrived on EasyJet and the airline/baggage handling company left his skis at Luton. They turned up at the chalet the next day having been driven for more than 2 hours by a courier who'd made the trip just to deliver them.

You know it makes sense.

ben wright - this is typical - http://www.thomsonski.co.uk/faq.asp#skicarriage and http://www.neilson.co.uk/Ski/TravelOptionsFlights.asp

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

I am worried about weight allowance now that the hand luggage has been reduced due to terrorism. Ryanair and EasyJet do not allow a bag containing boots as hand luggage (even if it conforms to size - which the websites still does not warn about and angered me). The last 2 years I used to take boots in a backpack (and nobody asked if there were boots in it) and shared a double skibag with a friend (yes, the latter is within the rules with Ryanair and EasyJet). Now I think everyone will have to buy a double skibag and put in both skis and boots (check when you buy that they will fit).

Baggage weight is a big problem for skiers. Skis, boots, transciever, skins, tour binding converters, water bottle, spade, probe, sun cream, ksi-wax and ski repair eqipment, 1:25.000 maps, off-piste guide book. I've used up all my weight allowance without any clothing!

A snowHead

KLM intoduced Ski carriage charges earlier this year !!

I no longher fly with KLM.

Swiss do not charge

A snowHead

snowball,

Tuen up at the airport wearing your boots. I dont think there is any rule against that .

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

We've had problems with Easyjet at Liverpool twice, although it has been the same jobsworth old cow on the check-in both times. I have one of the big holdalls with a pocket for a boot on each end. After paying the extra for ski's and boots, my ski bag with boots in weighed 23kg. This jobsworth tried charging for 3kg of excess baggage. I told her there was no way I was paying as I'd already paid for the boots. She said the max weight for one bag was 20kg, the boots would be free in a seperate bag (I didn't have a seperate boot bag, that's why I bought one of them holdalls). So while the max weight for a bag was 20kg, they were quite happy to accept a 23kg bag as long as they could rip you off for it. We stood and argued the toss, and asked for her supervisor. Needless to say, we did not pay a penny extra.

The same thing happened to me with Easyjet at East Midlands for the EOSB. I had a boot bag in the top of my holdall for just this instance, so I just took 1 boot from the holdall and put it in the boot bag, We have NEVER had this happen outside the UK with easyjet. When bags have been over 20kgs, we've just showed the check in person the ski boots in our holdalls, and they've been fine, in both Geneva and Basle. Yet another example of Rip-off Britain in my opinion!

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The whole idea of people loading heavy sports equipment on and off aircraft is about as environmentally enlightened as driving a 4x4.

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I'd much rather go by train when I can, but it is so expensive. I was quoted about £400 as the cheapest to go to St Anton overnight. I'd be all in favour of putting a heavy tax on flying and using the money to drive down train and bus fares.

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snowball, which would be great for those in the south east of course.

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

After all it is free

Yes, I agree the train option is better for us in the SE - but travelling overnight does give you an 8 ski day week instead of the usual 6.
On the other hand you can get nearly that (perhaps 7 1/2 days) by a very early (6.30) flight out and a very late (10pm or so) return flight. I never use the flights with, for example, SCGB holidays, always opting for one of the above

What I meant is that renting skis seems like a good idea for the planet, when flying.

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David Goldsmith, so is losing weight and holidaying in the UK during the summer.

How much more jet fuel is burned on a winter flight as against a summer flight?

Is the current warming of the planet actually a natural occurance?

How can we stop massive pollution by developing industrial nations?

Will the USA ever have the balls to use taxation increases to force more economical cars on its citizens?

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flybe £20 each way southampton to geneva for each pair of skis even if in same bag

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RobW, Quote:- Also Ryanair(?)'s idea of not sharing luggage allowance across the party is ludicrous.

We have had this with Ryanair too - as a family of 4 with 2 children, we usually manage to get everything into two medium-sized cases (easier to wheel one each, than Mr A struggle with one massive case). The two cases will usually weigh a bit more than the 20kg each but are well within our 80 kg total allowance. This simple maths seems to be a problem, but only for Ryanair Puzzled

You know it makes sense.

snowhunter,

Had a slight problem with BA earlier this year at Geneva. Six of us were travelling, on the way out, Glasgow to Geneva with an overnight at Gatwick in between. On the way back we were Geneva-Gatwick-Glasgow with bags booked straight through.

On the outbound leg there were no problems - the allowance on the shuttle part was 32Kg & 23Kg to Geneva and back.

On the return leg several of us, including me, were over by a few kilos. They weighed our skis and bags together.

The check in staff were BA handling agents, not actual BA staff. The girl at the desk wanted to charge for excess baggage, but after we complained and her supervisor became involved they let us off. We had argued that we didn't get charged on the way out with the same gear.

When I say we were over the allowance, we were only over for the Geneva to Gatwick leg but were not over for the Gatwick to Glasgow leg.

As the bags were straight through, which weight should apply, 23Kg or 32Kg Puzzled

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

The thing that tells you this is a rip off is that they do not weigh passengers...

I can understand when they are trying to reduce their baggage loading costs and encourage you to take carry-on luggage only by loosening up their carry-on allowance and charging per bag. That makes sense (especially when you get the p!ss poor 1hr wait for your bags I had at Gatwick 2 weeks ago).

If it is space in the hold is an issue they should charge by volume.

If weight and fuel costs are the issue, they should weigh the passengers too. But they don't... Hence 15 vs 20 vs 23 vs 32kg is a rip-off.

I have been weighed for small turbo-prop hops in Canada in adverse conditions, and most of my bags had to stay behind. I'm off to join the lardies Crying or Very sad

A snowHead

Sage, I am reliably informed by my relative who works for BA that the larger allowance should have applied. Why was the Gatwick-Geneva leg lower allowance, it is usually theother way around? When we flew to Vancouver , we went from newcastle to Heathrow first. Even though the shuttle baggage allowance was less, our allowance was the same as for our Heathrow-Vancouver flight. The whole journey is treated as an interational one.

A snowHead

I just came back from Santiago in Chile via Sao Paolo and Zurich with 135kg on an 80kg ticket and they nicely didn't charge me anything extra

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

Helen Beaumont, I have just checked my old ticket and the allowance was 23Kg for both legs. The domestic rate is now apparently 32Kg going by BA.com but was only 23Kg when I travelled in March. I was about 2Kg over with my skis & main bag containing my boots etc.

But, going with what you are saying - for example, I am flying to Australia later this year (Glasgow-Heathrow-Hong Kong then to Sydney). Glasgow to Heathrow allowance is 1 piece at 32Kg but World Traveller Plus is only 23Kg - so I would be allowed 32Kg for the whole journey to HK but would then back to 23Kg HK to Sydney which leaves on a different day.

No wonder people get confused.
Puzzled

PS I'm not taking skis to Australia so I should be OK.

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Sage, are you sure that's correct? Isn't the 32kg the weight limit for any one item and independent of your actual baggage allowance? So if you are over your 23kg allowance, still no one item can weigh more than 32kg but in theory you'd be charged excess baggage for the 9 kg difference? I thought the 32kg was a health & safety thing for the baggage handlers?

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Sage, no, your total allowance for ALL legs of the journey should be the larger amount. You should be checked in for all flights when you check in for your first one (I think, but not sure as it's a different day) I rang BA whwn we wen t to Vancouver, amybe you should do the same. I think they've suspended the introduction fo the new arrangements until the security problem is sorted out. Realtive told me max single bag weight was 23kg under the new arrangements.

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Helen Beaumont, As Sage said, single bag weight on International flights is a max of 32kg so that the poor lads don't get a dodgy back.

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snowhunter, Never a problem, If you go with BA, Swiss etc. there is an all in package. If you get a cheap flight on a budget airline and they charge you, so be it. I would say that all is stated in their "terms and conditions apply". I agree that if for example you look at ryanair's terms you could be reading for many a long hour!! I wouldn't be nerdy but if as PhillipStanton, said you pays your money and takes their service / conditions.

One thing that suprises me is that most on the forum acknowledges this. I had a friend with me once that paid €1.00 each way for the ticket plus of cours taxes and had to pay an additional €5.00 excess baggage on one occasion. Big swinging mickey!! If you want to moan, moan. They tend not to have an audience for too long.

After all it is free

Sage, I spoke to BA's press office yesterday and they said the allowance was 32KG if you take skis, rather than the standard allowance of 23KG. So it sounds like they should not have tried to charge you BUT (helpfully) allowances might be different if operated by an agency - which of course you're unlikely to discover until you reach the airport. Just read a report saying that from 11 October BA will charge if you take more than one item of baggage in the hold (if you have cheap tickets) and a huge fee of £60 per bag per flight to Europe too (£30 domestic, £120 long haul)! Will try to find out if that includes extra bags for skis and boots, hopefully not.

Roy Hockley, Yes, I think most of the Snowheads are a smart and pragmatic lot who know the score and expect to pay, most of the problems seem to occur when the poor check in staff don't know the rules of the airlines employing them - which, having spent much of yesterday in the delightful task of reading all the small print, is hardly surprising. I've never heard of it happening by the way but in most of the small print they stress that they won't take skis if there's no space and quite a few of them advise this is quite likely if you don't pre book them when you reserve your flights (although quite a few don't offer that facility)

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