Ski boots - Hand luggage or suitcase?

A snowHead

Got my first pair of ski boots and was wondering if I should pack them in my case or put them in my hand luggage. Apart from forking out £200 for them my ski trip would be pretty much ruined if they got stolen. Anyone ever heard of boots going missing? If it helps I'm flying from Belfast to Lleida using Thomas Cook.

A snowHead

hydrox, you need to check with Thomas Cook if your allowed to take them as hand baggage, I always put mine into my bag/holdall if I'm using a soft bag then I make sure there is something between the boot and the side of the bag,

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

sorry welcome to Snowheads Embarassed

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Oh, not again

I can do grumpy.

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you need to check that A your airline allows them and B. the airport allows them at both ends (i.e. chambery does not allow ski boots as hand luggage). Also if they do allow them make sure there within the hand luggage allowance. Jet2 for instance hand luggage allowance is 5kg and my boots weight 6.2 with a bag :/

Basically pack them in the middle of your suitcase/ski bag. The other thing you could consider is using a specialist ski courier like pisteofmind.com. I was going to give them ago for this season but apparently they only come to yorkshire if you're part of a big group Sad

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hydrox, Suitcase or holdall, previous disagreements with pedantic staff about carry on has taught me it's not worth the hassle and there never appears to be any consistency anyway. With 20kg allowance we have never had a problem.

After all it is free

In the suitcase all the time, I have no desire to lug them around the airport then do myself or a nearby fellow passenger an injury trying to get them in the overhead locker...

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For everyone above talking about your airline not letting you take them on the plane, why on earth would anyone let an airline look in their bag? Utter nonsense, whatever the airline tells you. The airline staff have no authority to ask you to open your bag, to inspect it, and if they did, you would be allowing someone other than you to interfere with your baggage before getting on a flight - there are rules about that sort of thing.

Airport security are the people who decide whether it goes on a plane or not, and I can confirm that across the UK they don't give a tiny rats backside about ski boots.

So the airline makes no difference to whether you can take your boots, or not, unless they exceed the weight allowance. Which a standard pair of boots alone in a bag won't unless the airline is particularly stingy.

Just check in, put your boots in a bag that isn't a boot bag, to avoid any messing about, just any old rucksack will do it, and don't go telling them at check-in that you have ski boots in there. And yes, you do want your boots in hand luggage, because most ski flights are about 90 minutes long, just pick up a paper on the way to the gate, and because if your boots don't turn up, that is going to mean a couple of days of skiing in rentals, which is not nice when you've invested in decent boots.

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Monium, you are actually mistaken, airlines are responsible for security on their planes and have a duty to inspect anything that might be suspicious, as well as obligation to ensure you packed your own bags, don't have anything dangerous etc. So they absolutely can ask you to open your bag

You know it makes sense.

hydrox, I'd be careful if i was you. If you search the threads on here you'll find a worrying number of stories about organised crime rings at airports on the prowl for incorrectly packed £200 ski boots. The crime stats tend to show that they're most commonly stolen from airports like Belfast and Lleidac (especially), and particularly from those flying with Thomas Cook.

If I was you I'd apply a bit of common sense and bung 'em in your suitcase. You might even consider packing them padded-out amongst tshirts, fleeces and towels and stuff. Not only will this throw the dastardly boot theives off the scent, but it'll keep your buckles all nice and non-knackered too.

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

patricksh, OK, but if they ask, you can quite happily point at their little sign and tell them truthfully that you don't have any prohibited items in your bag. The job of security is to check bags, not check in staff. I certainly wouldn't have check in staff going through my bag looking for nail files or 101ml of drink.

A snowHead

I work at Heathrow, and if there was any kind of awareness of an organised crime ring the airport would suffer from a sudden and prolific infestation of hidden CCTV cameras followed swiftly by an attack of 'calls into the office.' That is if you are implicating the staff there. If the problem is that the boots are going missing from the carousel before you get there, then the argument that you take stuff as hand luggage to avoid having to wait for it to come out is invalid too!

One of my major bugbears as an airline worker is the amount of ridiculous stuff people try to bring into what is a fairly small space. We were delayed the other day when we had a full aircraft and everyone brought lots of handluggage, much of it oversized, and had to spend so much time trying to store it all that we missed a crucial take-off slot on a foggy morning. Certain passengers then had the cheek to complain about the delay. rolling eyes

A snowHead

Plus many of the passengers who died at Kegworth couldn't undo their seatbelts when their hand luggage dropped on them and broke their hands, and they burnt in their seats. The training films we are made to watch make for cheery viewing, I tell you!

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

The only thing we have had go missing from a boot bag was a pair of gloves, however We have no doubt that this was most likely due to a security check of the boot bags and somebody mislaying them in a hurry, as they were well used sweaty ones which weren't expensive to start with.

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Thanks for the welcome radar, and apologies for not introducing myself. There is certainly a lot of advice given gained by experience. I think I will take them as hand luggage. Oz5000, on past ski trips I've seen shady characters in Belfast Airport but just thought that was the locals travelling. Now I know, and will be jealously guarding my boots (especially as my boots are exactly what they are after).

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Ok what size suitcase best fits al. Your ski stuff and boots if you put your helmet an boots in there is not much room left ?

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After all it is free

Unless you have very small feet there is little chance of getting boots to fit into a handluggage that complies with the size restrictions.
I once was told to put a small suitcase that I was planning to take as handbaggage, into the hold. I duly checked in the bag, forgetting that I had placed my £100 worth of currency in the bag and sure enough it was gone by the time I opened the bag in Andorra. Shortly after this, it was on the news that dozens of Gatwick baggage handlers had been charged with thefts from bags, this was in the late 80's.
I still would not consider taking even brand new boots as hand luggage.

I always put my boots and helmet in the case. I know they take up a lot of room but I tend to fill them up with socks, gloves, chargers etc. You'll be surprised how much stuff you can cram in. Also I go with crystal so 20kg is pretty good.

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pandora,

Can't even start to explain to you how ridiculous your post is, can only assume your role is far from customer service...

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When flying I wear my ski helmet and carry my boots round my neck - yes they annoy some officials - politely explaining to them that I have problem feet and cannot use any other boots I might find at my destination has always gotten me onto a plane.

You know it makes sense.

Thanks for reminding me to check whether I can fit my boots into my rucksack. Just - as per ^ ^. Good. I'm flying BA to the Birthday Bash and intend to put everything else into a board bag. Unfortunately, last time I did that, I failed to insulate my helmet properly (it seems much more difficult to do that in a board bag than in an ordinary suitcase) and all the money I saved by not having an extra item of luggage was blown on having to replace my very dented helmet. Any suggestions? (My helmet won't fit into my rucksack with my boots.)

Edit: vanity prevents me from actually wearing the thing on to the plane!

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

LHR-YVR we had one of the familial boot bags checked separately and one inside a main bag.
YVR-LHR they wouldn't let us check the boot bags as part of our main weight allowance without paying so we took them as hand luggage. Including one of the giant square old-fashioned boot bags.
So it varies by airport and airline.

A snowHead

Thought I was being clever sneaking my boots into a non descript rucksack to take on my Thomson flight, only problem is a 5kg weight limit, my boots are over 6 so I had to check them anyway, thought I would never see them again but they got through no problem at Verona.

A snowHead

I am probably tempting fate for this year, but I have always carried my boots in a ski boot bag as hand luggage and never had an issue for last 5 years out of Gatwick and Heathrow into Innsbruck, Munich and Salzburg. Only flown BA and Lufthansa, so perhaps the 'budgets' may have a different view.

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

I'm about as close to customer service as it comes - I don't care what you have in your had luggage so long as it fulfils the criteria. But my main concern is your safety.

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So excited about it being New Year it would seem I hit post twice!

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hi,

We are flying from Manchester to Munich with Monarch airline and we have 20kg hold luggage and 10kg hand luggage allowance.

I am hoping to carry the boots in a bootbag as hand luggage. I have rung Monarchs customer services and was told that we can carry them as hand luggage as long as it fits their measurements for hand luggage bag and is within the weight limit.

So, I am hopeing i will have not bother at check in. Very Happy

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search the past threads, this has been discussed before and I remember someone having them confiscated by security at some french airport or other.

I put them in my suitcase now, don't even take my bootbag (one less thing for Jet2 not to deliver.....).

Help!!

Ski boots - Hand luggage or suitcase?

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