Does anyone ever use their full luggage allowance on holidays?

[Ausbt]

I actually get pleasure out of seeing 12 kgs or a similarly low weight come up on the scales. However on a recent skiing trip I took a ski bag filled with everything coming in at 25 kgs. I actually injured my shoulder lugging that from train-to-train in Japan, and still haven't fully recovered.

 

[chelzmalee]

Often on the way home from USA (2 x 23kgs) I have around 40kgs total. Plus 1 cabin bag <7kg. I do a LOT of shopping

 

[anat0l]

To be honest, even if I had my bags fully handled by porters during my entire trip, I'm not sure I could still fill up my standard allowance.

OK, if the standard allowance was 23 kg, that's a bit too easy (provided the trip is long enough). More than that, might be a challenge.

Now if the porter service was provided plus a fairly large complement of spending money, that might change the picture.

 

[RB]

Not even close - and I am NB so no extra allowance. Currently travelling for 25 days in both hot and cold climates and luggage is around 14kg (+carry on) - and that's only because I have picked up some books along the way. Mr Romney is about the same, kids (teenage girls) around 12kg. We do a lot of public transport wherever we are, so the rule is if you take it, you have to be prepared to carry it. It's brilliant at stopping the kids wanting to buy things the whole time - but I normally do plan some shopping time towards the end of the trip for them to look forward to, and we have a few kilos extra between us on the way home.

We end up pretty similar to this. Somewhere around the 12-14kg mark checked-in & 1 carryon each. We only ever use public transport

 

[leadman]

My frustration is not the luggage weight, its the Liquor weight coming in! Always frustrated that we have 2.25l; understand with wine = 3 bottles, but always feel short-changed with good scotch and the 1litre bottles. Missing out on 250 ml's of highland nectar!


Have a good friend that almost goes "there and back" to the gram, to a point he got into an argument a few trips back in LHR claiming that the TG scales were out of calibration and demanded a re-weigh on another scale!

 

[coriander]

I do on the return journey but then again I am a shopaholic

+1
Our family of five traveled to the US this Jan. Outbound four very light cases (with other cases and soft bags nested within). Hire car was selected on basis of luggage capacity (and we still made a mistake in selection as we had to do two trips when we moved from the Caribe to the Contemporary Resort). By the time Mrs C had finished "saving money" shopping in SFO and MCO we came home with twelve suitcases and soft bags, most up around the 20kg mark.

 

[JohnK]

Luckily haven't needed my full luggage allowance.

Have enough problems carrying around luggage and golf bag (28-32kgs together) and carryon bag (~7-8kg) everywhere I go. Up and downstairs is the most difficult. Victory Monument comes to mind. Those stairs are torture without luggage.

 

[Buzzard]

When travelling with her Pack Horse (me), Mrs.B likes to take a lot as I get to lug it around.
Thankfully when we travel QF they enhanced the checked in baggage to one piece.
Unfortunately when we travel VA she still gets 2 pieces.

 

[Renato1]

As we go to Italy and Europe for around 3 months, we are always packed to the hilt - since we need summer and wintery clothes. Two years ago I paid for excess baggage with Emirates before departure, so that my wife and I each had 32kgs for check-in suitcases, and over 7kgs each for carry-on.

Curiously, it only cost $105 for the 5kg excess baggage back then, but it now costs well over $400.

The other point is what is the actual limit? The various airlines never seemed to care much when we were a kilo or two over the 20kg limit that applies on most airlines. I thought they were being nice, but then noticed that parts of the trip allowed a 50lb limit, which is 22.7kg.- which might explain why they weren't too fussed.

Because of how we travel, we just use Emirates nowadays, with their 30kg limit.
Regards,
Renato

 

[JohnK]

The other point is what is the actual limit? The various airlines never seemed to care much when we were a kilo or two over the 20kg limit that applies on most airlines. I thought they were being nice, but then noticed that parts of the trip allowed a 50lb limit, which is 22.7kg.- which might explain why they weren't too fussed.

Because of how we travel, we just use Emirates nowadays, with their 30kg limit.

In my experience most legacy airlines didn't enforce the 20kg limit. I remember one time with SQ my carryon was ~8.5kgs and check-in agent asked me to move something to checked luggage which was already ~21-22kgs.

Now with 30kgs seem to get away with a little more. Not that I deliberately try to take more but sometimes it happens.

 

[Renato1]

In my experience most legacy airlines didn't enforce the 20kg limit. I remember one time with SQ my carryon was ~8.5kgs and check-in agent asked me to move something to checked luggage which was already ~21-22kgs.

Now with 30kgs seem to get away with a little more. Not that I deliberately try to take more but sometimes it happens.

That's the same experience for me.

The only time I've been slugged for excess baggage was by Czech Airways leaving Prague. With pretty much the same baggage weight going into Prague, there wasn't a problem.

Prague left a bad taste in my mouth, not just for that. It's the one place in Europe I will never go back to.
Cheers,
Renato

 

[JohnK]

Prague left a bad taste in my mouth, not just for that. It's the one place in Europe I will never go back to.

Czech beers left a bad taste in my mouth. Not sure how they get their reputation.

 

[drron]

I remember a few years ago checking in on AA at Nashville.We were forced to use the kiosks .Wanted to charge us $100 because 1 bag was 54lb instead of 50lb.Demanded to be checked in by agent.I was AA EXP and mrsdrron WP at the time.The agent apologised for the inconvenience we had endured.

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

If we are travelling via the USA we always have an empty bag with us. I have been to EVERY outlet mall in the US. Everything is cheaper in the US. I don't have a black belt in shopping for nothing . I use the full luggage allowance every time we fly. Also I have been known to bring big stuff home with us. Think large Lombok pots, chinese rugs, terracotta tiles This next trip is an 8 week odyssey. I am bringing back thai curtain material from Jim Thompson.
I have to pack for a warm climate/ hot climate/ cold climate/ formal wear/ casual wear/ cruise wear ! I am concentrating on a black theme for me ! Follow drrons trip report to see how we do. Starts next Wednesday !!

 

[clazman]

Last trip to the U.S, Left with 2 cases weighing 46kg ( inc gifts for family), returned with 3 cases weighing 73kg...

The only thing that was lighter was the credit card ....

 

[JohnK]

I have to pack for a warm climate/ hot climate/ cold climate/ formal wear/ casual wear/ cruise wear !

Scary.

Business shirts, slacks, socks, jacket are the clothes I wear all year round. Pair of leather shoes. Work. Casual. Travel. Throw in a few t-shirts for golf and evenings in Pattaya and a pair of runners and I am set. If going to cold climate throw in a couple of jumpers.

Too easy.

 

[Deleted member]

I suspect that a long haul long stay might necessitate maximum luggage allowance. But as is often the case, one often returns with more than one leaves with.
I know. Guy who travels with nothing on the way out ( of Australia) buys everything on arrival and returns with a full case.

 

[AVC]

This was our load out of LAX. 3 of us.
When we depart there's usually 2 less bags. (Bags in bags, we bought my daughter's pink ones for that specific purpose).
I can move 4 of the 4 wheelers easy, with my Lowepro on my back.
The girls can handle the rest.
Moving them around isn't so much the issue as fitting them in a vehicle.
We needed two cars from the airport to home. Now we have a Discovery. The amount of cough we take on a road trip is not much smaller. :-|

 

[Renato1]

I don't buy souvenirs, but my wife is a souvenir and foreign shopping fanatic, who would bankrupt me on excess baggage.

To solve the problem, she buys souvenirs and stuff in various countries, and brings them back to Italy. Where I in turn pack them in parcels of just under 10kg, and mail them home by surface mail. One year I sent 14 parcels back. The only positive thing is that the surface mail from Italy gets here in one and a half to two weeks, and that at under 50 Euros a parcel it is much cheaper than paying for excess baggage.
Regards,
Renato

 

[PaulST]

I think it's not so much the flight but what you plan to do after that dictates the weight you carry as Harvyk mentioned. Will you hire a car, take an internal flight, go by train ? No way I'm lugging more than 20k's up the steps of your typical European train so regardless of the allowance, that's about my personal limit.

Exactly. I was allowed 40kgs of luggage on a recent trip to Japan-Korea-China but only took around 16kgs for that very reason. Whilst trekking around the Yellow mountains I saw a few princesses followed by their boyfriends dragging what appeared to be huge, heavy bright pink or blue bags... The girls themselves, of course, weren't carrying anything except very expensive cameras. The sacrifices us men make... haha.