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Hi guys Can anyone help with this question (as I can't find anything on the Etihad website!). We are moving from Manchester to Brisbane on a PR visa in September 2017. We have 42,000 guest miles with Etihad. Ideally I want to use some of these to take an extra suitcase(s) with us but I've been told that we won't know how many miles we need for an extra bag until we book the flight and have a booking reference. We are sending the majority of our stuff over by sea in a movecube in the next few weeks and if I can't use the air miles to take the extra case I will obviously need to factor in sending more stuff in the movecube. Why can't Etihad just state an extra suitcase is 30,000 miles or whatever it is!! Does anyone know the answer? We have a 3 year old child so the idea was to take a suitcase of toys so she has familiar things around her when we arrive - if not it's a 3.5 month wait before it arrives by sea. Thanks!

Hi, I'm really new to this (first post) and wondered if someone can point me in the right direction? My husband and I are planning to move to Brisbane at the end of August and most of our personal effects will go to Australia on a container. I know we can get insurance for this. But, some of our personal effects (including jewellery) will be travelling with us (I thought it would be safer). But how do I get insurance for this? Normal holiday insurance does not seem to cover the value, nor is it a holiday so I assume they would find it a reason not to pay out if anything were to happen. Has anyone had to do this/found any policy that will work for us? Thanks! LD

Hi, We are going to Perth next month because my partner and I got the 175 PR. I heard that when you are traveling by plane if you got a migrant visa you can have more luggage in the airline (above the normal limits), is there anyt true about this? Thanks a lot for any information! jj

I've been lucky enough to have been granted a 40kg allowance from Singapore Airlines when we fly next March. My question is, am I correct in thinking that you are ALSO allowed to take a 7kg bag on board the aircraft? I've been reading and re-reading the airlines websites and it looks like I am right but I just wanted to double check. Thanks!

Can anyone tell us what they took with them when they departed the UK, Did people pack as they would when they go abroad to a different country? Is there anything in your luggage which you wished you had packed and is there anything which youwished you had not taken.

i have a spouses visa and read that I was entitled to 40 K Luggage allowance travelling from Heathrow to Perth I received this reply to an email asking for confirmation This is a courtesy email to advise you of the migrant baggage policy for Australia Kindly be advised, if you hold an unused/unstamped/not validated migrant visa that specifically states that you are permitted to remain in Australia indefinitely / permanently, you will then be entitled to additional baggage allowance of 20 kilos, per passenger (adult & child from London/Manchester only). This additional baggage allowance is only granted on your first use of the visa hence our requirement for it to be unstamped, the visa will be verified by our check-in staff on your day of departure. You can have as many items of checked luggage as you wish provided: The total combined weight of all the items put together does not exceed your total checked allowances No single item of baggage exceeds 32 kilos in weight, as a health and safety requirement If you are not holding the correct visa mentioned above at check-in, then you will be entitled to the standard free checked baggage allowance of 20 kilos per passenger. The excess baggage charge London/Manchester to Australia is SGD80.00 per kilo equivalent to GBP40.00 approximately. We hope the above information helps with your enquiry. Thank you for your interest in flying Singapore Airlines. My husband and children who also emigrated to OZ with me only had a 20K allowance as they had Australian passports and not a permanent visa, I took my visa and the email as shown above and wasnt asked to provide proof as the computer showed that I had the visa. My family all had approx 23K in the suitcases the check in pointed out we were over but let us through with no extra charge. The cases we took as personal luggage weighed about 10K and should have b een 7K no one weighed or measured the size of these cases at Heathrow or Singapore. We were very lucky as a guy in the next check in was told to take out 4K that he was over or pay the excess.One unfortunate passenger got the weight allocation wrong and ended up paying 300 pounds for her second suitcase, Be careful and be prepared to pay if you go over.Good luck

hi, we are flying to australia from heathrow in october. with singapore airlines. just wondered how much hand luggage we can take on board with us. have had a look on singapore air website there will be myself, OH and our little girl. was thinking of taking a small trolley case each. 2 x laptops, my handbag, portable dvd player which OH would carry and little one would carry toddlers backpack will we be able to take all this. dont want to get stung at checkin desk. please help

Hi, I'm still pre-visa grant, but thinking about possibilities for moving. I've read many threads where people shared their costs/experiences shipping their stuff. My basic question is whether it makes sense to instead just take an extra trip, primarily to move stuff (instead of shipping things). Two factors working in favour of taking the trip 1) airline status that allows me to take 3 bags @ 32kg/70lb each and 2) US gov't tax break of ~30% for moving & job search expenses. Assuming I could store the stuff at a friend's house, costs would be (in AUD): Flight would be $2000, accom./meals $500, transport $100 = $2600, less 30% = $1820 So, it is worth moving 3 bags/96kg of stuff for under $2000? I figure I could also use this extra trip to potentially meet with employers or otherwise help with my job search. Thanks for any help/advice!

hi everyone 2 days until we go!!!!!!!!!!! can anyone tell me if qantas weigh your hand luggage in hong kong airport when you fly to perth? THANKS!

Good morning from England, I have had different information about baggage allowance. If say we are allowed 30 kilo's on Eremites flights what happens when we on Virgin blue to Tasmania & the allowance is less? Will we have to pay for the extra? We are going for 2 months so we will be bringing quit a lot ( including goodies for the grandkids) I have already had some good ideas on what to bring form Siamsusie (not sure if I spelt that right sorry) Margojacko (grannywag )

i know this is probably a daft question but, we are emigrating to sydney in october. flying with singapore airlines. when we check in at heathrow, obviously the cases go on the plane, but when we stopover in singapore for a couple of days before flying on to sydney. what happens to our cases. we dont obviously want them with us. our travel agent said we just tell the checkin desk at heathrow that we dont want our cases until we get to sydney. am just worried about where they will be sent while we are on our stopover. am i just being daft or what. nicola

hi all we are (hopefully) not far off having our ENS121 granted. as its a PR visa, I have read somewhere before that you are allowed double the luggage allowance sine your emigrating. My question is how do you go about arranging this with airlines or do you have to use certain airlines only? A little concerned as travelling to Townsville, so will have to do international and domestic flight and do not want to get caught out with baggage charges thanks guys TT xx

Hi I need some info. We are off to Perth on 7th August on a 457 visa. We are also applying for a 176 but wont have that for another few months. How do we stand on baggage allowance? Does anyone know if Singapore airlines will allow the double baggage allowance of 40kilo per person on validation of a 457. They have advise me that if we are going one way and validating a permanent visa then the 40kilos are allowed. The 457 isnt a permanent visa, so not sure where we stand and not getting any luck out of the customer services dept at Singapore airlines! Any feedback would be useful Thanks Michelle :chatterbox:

I thought I start a new thread for this so other people will be informed too. In the last few days I had a lively email exchange with different airlines regarding luggage allowance for persons who are going to Australia for the first time on a temporary (also long-stay 457) visa. So after four tiring email attempts with BA I finally got a short and clear answer: ---- Dear Dr M, I am sorry if previous replies failed to answer your enquiry. Qantas do not offer any special baggage allowance for passengers entering Australia. They have an excess baggage charge of 50 Aussie dollars per kilogram in excess of 23 kilograms. Regards Barry British Airways ---- This means everyone booking a flight via BA which is operated by Qantas (see small print or details while booking) or with Qantas directly can only take 20kg per person. However, this seems to apply mainly for flights from London to Melbourne. I just thought I might share this so you will be able to avoid the shock of a lifetime.

So my partner and I will be entering Melbourne on a 457 visa for the first time. We would like to book flights for the 7th of June. But we don't know which airline to chose because of unclear information with regard to individiual luggage allowance. I know this question has been asked already but I still would like to find out what is correct or incorrect right now. The reason for this is that some airlines do not seem to know themselves what's going on, and to me it looks as if they just want to make more money by charging extra luggage (as a consequence of not stating clearly how much luggage is allowed) which puts them on a level with Ryanair. Well, BA have no clue, like always, and Qantas did not even bother replying to my request. How rude ist that! So here is what I was told so far: -BA (operated by Qantas) replied in a confused email they don't know how much luggage I can take on a 457 visa and that I have to contact Quantas directly (which I did without success). Great help. Thanks BA! Well, surprisingly they replied fast. -Singapore: No double allowance as we only have a 457 visa so will not stay permanently (only 20 kg each). Good to know, and I received a friendly answer within an hour by email which is a plus. -Emirates: Quite clear. 30kg each. Horrendous prices for extra luggage (£35 per kg or something) -Virgin: flights too expensive for me -Qantas: Big secret or what?! Somewhere hidden on their website one can read this: http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/migrant-terms-and-conditions/gb/en So the above link SEEMS to imply that I get double luggage allowance on a 457 visa as I will be entering Australia for the first time. However, as I am a stubborn and grumpy German I want to be extra careful and therefore would have appreciated if Qantas could confirm that I got that right, right? So my question is this: Does anyone know for sure, or recently travelled with Qantas from UK to Australia, that first time migrants (as mentioned in the link above) can take 40 kg (20kg+20kg) without additional costs? And if so, how does it work exactly? The thing is I would have to pay horrendous prices if I take more than 20kg - which I will - (in case Qantas will not give me 40kg) and surely I would want to avoid this from happening. Also to be honest with all the trouble and the rubbishy customer service I am not really sure anymore if I really want to give Qantas £600+ (single fare) just like that... I am also curious. Do you recommend Emirates in a case like this? At least I could take 30kg. (For future flights I will try out Singapore Airlines when I only take 20kg.) Can anyone help please? Many thanks.:wubclub:

Hi guys, Has anyone got the 40kgs luggage allowance from Singapore Airlines on a validation trip as opposed to a one way trip. I have emailed them but have no reply so far.

Hi all, just joined and am looking for some advice looks like a great site, could be spending a long time on here soon arranging meets etc!! Me and my partner put in a PR visa last year with a migration agent (based in the UK) and have been eagerly waiting for it to be granted... The Mrs has been offered a job and we are being sponsored (457). So we will be packing up in the next month!!! I'm having trouble with airlines not recognizing my Visa as permanent (probably because it's not!!!) We're desperate to try and get some extra luggage allowance (40kg or so) and have been unsuccessful so far. They say you need indefinate leave to remain in Australia which we wont have until the Skilled Migration Visa arrives witch could be next year! Spent an hour on the phone to Singapore airlines yesterday was trying so hard the even the ever so polite gentlemen on the phone was starting to get annoyed! :chatterbox: Anybody have any advice? I'm open to any ideas... Rob

Hi guys I am due to fly out in 2 weeks so plotting what I need to pack. Unfortunately I only have 20kg in the hold, and 7kg as hand luggage with Thai Air. My query is with laptops. Im sure I heard a rumor that you can carry one aditionally to your hand luggage. Is this the case? I really hope its true as I have too many gadgets I need to carry and 7kg wont go very far.

Just wondered if anyone has managed to get extra luggage allowance over and above the 30Kg economy class allowance when emigrating? There used to be a promotion code 'UKMOVE1' or some such but its expired and all the posts on the subject are old and out of date and theres nothing on thier web site. If you did can you let me know how you went about it, we fly Wednesday and 30Kg is not enough!! 40Kg would be perfect!! Kind regards Jay

I have been scouring the sales for cheap suitcases to make our journey to Oz in October. We have suitcases but due to double baggage allowance we needed more to accommodate all our stuff. Anyway, in a shop called 'Priceless Shoes' they sell these amazing holdalls on wheels with a pull handle. They are £10 each and are ideal if you want something cheap just to get your stuff there. They are huge and can hold just as much stuff as a large expanding suitcase. I bought one from them about 5 years ago and its been on many journeys and a couple of festivals with us and a wheel finally broke on it in April (though it still did the job). Just thought i'd share with you incase someone is in a similar situation. :wideeyed:

Hi Guys Just after a bit of advise. We are returning to Melbourne in November and have already been there once on a single ticket and validated our visa - we flew with Emirates and were given double luggage allowance. Although we still ended up 19kg over weight & had to send a case with Sky Cargo. So when we go this time round, for good this time again on a one way ticket, does anyone know if we can get the double allowance again, were flying with Singapore this time. We are shipping our furniture & belongings over a month before we fly out and so the dilemma, here it will be winter & in Oz it will be Summer so im going to need completely different clothing. So Im sure we will end up with lots of stuff to take on the flight! :arghh:

We are looking to maximise our hand luggage whilst flying with emirates - what hand luggages bags did everyone use.

Hi everyone, I'm heading out to Oz on a 457 visa in a few weeks. Is there anyway I can take more than 1 suitcase without having to pay loads?!? I have looked into shipping stuff separately but are there any other options? Do airlines make any allowances for migrants or workers? Also, does anyone have any particular good/bad airline experiences? I'm not a massive fan of flying (I get bored and find sitting still for hours very uncomfortable) and a friend told me to steer clear of Qantas but they seem to be most reasonable for tickets at the mo! Any help would be great!! :biggrin:

Howdy, i was just wondering if anybody out there has managed to get more than the 20kg limit on your luggage? We're flying with Singapore Airlines & unfortunately we've already validated our visa's so we don't qualify for the 'double allowance' that you get on using an un-validated visa. we're hoping to get an extra 5kgs each but not too confident really, is there anyone whose managed to get anything out of them & if so how did you go about it? Thanks in advance Karl. P.S = flying out in two weeks to start our new life!! Woo-Hoo!!

hi guys, does anyone know of an airline that will let you take more luggage with you to australia if you are going out on a perm visa with a oneway ticket??? we did go out last year to activate the visa but came back, im sure ive seen on here some people saying that this is possible so any addvice would be great thanks guys xx