marta Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
furkew Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 depending on the airline, if you are moving over on a 457 the allowance is 20/22kg. a 457 is not a permanent migration visa, and therefore does not allow you to use the migrants allowance that most airlines have of 40kg. I believe there might be a few out there that have got away with higher allowances on a 457, but its not commonplace. (I thought I had read somewhere on an occasion that somebody got 30kg from singapore once) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Qantas standard at the moment seems to be 23kg. Whilst it would be lovely to have unfettered luggage allowances them's the rules and if you are coming on a temporary visa then you arent emigrating according to the rules. Pack it up and send it on separately I reckon. Edited to say, BTW it is Qantas - acronym for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services. No u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marta Posted April 22, 2011 Author Share Posted April 22, 2011 Qantas standard at the moment seems to be 23kg. Whilst it would be lovely to have unfettered luggage allowances them's the rules and if you are coming on a temporary visa then you arent emigrating according to the rules. Pack it up and send it on separately I reckon. Edited to say, BTW it is Qantas - acronym for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services. No u BTW, apologies for the 'u' in the title. I tried to figure out luggage allowance because I need many books on my arrival. If I send them by mail they will not arrive in time. Also, I would worry if they might get lost to be honest. So the intention was to have all my necessary belongings already with me when I land (these books and some clothing for three or four months for two different seasons). Well, anyway I thought it would be useful to pass on my experiences with BA and Qantas just because I read so many posts in this forum where people were indeed surprised when informed by most often rude check-in staff (this is what I read) they have to pay for each single extra kilo of their second bag. Some people had to pay around £1000 for their additional luggage which is just ridiculous. Our removal from UK to Australia hardly cost more... Also, there must be something wrong when the Qantas website still states that 457 and other first time visitors (other visa types listed on their website) are allowed to take two bags. And so far I have not received a reply from Qantas with regard to this link on their website. So this is when I started wondering...and then I got the above reply from BA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumpkin Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 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. You are coming on a temporary visa, you are not emmigrating. Anyway I don't think it is a duty of airlines to increase baggage allowances for emmgrating people. I know some airlines provide extra allowance but this is surely a bonus not a right. It is a matter of shopping around for the best deals. My understanding is that the airlines that do have an arrangement in place will offer it only to people with unvalidated permanent visas anyway. When we moved we had already validated so could not take advantage of any deals, however we looked into it and Air New Zealand was pretty good on extra baggage costs, Cathay who we flew with were quite expensive but we flew business and had a bigger allowance anyway and then they just didn't charge us for the bit we were over anyway. PS why was somebody working for British Airways advising you on Qantas policy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisleylass Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I do think excess baggage charges from Europe to Australia are way off kilter with the cost of (for example) an extra 23kg bag from UK to USA, and indeed USA to Australia. We are considering a stopover in LA or San Diego on the way to Brisbane, both for a quick holiday on the way out and a much, much cheaper excess baggage charge! Goodness knows what that'd do to our body clocks though. The actual fare is pretty comparable to the more direct routes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marta Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 You are coming on a temporary visa, you are not emmigrating. Anyway I don't think it is a duty of airlines to increase baggage allowances for emmgrating people. I know some airlines provide extra allowance but this is surely a bonus not a right. It is a matter of shopping around for the best deals. My understanding is that the airlines that do have an arrangement in place will offer it only to people with unvalidated permanent visas anyway. When we moved we had already validated so could not take advantage of any deals, however we looked into it and Air New Zealand was pretty good on extra baggage costs, Cathay who we flew with were quite expensive but we flew business and had a bigger allowance anyway and then they just didn't charge us for the bit we were over anyway. PS why was somebody working for British Airways advising you on Qantas policy? Because the BA flight is Qantas operated. I mentioned this earlier. I also explained earlier that my resarch started because Qantas has this website link for people who are NOT PERMANENTLY MIGRATING but entering Australia on other visa types for the first time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Because the BA flight is Qantas operated. I mentioned this earlier.I also explained earlier that my resarch started because Qantas has this website link for people who are NOT PERMANENTLY MIGRATING but entering Australia on other visa types for the first time. What link would that be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marta Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 What link would that be? http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/migrant-terms-and-conditions/gb/en Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaz n family Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 if its that important then upgrade your seat or pay the excess luggage. I would be vert suprised if you find an airline willing to give you excess luggage on a temp visa. Best of luck, you never know without trying, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marta Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 if its that important then upgrade your seat or pay the excess luggage. I would be vert suprised if you find an airline willing to give you excess luggage on a temp visa. Best of luck, you never know without trying, I found one.:yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaz n family Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 well done, was this with quanta? I have always found them to be one of the more expensive, did you get a student flight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockDr Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 The link posted applies to migrant fares, not to normal tickets. Qantas migrant fares are specific one way tickets that cost an arm and a leg more than normal ticket prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest33730 Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Just to say, I had a very good experience of BA's baggage policy recently. I was flying London to Adelaide via Sydney with the Sydney - Adelaide Leg being on qantas. BA allow an extra case of 23kg per person for only £40. Better than that, if you ask at the airport how much a oneway upgrade is to premium economy you will get it (subject to availability) for £199 however this includes a second bag effectively making the upgrade only £159 which was well worth it. The upgrade was only to Sydney but the baggage price allows for the qantas leg as well. the upgrade is also available the other way (again only at the airport) but you can only upgrade the bag for the BA part that way round. Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marta Posted April 29, 2011 Author Share Posted April 29, 2011 That sounds good! Unfortunately this possibility is not available for flights to Melbourne as BA flights from Heathrow to Melbourne are always operated by Qantas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essextoaus Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 We are flying heathrow to Sydney direct with BA and have an additional 23kg of checked luggage by paying £32 extra for the whole case. Me and my partner have done this so we have 46kg of luggage each. Just beware that if at any stage you change planes to say a quantas operated flight (BA use quatas flights as part of the one world alliance) then you may incurr huge charges by that airline. It has to be BA all the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ike Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Id recommend flying with Emirates, they offer 30kg as standard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest33730 Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 We are flying heathrow to Sydney direct with BA and have an additional 23kg of checked luggage by paying £32 extra for the whole case. Me and my partner have done this so we have 46kg of luggage each. Just beware that if at any stage you change planes to say a quantas operated flight (BA use quatas flights as part of the one world alliance) then you may incurr huge charges by that airline. It has to be BA all the way. Just a slight correction - it doesn't have to be BA all the way it just needs the first leg to be BA so in most cases it will work from the UK. The issue with a code share flight however is that you can't book it over the internet for £32 instead you need to pay £40 at the airport. Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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