CAN ANYONE HELP? WE ARE IN A HOLE !!

[thenimblethief]

Can anyone help with some advice? Our son is stuck in Hong Kong after experiencing difficulties with Dragonair. He came home for Xmas and returned last night on a BA flight to Xiamen via Hong Kong. He was over his baggage limit (presents etc for his girlfriend and lots of mandarin study books he brought over with him). BA said to reorganise his bag so he had his checked bag upped to 32kilo and we paid the £30 excess. They said it woulkd be OK going through to Xiamen. Unfortunately Draonair want £800 pounds excess for him to fly on to Xiamen. He is only 19 and neither he or we would have that money. I need to know what bus sewrvices there are that will take his luggage. On large case and one smaller case (his hand luggage). He has caught a bus from Xiamen to Shenzhen before but he says he is unsure about whether he would get his luggage on too. Any help pointing him in the right direction would be really appreciated. My wife is on to BA but I expect they will just blame someone else as usual. Thanks in advance.

ps: due to the bad weather in the UK his flight was delayed so he missed the connecting flight anyway so they put him in a hotel for tomorrows flight. His mandarin is still quite basic as he has only been over in Xiamen since last July.

[jbradfor]

What if he takes a taxi to the post office and mails the books home? [Just make sure not to mail the gifts for the GF! Those need to arrive with him.] It might take a while to get home, but it would be easier, and probably cheaper, than trying to get it on the airlines.

[thenimblethief]

Thankyou for the reply. I will mention this to him. I am forgetting what we moved into his main case from his hand luggage. It probably may not be enough. His allowance was 23 kilos and the case was upped to 32 kilos. Thats an awful lot of stuff to offload. to bring it back down to 23kilo. I am honestly not going to let him leave China again. The last time.....his first time in Xiamen, he was hauled off the plane because his temperature was too high and he had to spend 48 hours in a Xiamen hospital. We will save up and go over there!

[sebhk]

Actually there is a post office in the Hong Kong airport. Your son could go there and have them mail some of his stuff to Xiamen. For example, a 10 KG air mail parcel from Hong Kong to Mainland China should cost no more than £35 (including packaging).

http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/passenger/arrival/t1/airport-services-facilities/post-office.html

Should be much less of a hassle and stress than taking the bus from Shenzhen to Xiamen.

Edited January 7, 2010 at 08:08 PM by sebhk

[jbradfor]

I am honestly not going to let him leave China again.

I like your attitude! Most parents that have posted here are worried about their kids going TO China, not FROM.

[abcdefg]

I need to know what bus sewrvices there are that will take his luggage. On large case and one smaller case (his hand luggage).

In case he opts to go ahead and take the bus from Shenzhen, I would not worry about the weight of his luggage. I've never known any of the inter-city busses to be picky unless it is truly immense. Actually I don't think I've ever had it weighed.

The amount of hand luggage you can take inside with you is usually pretty small because of the size of the overhead bins. Big items will need to go below.

Edited January 7, 2010 at 09:04 PM by abcdefg

[thenimblethief]

we were at first but he loves it there

[xianhua]

First of all, is it definitely 800 pounds and not 800 RMB or HK Dollars for the excess charge? I've had the same problem before, and never encountered this level of charge. However, anything is possible with airlines.

Now, you mentioned that it was a connection only. Therefore, is the situation that your son booked a ticket from the UK to Xiamen through BA (and the connection just happened to be in Hong Kong and not Turkey or Finland etc)? If so, in most cases those suitcases would have gone straight from Heathrow (or wherever) onto Xiamen and he would have seen them again in Xiamen (as is normal with connections). As he was delayed, he had to stay over in Hong Kong and take a separate flight.

BA said those suitcases were fine for Xiamen and you have paid the necessary excess. So it's basically down to the fact that he collected his cases that an excess is now due. If I have understood correctly, then BA should insist on Dragonair wavering the excess as when he left the UK, BA gave you an agreement to get those cases to Xiamen at the rate you paid. The label on the suitcase should prove this as it will say Xiamen (the ultimate destination).

Failing the waivering of the excess, BA should refund you the money once it has been paid (although get their word first obviously).

Edited January 7, 2010 at 08:59 PM by xianhua

[thenimblethief]

thanks for your brilliant replies. I have spoken to my son at the hotel and he says he thinks the only way on from here is to catch a bus although he says it will not be a pleasant experience as he has to make his way to the shenzhen border and go through customs and then find the bus terminal. I said to him that there should be direct buses from HK airport to Xiamen. Am I right? It would make things a whole lot easier. Does anybody know?

[imron]

I imagine he could also catch the train. It might be more pleasant than the bus. The post office is also a good option.

[zhouhaochen]

the bus and train station are both right across the Hong Kong border at Lo Wo. If he wants to take a bus, after going through immigration, he should just keep walking straight for about 150meters and he will get to the train station. If there is a reasonably fast train, I would definitely recommend that, much more pleasant and you also can take as much luggage as you want.

The bus station has moved from when I used it last time, but I believe it is very close by too. On the HK side of the border they will be able to advice him in English where to go.

Sounds like quite an adventure your son is having there

I always pushed everything through hand luggage by being very nice to the check in ladies, telling stories of enormous student poverty and keeping them distracted, so they wont pay attention. When I flew out of Hong Kong, I had a total of 90kg of luggage (30 checked in, 60 hand luggage) and it worked just fine.

Another option, that works well at Stansted for Ryan Air at least, is checking in with a huge empty bag, that gets a sticker to not be too heavy and then you are told to go to the oversize luggage station to check in. On the way, you put whatever luggage you need in there. Worked fine for me as well

[Shadowdh]

I agree with Imron, rail worked fine for me and I also agree with his suggestion of the post office... I used the post office to send a shed load of stuff home to the UK and it was much cheaper and easier than excess...

Also agree with keeping the check in chicks distracted... I got about 60kg of stuff home that way, mostly books...

[889]

Folks, he's going from Shenzhen to Xiamen, and there are NO direct trains from Shenzhen to Xiamen. You want him to lug all that luggage around in vain search for a train?

There are several bus stations in Shenzhen, but near Luohu, the Qiaoshe Station has services to Xiamen. Turn left and cross over the railroad tracks as you exit Luohu Customs, and remember that Qiaoshe Station has two branches a couple hundred meters apart. The southern branch is right at the base of the railroad overpass.

[imron]

Fair enough. They are just both large enough cities that I'd assumed there would be a train between them.

[xianhua]

Just make sure he keeps copies of any train/bus tickets, as he had a strong case (no pun intended) for compensation here. If BA won't pay out then his insurance policy may have a clause about costs incurred as a consequence of a delay.

I had a total of 90kg of luggage (30 checked in, 60 hand luggage)

zhouhaochen - 60kg in hand luggage?! My record is a mere 10kg - and that was mainly books.

[imron]

My hand luggage is usually at least as heavy as my checked in luggage

[xianhua]

Remind me never to board a plane full of Chinese-forums.com posters - the thing will probably never take off. .

[thenimblethief]

What a great community you have there. No wonder my son is happy in China. After a sleepless night/morning after Josh had left the hotel to return to the airport and not knowing what would happen, we got an email from him saying :

Hi Mum, Dad,

Just to let you know that so far, everything seems okay. I have to go literally in a minute to the gate, so I need to be very quick and brief. They noticed the excess baggage and couldn't find a way around it. The BA charge led to Hong Kong and no further. I told them everything about what had happened and was persistent - I technically should have paid for 13kg of excess weight, but the manager was understanding and decided to give me a courtesy, meaning I only had to pay 4kg of excess baggage. When I asked how much that costs, I found out the true cost which was far more realistic than the price we learned in London - it was actually 21 Hong Kong Dollars per kilo, or £2. So after paying about £9 for the 4kg and the little bit over that, the bag went through fine.

I am going to catch the flight now, and all I have to go through is the boarding gate, where they will or won't notice my hand luggage. I don't think they will to be honest. Next is customs in China, and that's it.

It was Dragonair who was flying him to Xiamen. His hand luggage was way over as we'd moved a lot into it at Heathrow but after a phone call to him at a restaurant in Xiamen whilst waiting for his girlfriend to meet him, he told us he went through OK. He is extremely happy back in his apartment with his girlfiend.

Once again, thanks for all your help.

[imron]

and was persistent

Often this is the key to success Glad to hear everything worked out well.

[zhouhaochen]

ah, good that it worked out!

the main problem with the 60kg was to walk past the stewardess without falling over from the weight. I remember when I took the underground in London later, carrying then a total of 90kg of stuff, I must have looked so exhausted that a very sweet old lady actually got up and offered me her seat to sit down.