Special Baggage / Luggage

[Freek]

Hi everyone,

I want to bring my music equipment to China (Beijing). I wonder if anyone here as any experience in doing this.

I am looking at flights with Egyptair, Malev or Aeroflot, which all include 23kgs of luggage.

My intension is to take just one luggage, weights 34 kilo's and 130x20x50 in size (flightcase)

All airlines rate extreme fee's per kilo. up to 20+ euro.

That is all quite clear, but most flights are mixed airline flights which means it is unclear what the fees are.

Some airline's allow special luggage, but these fees are also off the roof.

I tried calling these airlines and ask about their services but either i get connected to some callcenter in india or they wont pick up!

Can anyone give me some advice/share experience?

Cheers!

[Angelina]

http://www.aeroflot.ru/cms/en/before_and_after_fly/excess_luggage

I'll fly with Aeroflot. I think that you should pay 250eur.

[Scoobyqueen]

Normally all airlines have very clear indications on their websites what you are allowed to bring, size and how much excess luggage costs. This is to avoid the expenses of having to answer FAQs personally. After all your question is not unusual. I am sure you will find it on the websites.

[jbradfor]

but most flights are mixed airline flights which means it is unclear what the fees are.

I assume this is the part that confuses you?

In general, for code-shares, you check in with the airline that is actually operating the aircraft (not necessarily the airline from which you bought the ticket), and you pay their baggage fees. You pay this fee once for your entire flight (once per direction).

HOWEVER, I do recall some time back a thread from someone that had trouble when they took one airline from Europe(?) to China, then a Chinese airline from there to another place, all purchased on one ticket (the second flight was a code-share). Since in this case you need to "check-in" your luggage again after going through immigration and customs, they got a hassle about their luggage. I don't remember what the outcome was.

Rather than a single 34 kg suitcase, can you take two suitcases, say of 20 and 15 kg each? You will still likely need to pay some fees, but they might be less, and you are less likely to get hassles I think.

[langxia]

If you are flying from europe or central-asia you might want to have a look at hainan airline flights. there you can take 30 kilo and if you are a student you can even bring 40 kilo! (but you need to buy a student ticket for that one)

[xiaomayi]

Emirates also has a 30kg baggage allowance.

[Freek]

Its a single pack of music equipment; cant break it in 2 (would be a waste)

Aight, ill check some other airlines as well!

[roddy]

What IS it? Where are you flying from?

[Freek]

Link;

Here

its slightly bigger, and slightly too heavy (angrysmileyface)

Amsterdam-->Beijing

[roddy]

Leave it at home. Nobody's going to thank you for taking it, and you're only going to need to ship it back again.

[Freek]

whats that supposed to mean? its my hobby. i need no thanks from anyone.

im going to reside in beijing. shipping back is cheap.

great help from an admin! yay

[jbradfor]

I think what roddy is trying to say is that he doesn't think you will use it much there, and it's better to not bring it.

But if you can ship it back, can you ship it there?

cant break it in 2

Of course you can! It's the reassembly that will be problematic.....

[roddy]

Yeah, that was a bit harsh, but if I remember correctly, you're only coming for a year (I'd guess just an academic year) and if you want to crank that up to any volume you're going to need a practice space. Or earphones, which I guess wouldn't be much fun. I'd leave it at home and either find one to borrow here, or maybe pick up a cheap one and sell it on.

[prateeksha]

I'm flying Air China this August. It gives 20kgs normally, but I showed my student visa and they gave me an extra 20kgs! So now I'm carrying 40kgs for nothing extra. You could try them too.

[Lu]

So, you have a 20 kg or so piece of luggage plus that, right?

From my recent experience, it can be unpredictable. When I came here September last year, I was going to take a KLM flight, which charges 70 or so euro for an extra piece of luggage. At the very last minute the flight got changed to China Southern, which charges per kilo, and as I had already packed everything in two 20-something suitcases, that would have been one very expensive extra suitcase. Fortunately, and inexplicably, KLM was in charge of the luggage and so I paid the KLM fee. I do not know why.

If this is your hobby, do you perhaps have a smaller/simpler/lighter version of this that you can take instead? Or even a laptop with all your music on it? That would save you a whole lot of hassle. Where are you going to live in Beijing, will you have room to put that stuff in and use it? Shipping back, by the way, is not as expensive as shipping from Holland, but for 34 kilos it's not that cheap either. Also, you will have to pack it extremely well and cross your fingers & pray to the cargo gods that it arrives back all in one piece and still working. It looks like something that might break if someone kicks it or throws it.

[Ludens]

When I'll be going back to China (from Europe) I will be in a similar situation; only my music equipment will be a bit bigger, more fragile and possibly more expensive; a vintage synthesizer and some related instruments, not something that can be bought and resold in China.

I'm wondering if there are any special/reliable postal services for this kind of stuff; I wouldn't want airport and/or postal workers throwing my synth around.

Any suggestions? Price would be of secondary importance to me (although I don't actually have money to spend ;)).

[simenjw]

What about sending it as cargo? I dont think the handling of cargo is any rougher normally than check-in baggage, as long as you clearly state that its fragile...

[jbradfor]

@Freek, maybe you could bring this one instead?

[BICC]

Call the airline office and ask for their cargo prices. I used aeroflot cargo unaccompanied baggage service 2 years back and I paid 150$ flat +3$ per kg.

[Freek]

Yeah, shit is that these offices don't pick up the phone, i think ill do that!