can someone explain ski carriage charges please?

poe.tuesday

I am going to Finland with crystalski who us thomsonfly as their airline

I am permitted to have 20kg of weight allowance

If I want to take my skis it will cost me £30 to take them

My total baggage weight including my skis is less than 20kg so I am not going over my weight allowance

If it's because I am only permitted to have one bag (which is not actually the case) then I can get all my stuff into one bag,

It may then be because it's an outsized item, but I can not see any rules and regs on the thompsonfly nor the crystalski websites that says that there is any limit to in the hold baggage.

The other reason I can think they may charge me is because of the baggage handlers, if this is the case then the same baggage handlers put bags onto schedualled airlines which don't charge for the carriage of skis (well, most of them don't).

I can not see any logical reason why I should be charged to carry skis when I am not over my baggage allowance.

I have spoken to thomsonfly who say it's crystalski who decide if we pay, I have also spoken to crystalski who say it's thomson who make the charges and someone even said it was a BAA rule !

I have no problem paying if I was over my weight limit but I am not and you may say 'well it's only £30' but it's not unfortuately, as we area family of 4 and the cost is £120 which I can not see any reasonably justification for (other than a money making excercise) - we can also not put the skis into 2 bags, the weight limit for ski carriage is 6kg which is the weight of mine alone.

Can anyone shed any light on why they are charging for ski carriage given that I am not over my weight limit as I am somewhat confussed as to why they can justify this additional charge other than because they want to and can.

Hotspur

Someone else who has my view on this.

Welcome to the crazy world of tour operators/airlines who make their own rules. Firstly Crystal and Thomson are as close to the same business as you are likely to get as they are both part of the TUI group which have their own high street travel agents, tour operations and charter airline which they keep separate and this adds to the confusion. And they blame each other for their own rules.

As you say many scheduled airlines don't charge extra for ski carriage and some of the smaller tour operators don't charge extra either even if they use the same charter flight as someone that has to pay.

It's just madness that you pay more to take skis on a ski holiday when airlines don't usually charge more. Those without skis may say they subsidise those taking skis but the economics don't equate to £30 per set.

I travelled to the USA last March with full luggage allowance plus skis plus boots and that was all included in British Airways allowance. However, Crystal still wanted to charge extra for ski carriage which we refused to pay as BA diesn't charge. Like Ryanair/Easyjet etc. it's a way of making more from (penalising) the customer that doesn't book the TO's own ski hire package. You can add seat pre booking charges, in flight meals and charges for in flight entertainment to the list too.

BAA don't charge any extra for handling skis as far as I know.

Unfortunately, other than booking with another with another TO you have to pay.

free-bee_chaser

I'm surprised by how much Crystal charge, Neilson ski carriage charge £15 for 10kg, a much better deal in comparison even if it is little more than a money makin' charge.

monkeyspanner

It does seem to depend on the airline and your class of air ticket. From past holiday experience, below refer to economy fares.

Air Canada - Free
British Airways - Free
Monarch - Charge
SAS - Charge

If you have a large ski bag you can sometimes get away with one charge dependant on weight.

poe.tuesday

they limit me to 6kg per bag and each 6kg cost £30 - that really does seem a rip off to me - I have already paid for the snowboard to go and I was thinking of putting one set of skis in with the snowboard bag - not sure if they weigh the snowboard/ski bags though at check in or if I will get away with it as I don't think there is a weigh machine at the outsized baggage area - does anyone know this at all (going from gatwick btw)

virgo149

We've flown from Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham on ski flights and never had our ski's weighed - just as well as we put two pairs in one bag and only pay one charge. We do however take our bindings off and carry them in our allowed luggage. We've used Crytal, Thomson and Neilson (plus an independent) like this with no problem. Sod's law says though that they will bring in weighing as taking your own skis gets more and more popular. As for the 6kg limit - my hubby is 6'4" with skis to match so would never be under the 6kg limit anyway!

In my experience, it's when you take skis and haven't pre-paid that the problems start on charter flights. You could do what we do, show we've paid for ski's and brazen it out. They do get scanned at oversize luggage where you leave them but the handlers don't care how many sets are in the bag.

It might be worth checking with First Choice - they still only charge 15 pounds but are now part of Tui and might be going to Finland as well now? They all seem to be cross selling most hols on all websites.

We're off to Norway in January with SAS again but are totally confused with their ski carriage policy (or lack of). Not been charged before but are bracing ourselves this year!

lynn44

Yes we have always had to pay £15 but we put 2 sets of ski's in one bag :)Another time we checked them in at gatwick ( special oversized baggage area ) and was not charged, I understand it is cheaper to pre pay than just arrive at the airport...Have great time we went skiing in Lapland (Levi) last year really enjoyed it

poe.tuesday

cheers for all your help - glad to know about the lack of weighing machines at the oversized luggage bit - not sure about taking the bindings off the skis mind you and they are new and not sure if I know how to get them all back on, we can take the bindings off the snowboard though

can't wait to go back to lapland - love the skiing there and there is tumps of snow

virgo149

poe.tuesday wrote: »

cheers for all your help - glad to know about the lack of weighing machines at the oversized luggage bit - not sure about taking the bindings off the skis mind you and they are new and not sure if I know how to get them all back on, we can take the bindings off the snowboard though

can't wait to go back to lapland - love the skiing there and there is tumps of snow

You're absolutely right about the bindings - not all come off and you must be confident about putting them back together again or you will be risking more than a baggage fee at the airport.

Just done a dummy run on a booking for Lapland with First Choice and it is still down as 15 quid for ski carriage with them - might be worth taking a look to see if what you want is available with them.

Finally, enjoy your hol - I think we'll all be having a great skiing season this year!

poe.tuesday

we are already booked with crystal so can't cancel that

I have asked crystal adn thomson why I have to paid when I should be able to take whatever I want as long as it's within my 20kg allowance - they are coming back with the usual blurb and not actually answering me

now I have found the the free ski bus at the resort is no longer free, it's now 3 euros per person per journey - that's another 300 or so euros I am going to have to find - but still crystal have it advertised as free - not sure how they stand legally on that one though as this is a consideration when getting a holiday and if I had known the bus cost then I may not have booked ...

virgo149

I'm not surprised you are getting no where with Crystal - they do great deals occassionally but you get absolutely nothing from them in the way of customer service etc - here or in resort.

It's very unusual to pay for a ski bus as they are usually included in the lift pass price. In my experience, even when it's not included, you will very rarely get charged. I've never met a bus driver trying to get a mass of skiers to pay up for their journey. Even with buses with ticket machines in them, no one ever seems to check. I've never done this in Lapland mind. If you get challenged, just start juggling your ski's, hat, poles and gloves whilst trying to explain you don't understand - I'm sure you will be fine.

Where are you going exactly? It might be worth checking out the resort website for better information on what is included - travel companies are OK but get the info from those in the know is what I would advise.