Be aware of dodgy luggage alowances...

llkit35

Hi,

hope my experience saves someone else some money.

Booked a holiday via lowcostholidays.com, with a flight by Thompson. At no point during the booking did it state the luggage allowance, which i assumed to be 10kg, as thats the Ryan Air allowance (and who could be tighter than Ryan Air?).

Rather appalled today to be called by Thompson to be told their hand luggage allowance is a measly 5KG and it will cost us £48 to pay for one bag of hold luggage!

So, before booking cheap hols with hand luggage only, check the carriers baggage allowance, they seem to vary wildly. It would be ace if MSE could have a page on respective carriers luggage allowances and hold costs, as this time we really got caught out.

Have complained to both Thompson and lowcostholidays,com, but have little confidence in it being resolved, kind of taking the shine off the holiday. Will post back if they do resolve, as i do believe we were mis-sold on this aspect - advice appreciated :-(

amf

llkit35 wrote: »

which i assumed to be 10kg :-(

Airlines, particularly low cost ones and charters have varying checked luggage allowances and charges. As you have found out to your cost, it's not safe to assume anything - you really need to ask.

Kite2010

If in doubt, always double check.

Enterprise_1701C

Common sense - simply check before you book. It is easy enough to find out on the site if you actually look. Sometimes works out cheaper to pay more for a ticket with a better luggage allowance.

ceebeeby

Wear lots of layers on the flight!

llkit35

Kinda worked out the double check thing.

However some holiday sites don't make it easy to find out who you have booked with til late on in the process. Stating 'a low cost airline' which does usually mean Ryan air.

We thought about the lots of layers thing, we may give that a go!

llkit35

We bought a couple of back packs form flylite, working out at only £7.50 a bag - great value.

We managed to fit everything we needed into the two back packs no problem.

The secret was... colour coordination! Turns out i had enough clothes for a blue/white theme, with the need to only buy one additional pair of trousers for £6 from ebay.

All in all, only £21 spent, much cheaper than the £60 quoted by the airline.

The flylite bags are great, highly affordable and well made. Will be using them again.

pmduk

llkit35 wrote: »

It would be ace if MSE could have a page on respective carriers luggage allowances and hold costs, as this time we really got caught out.

If people don't check the carrier's website before booking would they bother to check an MSE page? Even if MSE were able and prepared to devote the resources to keeping it up-to-date.