Cathay Pacific Baggage Allowance

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ScubaBob92651

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Anyone fly Cathay to Bali recently? I'm flying there next week - and I'm a little confused on their baggage limits. Do they limit overall weight, or 50 lbs per checked bag (x2)? Thanks!

I read the May post regarding carry-on's - and I definately plan to conceal as much weight as possible - but you know how our hobbies are!!!
 
Check you ticket. All legs of the trip

If is says PC that is piece concept then it is typically 50 to 70 llbs per bag and you get two bags of that weight (total 100 to 140 lbs) ( Cathay is max 70 per bag, , On American it is 50 lbs, on Singapore it is 30Kg or 70 lbs when I went last year) PC applies to continuous single ticket (necessary layovers are OK) flights (Singapore Airlines with connection to Silk Air is still considered a single ticket) to or from US and Canada and in some cases some Central and South American countries.

If it says 20 KG (or for business class, or first class, 30 KG/40 KG) then it is the weight concept and that is the total weight of both bags 20 KG - 44 lbs, 30 Kg - 66 pounds) .

If you were flying from Europe it would be weight concept. If you made a voluntary stopover in Hong Kong the rest of your flight might be considered weight concept, even if you started out as piece concept from US or Canada. So make sure you fully understand what your allowance is.

Cathay Pacific - Helping You Travel : Baggage Information > Baggage Allowance

If you are flying direct from USA with only required stopovers you should be getting two bags of up to 70 pounds each See the above web site for details on dimensions etc
 
Check baggage/wt allowance when you were ticketed vs fly date. If you ticketed early these allowances may be different. The allowance should be the regs in effect on the date ticketed, not your fly date. At least that's the way its worked for me on other airlines (Singapore & EVA). And be prepared to have your carry-on weighed, especially any roll-on that may look heavy. I'm leaving in 2 weeks with similar problems.
 
Anyone fly Cathay to Bali recently? I'm flying there next week - and I'm a little confused on their baggage limits. Do they limit overall weight, or 50 lbs per checked bag (x2)? Thanks!

I read the May post regarding carry-on's - and I definately plan to conceal as much weight as possible - but you know how our hobbies are!!!



Hello SB, I took CP to Bali from the US in April and it was 32 kgs/70 lbs per bag, 2 allowed. I also had a heavy-ish carry on in a regulation sized rolling bag that didn't get weighed.

No problems until I got on the domestic Merpati flight to Kupang, what a bunch of a-holes. First, the baggage allowance went down and the overage charge went up from when I bought my ticket. Then when I checked in, I was first given the extra 10kg diver allowance, then I wasn't. They make it up as they go, apparently depending on whether they feel they've made enough money off the other passenger's overweight bags. The rules were applied differently even within my group of 4. We raised hell and eventually got them to at least follow the guidelines printed on the ticket. They even had a totally different way of calculating overweight for the return trip and didn't care how we were charged on the inbound flight. Most unpleasant experience I've ever had traveling in Asia. Avoid flying Merpati if you can... -Andy
 
Hiya ScubaBob92651,

Whom will u b diving with in Bali? Check-us out in Indonesia.
 
No problems until I got on the domestic Merpati flight to Kupang, what a bunch of a-holes. Most unpleasant experience I've ever had traveling in Asia. Avoid flying Merpati if you can... -Andy

I'd second your comments on Merpati. In July, 2007, I took Merpati from Bima to Denpasar. Out of eight people in our group, four had non-delivered bags, with one couple having NO luggage on the flight. Four or five Aussie surfers didn't get their boards. It was near to impossible to communicate with the Merpati rep in Denpasar, even though one person spoke a small bit of Balinese. The bags didn't arrive until the next day, when some people had already left for their return to the States and Australia.
 
Hiya ScubaBob92651,
Whom will u b diving with in Bali? Check-us out in Indonesia.

I bellieve the idea behind posting a reply in a forum thread is to contribute to the subject of the thread ... :no:
 
Thanks all - best I can tell from the website is that it's 50 lbs for each of 2 checked bags for economy (we sure are not flying 1st class..) - with a max of 70 lbs (I'm assuming we will have to pay extra for anything between 50 and 70 lbs.)
 
Some airlines will give extra baggage allowance for scuba gear. But that too is disappearing. You can always ask.

However you need to verify in advance all current details on baggage allowance and excess baggage charges (they can be HUGE) and it would not be a bad idea to print it out just before you leave (so it will have a recent time stamp) just in case you have problems as the others have had. If you have some kind of elite frequent flyer status often you will get extra baggage allowance

Silk Air used to have a extra baggage allowance for scuba gear, but I can no longer find that at the web site.

However, you may want to do the math on your potential excess baggage charges. It could get pretty expensive very fast

From 1 April 2008, SilkAir and Singapore Airlines will adopt a zonal matrix to calculate extra baggage charges.

Until 31 March 2008, excess baggage charges per kilogram were based on a flat 1.5 percent of the highest one-way published Economy fare, from point of departure to your point of arrival.

So if the highest published fare ONE WAY FARE were USD $1000 (based on a flight leaving LAX for Bali next week on a quote I just got online) (you may have paid much less than that on a round trip basis) it would be about USD $13 a pound if Cathay Pacific had the same policy as the old Singapore policy. Something to think about.[/B][/B]


From the Cathy Pacific Web site
Cathay Pacific - FAQs : Baggage Information

2. How much do I need to pay for excess baggage allowance?

All excess baggage will be charged at the applicable local rates. Please contact our reservations office at your departure city for exact rates.

Cathay Pacific - Contact Us : Worldwide Contacts

Los Angeles Centralized Reservations Number: 1(800) 233-2742


Also in general, you try various methods to get more baggage allowance. Firstly get there early before it gets to busy. Often a friendly airline employee will let you slide.

Weighing your baggage with others on the same flight who have much less than the max. Some airlines (Air New Zealand in an old brochure from 1997) encouraged this in past. I have used this technique several places.

I was "adopted" back in 1997 in Auckland by a Fijian family who saw I had only hand luggage. We weighed in as a group but were still overweight. The woman at check-in said, "OK, I will give you each 30 KG instead of 20 KG per person". We were still way over. Then she checked passenger load on the flight and said "OK, there are few passengers today, you can take everything, no extra charge, this time." Remember this was New Zealand (never had a single problem there, lovely people) and it was over 10 years ago.

One desperation measure is (if you are willing to look foolish) wearing a lot of clothing. I once boarded in Bangkok heading to Nepal wearing heavy mountaineering boots and a thick Down Jacket.

I have used the leaning the back pack against the side of the scale, while partially supporting some of the weight with my boot to try and decrease the weight on the scale.
 
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I hope I heard this wrong, as I fly Cathay and have for years between SFO/HK and either Manila or BKK.

For years they have allowed 32 kgs for each back (70lbs. I guess), I want to say I heard that now they are only allowing 50 lbs. per bag, two bags of course, if this is true, it sure screws up my Trans Pacific flying?
 
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