charter flight luggage size/weight

[Travels with Lisa]

For those of you who have done the Ushuaia/BA charters, how strictly do they reinforce the weight and size requirements of your luggage?

 

TIA

[Hobar]

On 10/21/2023 at 5:33 AM, Travels with Lisa said:

For those of you who have done the Ushuaia/BA charters, how strictly do they reinforce the weight and size requirements of your luggage?

 

TIA

Lisa, we are on your upcoming cruise.  We do not recall receiving any notice about the weight limit for the SB charter.  I had read about it, but nothing from SB.  Have you received anything from SB?  

[Travels with Lisa]

I have not, but spoken with them several times.  We are limited to 2 checked bags- one 50 lbs, 1 25lbs.  The carry on is tricky.  It can be 22 lbs,  but the dimensions are much smaller than standard carry on size: 17x 13.5x 9.5. The complementary Seabourn tote is too large ( longer than 17”).  When I queried them in what would happen if we were over the limit, the answer, after quite a long hold, was they really didn’t know.  It was suggested that your bag may be placed on another flight or perhaps it would be shipped to your home at your expensive.  
 

I have no idea how strict they are, I posted the question on CC and haven’t gotten a response.  
 

We have 3 nights in Santiago and 3 in Buenos Aires/ Iguazu so we are packing for everything.  😳

 

Hope this helps! 
 

Liz ( yes confusing, I’ll tell you the story over a cocktail). 

[FlyerTalker]

Simple rule regarding luggage:

 

You are completely at the discretion of the airline agent when it comes to enforcing their regulations.

 

For scheduled carriers, you may have to check your carry-ons if oversized, with the accompanying fees.  For bags oversized or overweight, payment of the additional fees. There have been airlines that have incentivized agents to be quite strict about charging for baggage fees - Frontier and Spirit are two in the USA, along with Lufthansa and Qantas among others.  So you never know from day to day, from airline to airline.  Two pounds over might get ignored at XYZ, while ABC airlines wants a payment.

 

For charters, where individuals aren't paying separate bag fees, almost anything could apply.  The airline is 100% in their right to handle baggage limits as strictly or loosely as they wish.  That could very well include leaving overweight/oversized bags behind.  And since they are charters, it's not like they would get put on a "later flight".

 

So...do you feel lucky?

 

 

[socrafty]

Is this in reference to the 11/7 Antarctica cruise?   If so, we are on that one as well.

 I'm afraid to measure my carry-on! I can't imagine having to pack for the Amazon AND Antarctica!

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, socrafty said:

Is this in reference to the 11/7 Antarctica cruise?   If so, we are on that one as well.

 I'm afraid to measure my carry-on! I can't imagine having to pack for the Amazon AND Antarctica!

 

Just remember that you are in the Antarctica summer -- you will most likely NOT be experiencing sub-zero weather.  I've seen folks in Antarctica prepping as if they were going to be in Fairbanks in January.  On my several trips down there, I've yet to encounter temps as low as the teens, and several times it's been in the 40s.

 

And yes, you should measure your carry-on (full dimensions, including wheels and handles) and know that for all of your flights, not just for these.  Lots of airlines around the world have quite restrictive rules on carry-ons, both size and weight.

 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2023 by FlyerTalker

[Hobar]

@Travels with Lisa that is concerning. Having not received any notice from SB and the fact that SB chartered the flight, I would hope that SB will take care of ensuring all luggage is allowed on board, whether checked or not. Delta allows us each 2 pcs each, 70 lbs each. We only have 1 each to check and mine is weighing 49 lbs so will take a carry-on from which I will transfer some from my checked baggage. It has been a challenge. 

Edited October 22, 2023 by Hobar

[socrafty]

Good points to consider! Thanks!

[FlyerTalker]

53 minutes ago, Hobar said:

@Travels with Lisa that is concerning. Having not received any notice from SB and the fact that SB chartered the flight, I would hope that SB will take care of ensuring all luggage is allowed on board, whether checked or not. Delta allows us each 2 pcs each, 70 lbs each. We only have 1 each to check and mine is weighing 49 lbs so will take a carry-on from which I will transfer some from my checked baggage. It has been a challenge. 

 

What Delta, or any other carrier allows is irrelevant to what you are allowed on a charter.

 

And in that same light, Seabourn, or any other cruiseline, is not responsible for the decisions and actions of an airline, whether charter or scheduled.  They are not in the loop for your luggage for the flight.  Suggest you read your cruise contract.

 

Not trying to be a downer - just want you to be very aware of what the reality is of air travel.  Don't put your complete faith in any cruiseline.

 

Finally, as was taught to me very long ago -- hope is not a strategy.

 

 

 

 

[Hobar]

7 hours ago, Travels with Lisa said:

 Liz ( yes confusing, I’ll tell you the story over a cocktail). 

I can’t imagine it will be less confusing over a cocktail, but I’ll give it a try.  🙂

[BasandSyb]

I understand the ground staff issues with baggage charging as most aren’t airline employees these days familiar with tier allowances etc. Also understand weight/fuel.

 

What I don’t get is a luxury cruise line using charters without organising appropriate baggage allowances for their demographic that link with business class for airlines. 
 

We are doing 2 expedition Seabourns Feb and May. One is 34kg the other is 23kg. 
Annoying and difficult when you are travelling for the period in between and have otherwise much higher flight limits.

 

[Sandora52]

I received the following from Seabourn. We are on the 27DEC Antartica sailing. If you have seen the airport in Ushuaia I don't want to go in er uh unbalanced! 

BAGGAGE RESTRICTIONS FOR USHUAIA CHARTER FLIGHTS

Your included charter flight between Ushuaia and Buenos Aires has very strict luggage restrictions due to regional restrictions on all flights. Each guest may bring no more than two checked bags totaling up to 75lbg (34 kg). These are strict baggage weight limits, and any luggage overages will need to be left with the hotel in a secure area and will be returned to you upon your arrival back to Buenos Aires, at the hotel. In addition, each guest is allowed one piece of carry-on luggage up to 22lbs(10kg) with maximum dimensions of 17" x 13.5" x 9.5" (45cm x 35cm x 25cm), plus one personal item that will fit under the seat in front of you (i.e. purse ,laptop, etc.).Seabourn Venture provides self-service launderettes consisting of washers ,dryers, irons, and ironing boards at no charge to guests. Complimentary detergent is provided in the launderettes.

[frantic36]

7 minutes ago, Sandora52 said:

Each guest may bring no more than two checked bags totaling up to 75lbg (34 kg)

15 minutes ago, Sandora52 said:

In addition, each guest is allowed one piece of carry-on luggage up to 22lbs(10kg) with maximum dimensions of 17" x 13.5" x 9.5" (45cm x 35cm x 25cm), plus one personal item that will fit under the seat in front of you (i.e. purse ,laptop

 

 

Interesting, I have just changed our Sojourn cruise in May to one on Pursuit. We were sent a schedule when we put a suite on hold and we have a chartered flight from Sydney. Our luggage allowance is listed as 50lbg (23kg)  with two bag per guest Max. Thankfully ours is a warm weather cruise. I was planning to contact them this week to find out what carry on bag allowance we have.

[Hobar]

@Sandora52 thank you for posting that. Thankfully we’re within the limit, but for those on our itinerary who are not and do not have the notification of the limits, I wonder what will happen as we are not R/T from/to BA; we fly only from Ushuaia  to BA. There will be no hotel at which to leave our clothes until we return, except for the next time we are on Venture. 😳

Edited October 23, 2023 by Hobar
Punctuation

[BasandSyb]

I’m not understanding why you haven’t been advised of your limits. Ours for both trips is in the line item for the date of travel in the itinerary on original booking and updated since with itinerary changes. Just the flight times are missing.

 

[Hobar]

4 hours ago, BasandSyb said:

I’m not understanding why you haven’t been advised of your limits. Ours for both trips is in the line item for the date of travel in the itinerary on original booking and updated since with itinerary changes. Just the flight times are missing.

 

I'm not understanding what you're not understanding.  It isn't.  As simple as that.  Thanks for your understanding. 🙂 😞

[cruiseej]

21 hours ago, Hobar said:

I would hope that SB will take care of ensuring all luggage is allowed on board, whether checked or not.

 

As others have said, Seabourn books the charter, but the air carrier is completely in charge of the flight. 

 

We went to Antarctica this past winter with Silversea and had nearly identical luggage restrictions, so this isn't a case of Seabourn dropping the ball. 

 

Due to changeable weather conditions, there might be days where the airline has lots of leeway on the weight of the plane, and other days when it needs to hew exactly to the weight limits to have proper fuel and meet take-off or landing requirements from the short runway at Ushuaia.

 

Do they check weights and sizes closely? Probably not most of the time — but would you want to be the one whose luggage can't travel with you on a day when they are checking and making sure everyone is within limits? Some Silversea passengers shared an experience from two years ago when a flight was over its weight limit and some bags were left behind on the tarmac and never made it to the cruise. You definitely don't want to risk that happening to you!

 

Think nothing could go wrong with a little extra luggage. Maybe ask JetBlue…

 

 

(Those are true pictures of a JetBlue plane at JFK airport yesterday, tipped back on its tail, when it became unbalanced during unloading. 😮)

Edited October 23, 2023 by cruiseej

[whirldcruzrs]

2 hours ago, cruiseej said:

Do they check weights and sizes closely? Probably not most of the time — but would you want to be the one whose luggage can't travel with you on a day when they are checking and making sure everyone is within limits? Some Silversea passengers shared an experience from two years ago when a flight was over its weight limit and some bags were left behind on the tarmac and never made it to the cruise. You definitely don't want to risk that happening to you!

 

Think nothing could go wrong with a little extra luggage. Maybe ask JetBlue…

 

 

Hello cruiseej, I don't see that Hobar said he/she/they were not complying with the luggage restrictions but I see where he/she/they said that their luggage is within limits and also that it could be a problem for others who don't know about restrictions. 

[FlyerTalker]

Weight and balance matters.  Big time.

 

I have a friend who's a load supervisor at DL - his job is to ensure that there is proper weight and balance, calculating luggage, passengers, crew and fuel.  Another friends that is a dispatcher with AA - who takes all of those weight and balance numbers, processes them with fuel load, winds, aircraft performance and much more to determine how and if an aircraft can operate on its assigned route.  Both tell me that weights are becoming more and more critical - especially with a number of newer aircraft which have smaller tolerances to work with.

 

Note how check-in agents are now routinely entering the weight of each of your bags into the computer system.  So the people on the ops/dispatch side can do accurate calculations of belly weights.  Each container of bags now has a known weight - all for the purpose of accurate calculations.

 

So when an airline say "you get X lbs per passenger max", they mean it.

 

And for everyone that wants to take more than what the limit is....well, you could always just buy your own ticket on a scheduled flight EZE to USH and meet the ship on your own.  Otherwise... suck it up.

 

 

[frantic36]

8 hours ago, BasandSyb said:

I’m not understanding why you haven’t been advised of your limits. Ours for both trips is in the line item for the date of travel in the itinerary on original booking and updated since with itinerary changes. Just the flight times are missing.

 

 

3 hours ago, Hobar said:

I'm not understanding what you're not understanding.  It isn't.  As simple as that.  Thanks for your understanding. 🙂 😞

 

For me I am curious, is it different in the States to what happens here in Australia?

 

Last Friday when we put a Pursuit cruise on hold my TA sent me the details including the itinerary. As @BasandSyb  stated on the date that we have the air charter it lists 50lbg (23Kg) 2 bags Max per pax.I am just not clear if that allowance is carry-on as well so I want to call to check.

 

So I am curious why that isn't the case in the States, because from the people posting here it doesn't sound like you received anything. I agree it would be best to know so you can plan accordingly.

[cruiseej]

49 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

Note how check-in agents are now routinely entering the weight of each of your bags into the computer system.  So the people on the ops/dispatch side can do accurate calculations of belly weights.  Each container of bags now has a known weight - all for the purpose of accurate calculations.

 

The question I have always had about load management is that while they can weigh the luggage accurately at any point from check-in to loading, luggage weighs less than the passengers and their carry-ons — and they don't weigh them! I assume they don't because it would be a PR disaster if any airline decided to start weighing passengers, even though it would undoubtedly help with load management and fuel planning. 

 

51 minutes ago, whirldcruzrs said:

I don't see that Hobar said he/she/they were not complying with the luggage restrictions

 

And I did not say otherwise. I was replying mainly to Hope's statement "I would hope that SB will take care of ensuring all luggage is allowed on board, whether checked or not." I thought it was worth noting that Seabourn doesn't have any control of luggage at the airport. In fact, Seabourn doesn't have any staff at the airport; there's just a local company hired to facilitate ground arrangements from airport to hotel back to airport, while the airline is the only one with say-so on luggage.

Edited October 23, 2023 by cruiseej

[frantic36]

3 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

 I assume they don't because it would be a PR disaster if any airline decided to start weighing passengers, even though it would undoubtedly help with load management and fuel planning. 

 

 

I am not sure how it is going but Air New Zealand have started.

https://www.cntraveller.com/article/why-air-new-zealand-is-now-weighing-its-passengers#:~:text=On Tuesday 30 May 2023,five-week customer weight survey.

 

I have done a few small charter flights up here northern West Australia and we did have to get weighed and they filled the plane based on weight for balance.

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, frantic36 said:

I have done a few small charter flights up here northern West Australia and we did have to get weighed and they filled the plane based on weight for balance.

 

A couple of airlines in Samoa and Seychelles do exactly that.  And no switching seats!

 

 

[BasandSyb]

Absolutely, we have been weighed on charter flights previously. Haven’t heard how the new Air NZ arrangements have been going. They were in the pipeline for quite some time.

 

Hobar - as per Frantic36s comments, my query was itinerary related. We receive a Seabourn itinerary which hasn’t changed in format for years and I assumed this usually 4-6 page beige and white statement was issued universally. It seems you don’t receive it? Perhaps one generated by your TA instead? That could explain the missing information?

[frantic36]

2 hours ago, frantic36 said:

the air charter it lists 50lbg (23Kg) 2 bags Max per pax.I am just not clear if that allowance is carry-on as well so I want to call to check.

 

I just spoke to Seabourn Australia and they have stated + 10kg carry-on so that's good know. This is for the charted flight from Sydney to Honiara.