Question for Canadian girls who flew Air Transat or Sunquest (Skyservice)

[jmhein]

To all my Canadian brides-to-be:

I am not very impressed with the luggage restrictions for our Canadian charter airlines. They SUCK!!! I booked through Sunquest, but we are flying on an Air Transat plane. Because we booked through Sunquest, we can't upgrade to "Club Class" because Air Transat reserves those seats for their own Air Transat bookings... so here are the luggage weight restrictions both Air Transat and Skyservice have to offer everyone:

 

Air Transat

 

Baggage Allowance

Each passenger is allowed a maximum of two pieces of checked luggage, the combined weight of both pieces not to exceed 20 kg (44 lbs)

 

Excess baggage will be charged at $7 per kg for each direction.

 

 

Skyservice

 

Baggage Allowance

Each passenger is allowed a maximum of two pieces of checked luggage, the combined weight of both pieces not to exceed 20 kg (44 lbs)

 

Excess Baggage

A charge of $10CDN per kg for each direction if passenger is originating from Canada.

 

OK, a TOTAL weight of 44 lbs per person!!?? I am going for 2 weeks and have to bring all the wedding favours with me, and my suitcase alone weighs 15 lbs!!! AAAGH! I am freaking out a little bit. I mean, I guess when it comes down to it, I will just have to pay any overweight charges but it still sucks!

 

Has anyone already flown with them for their wedding, and did you have to pay overweight charges?

 

TIA!

[RaydensMama]

Could you ask some of your wedding party to take stuff in their luggage? I think 44lbs is pretty average, I believe any airline Ive flown has only allowed under 50lbs. Im sure if you ask family and friends they will be more than happy to help!!

[jmhein]

Thanks! I do have an Aunt who just dropped off her empty suitcase and said I could go ahead and fill it and she would check it for me... so that's going to help! I am just wondering how much the enforce these restrictions...

[TA Lindsay]

The airlines are very strict about your baggage weight - you are pretty much guaranteed they will weigh your luggage when checking in at the airport - and they will charge you for any excess baggage amounts. We lucked out and went "Club Class" last year with Air Transat - so we had the extra baggage allowance, plus, we had others from our group take some of our stuff so our bags weren't quite so heavy!

 

Lindsay

[MrsV-to-be]

I know this really sucks but on the bright side - they are allowing you to have excess weight! I believe there are some charters that have no excess weight allowed.

 

I'm in the same position (I haven't heard which charter I'm flying with as I booked with Signature) but I would rather be in the position where they charge me an arm and a leg then not allow any excess!!

 

My only suggestion is to beg borrow any space in anyone's bag. I'm planning on asking each family group to take something in particular. Ie, I am asking FI's aunt & her family to take all the fans amongst themselves. and I am asking his other aunt to take centre piece decorations etc.

 

Good Luck!!

[jmhein]

I am HOPING against hope we can upgrade to Club Class, but I just have to wait and find out at the check in counter on the day we fly out...

 

So I packed my Aunt's suitcase full of our mugs plus our Just Married Flip Flops and our Bride and Groom beach hats, and it weighs 41 lbs!! Uh oh! I hope my Aunt wasnt actually planning on bringing any CLOTHES, LOL!

 

Here's the suitcase:

[MelissaH]

We paid to upgrade to club class on the way down, but on the way back we had to pay overweight charges (like $300 or something ridiculous!!) because club class was full - it was cheaper for us to upgrade...wayyyyy cheaper!

 

I wonder if when you get to the airport and you check in if you can upgrade there. That's how we did it, but we also booked through Air Transat so maybe that's why, but it doesn't hurt to ask!

[LeXiee]

Yeah 44lbs sounds awful for us brides!! But I guess 44lbs for an average person traveling is pretty normal.

 

We will be talking advantage of the 44lbs my 2 year old is allowed to travel hehehe. So I figured 44lbs x3 we should be all set.

[rodent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaydensMama Could you ask some of your wedding party to take stuff in their luggage? I think 44lbs is pretty average, I believe any airline Ive flown has only allowed under 50lbs. Im sure if you ask family and friends they will be more than happy to help!!

Isn't it usually 50 lbs per bag? I think what makes this so hard is that it is 44lbs combined weight. Some of our guests flying Ryan Air will run into this problem. Well for them it should be fine because they only have to worry about getting their own stuff down there. For a bride it is much more difficult.

Will your aunt be able to take everything she needs in her carry on? If she is just going for a quick trip it might be fine. Swimsuits & flip flops don't take a lot of room. Can you pass out the mugs ahead of time?

[Sunshine311]

Just a thought - although we're flying SkyService, our travel agent told us that Air Transat automatically upgrades the bride and groom to club class free of charge. You may want to look into that....

 

 

Oops, I see you already commented on that in your original post! Sorry! (and the forum won't let me delete this message :-))