Looking at planning flights again and they are all so expensive so I started looking at all the carriers I would not normally use, some are offering good deals but I hit a problem with the vast majority. Hand luggage allowance Emirates 7Kg Malaysia 5Kg Etihad 7Kg Singapore 7Kg Cathay 7Kg Qatar 7Kg China Southern 5Kg KLM 12Kg All of the flights available in economy are within 500 or so quid of each other on their own websites, Emirates has nothing less than 1223 and the cheapest being Cathay at about 810. Singapore 915 - 19 hours Etihad 839 -23 hours Malaysia 1000 - 23 hours Qatar 816 - very long flight 35 hours China Southern 1280 - some flights very long Cathay 812 - 21 hours Emirates 1223 - 18 hours KLM 1000 - Approx - 19 hours to 35 hours So what to do, last year you get get a flight in June at 600 quid from KLM, but KLM to Manila is not really KLM anymore so many of the flights are codeshare with China Southern (KLM's new best friend) and some are very long, very hard to find out exactly who is operating the flight before booking. Anyway why am I moaning? Well the reason is simple, I absolutely need that extra 5Kg of carry on baggage, laptop, three or four lenses, 2 cameras, power supplies, cables, batteries, documents, all the little itsy-bitsy stuff I have to carry and that I know inside out from all my previous flights, so it looks like no matter how expensive it gets I'm stuck with KLM Now many of these carriers refer to laptops as a separate allowance item from your hand luggage, some refer to cameras as separate items from your hand luggage, so has anyone any experience of this? I mean how can you carry your laptop if it is not in a bag and would this not be the one carry on bag you are allowed? Do I have to carry my laptop loose or in a light sleeve? Also my cameras are not small, I sling a 1Kg camera with a 1Kg lens on it round my neck, will they complain if it is obviously a large camera, I can do all that on KLM, I split the main lens into my jacket pocket and the camera body is round my neck, but even with that my back pack bag still weights 12Kg. Seven Kilo of hand baggage is never going to do it for me, I can't put valuables like cameras in hold luggage, I will put laptops minus their hard drive and RAM in the hold luggage but those bits then become hand baggage Just don't know what to do, hang onto my air miles in case things get better in future or just spend them and free myself to choose any carrier in future, if I spend them it looks like I have to spend them on flights with China Southern with 35 hour flights, the more direct short KLM flight is double the miles. Whatever I do I am stuck with the fact that the hand luggage carry on allowance is lousy on every other airline flying to the Phils, the solution might be a 'Pelican case' and simply to accept the fees for excess baggage then try insure my kit (that is not easy looked at this before long ago). I know I'm a KLM fan-boy but their time is up and I need to look at the best value flights I can get, sadly I'm stuffed on the hand baggage allowance on every other carrier ok now I know this I can can try to adapt in future although I reckon it will cost me a lot in terms of insurance and in terms of the kind of heavy duty luggage I will have to buy and probably in terms of ongoing excess baggage costs. It would be useful to know what your experiences have been of carrying laptops and DSLR camera's in the past as parts of your hand luggage on airlines other than KLM.
Hi Jim, I carry a laptop and camera stuff in a small backpack. I haven't been stopped yet. I have never had my hand luggage weighed yet.
Twenty three trips to the Phils mate, hand luggage has been weighed many times, I also developed many ways to cheat But you need to understand just how heavy my kit is and I often carry big hard drives back and forth as well as camera gear. I have one or two '1' series cams to carry and 5 lenses, 2 flash guns, plus a 15 inch laptop and lots of other stuff that I can squeeze into 12 Kg, the problem is I simply cannot put that bag in hold luggage nor pay the excess baggage penalty if I got unlucky, nor can I afford the insurance to cover me if it had to go in the hold, this kit as you know is not cheap individual items bust the item limit on most travel insurance policies. My hand baggage is the same one I recommended to Sean, a Lowepro Compu Trekker backpack and it is fantastic, the bag itself is fairly light and it's fairly comfortable and has great capacity!
If you don't want to spend too much (I know you are Scottish) you can try one of these.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8yCPfC_z-0 But, if you are more fashion conscious, have more money to spend and don't want to attract attention from airline staff... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH8uTdBXVmY&feature=related
hehehehehehe Howerd sir well done loved those Thank you for both of them I am closer to the second one I've been doing this for years, but being a bit overweight to start with my choices are limited, I have a very good North Face jacket that can take one camera body, 2 lenses, a couple of 2.5 inch hard drives some cables, a compact camera and chargers for mobile devices and dome docs like passport and so on, I could not get away with what that guy is doing in the second vid, always remember that your stuff still has to get through x-ray before you depart,I often wondered how I got away with all my stuff My main carry on bag is still 12 Kg
Why not try some travel agents? I used Crystal Travel once and saved around £600 on the airline's price. They said they were cheaper because they booked seats in advance (before they had fare-paying passengers).
Yes a lot of seats are sold out to the travel companies, I think that's how they seem to keep the core airline website prices high, the lastminute.com price was around 533 until it vanished a few days ago, Skyscanner is good at comparing the lower priced seats but the lower end is mostly China Southern just now and that means an impossible 5Kg hand baggage allowance for me, I have to be able to work over there even while on holiday (curse of the job) and that means I need the laptop. Just checked Crystal Travel they look like the are getting their results out of Skyscanner, everything is China Southern. I think the entry of China Southern to this route and the fact that they seem to be allied to KLM/Air France has allowed KLM to up their prices, I wonder if the airlines buy back the low price seats from the agents if they are not selling, there has been some downward movement again on the main airline sites.
KLM's direct Amsterdam to Manila service was discontinued earlier this year over the Philippine Government's intransigence regarding Common Carrier Tax which all foreign airlines have to pay on a sliding scale according to the destination. Rather than continue flying direct, which took 11.75 hours eastbound and up to an hour longer westbound, the flights are now via Taipei. This being an ASEAN destination, CCT is charged at a much reduced rate. Now all KLM flights are Amsterdam-Taipei-Manila-Taipei-Amsterdam and it's still the fastest route to Europe and the most convenient for many UK destinations. The Taipei leg adds just under 4 hours to the total travelling time. KLM has also changed the checked baggage allowance and now allows two pieces of checked baggage per economy class passenger (3 for Business Class) where each bag has a maximum 30kg weight. If any bag is over 22kgs, it will be labelled as "heavy". KLM always comes up cheapest, for both economy and business class, if you book through a "consolidator" such as Travel 2 in London (Hamlyn House, Highgate Hill, London N19 5PR 0141 226 6309) and they can book and issue e-tickets on behalf of PAL for your domestic flights. I saved over 750 Pounds by booking via them for a Business Class travel from Cardiff to Cebu the last time I came back in 2010 over the quoted fare published by KLM.
Yes but a great many of the flights shown on the KLM booking tool are code share with China Southern through one of the Chinese hubs, and KLM also do Manila - Singapore - Amsterdam as well as the Taipei route, though obviously that does not make a lot of difference. Often the cheapest fares on KLM are via the code share flights now and from what I've read I really don't fancy China Southern. I think you are mixing up Flying Blue status allowances on baggage as well, KLM baggage policy is one piece of checked baggage up to 23Kg in economy not two, it's two if you are Flying Blue silver or above, sadly I lost my status in April this year. I was very upset about the withdrawal of the direct route earlier this year, I always flew KLM in the past, this year has been terrible for me as I've not been home to see my kids since July 2011, we've had so many expenses that I've not been physically able to save enough for the ticket. Now looking at October but I may well have to put it back to December when it will be even more expensive but may be the earliest I can afford it. I think in the end that for my hand luggage requirements I really have no choice but KLM and one also has to balance cost against lost time with the much longer routes from other carriers, when you have limited annual leave losing an extra day in transit is pretty expensive.
Which airline is KLM code-sharing with between Manila and Singapore? I ask because the only KLM flight in and out of Manila now is the plane serving the Amsterdam via Taipei route and that arrives and departs early evening. I can understand your reticence about flying with China Southern although its long haul fleet is pretty modern (A330/A340 I believe). There was talk a couple of years ago of KLM shifting operations from Manila to Cebu because all too often the ILS (instrument landing system) at Manila is broken and Manila often has bad visibility in the early morning which can last until midday. Inbound flights are then diverted to Clark where they must wait until Manila re-opens. This inevitably causes a delay of 2 to 4 hours which rather buggers-up the flight schedule for that aircraft (upon arrival in Amsterdam, it's scheduled to fly to south America). Hence the serious talk of moving operations to Cebu where everything works. You may want to look at flying via Hong Kong as there's over-capacity between London/Amsterdam and Hong Kong. I've heard of some amazing deals available from Air New Zealand. There's also reported over-capacity now on Singapore Airlines now that it has introduced A380s on its service to London. Do contact Travel 2, they almost always quote fares that are far lower than those you can obtain yourself and as I said previously, KLM is always the cheapest (and fastest) from them between Europe and the Philippines.
Sorry I wasn't clear there, the Singapore stopoff is technically the same as the Taipei one it's just a KLM flight avoiding the Common Carrier Tax, I think sometimes for weather reasons they cut across that way instead of going round the Himalayas and over Russia, on the old regime I've flown direct from Manila over Vietnam to Amsterdam on KLM a couple of times. The reviews I've read of China Southern sound like Ryan Air, things like no meals on 12 hour flights, everything is extra, so I don't really fancy them even if they are cheap. I would be very sad if KLM relocated to Cebu, I would definitely have to switch to Emirates or Qatar or the likes then, just now once I arrive I'm just a 10 minute taxi to the house. I will give the Travel 2 people a ring and see what they can do. I have checked out the Hong Kong options from Manchester in the past and even with the cheapest PAL flights from Hong Kong to Manila the tiny saving was offset by the extra time and hassle
Many times I have used Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong. Can't remember too much difficulty in securing reasonable prices, 30kg/40kg checked baggage and minimal transit times. My only moan would be their nutty sliding seats. Different strokes for different folks.
Cathay only fly out of London though don't they? Plus for me the 7Kg carry on hand baggage is too restrictive, the purpose of this thread was to get some idea of how the different airlines counted the hand baggage, for example some might allow bag of 7Kg, SLR camera round your neck and a laptop in a soft case, others would want the laptop inside the bag that weighs 7Kg. With KLM I have to put most stuff in my bag 12Kg but I can carry one large DSLR camera out side that as well, with a couple of lenses in my jacket pockets I can get up to about 17Kg worth on KLM. Having only really flown with KLM I wanted to find out how others were treated on other airlines, I know I am a bit of an exceptional case here as none of the rest of you are likely to have so much camera and computer gear but just hoped you might have some insight's.
As far as I'm aware there are no KLM flights from Manila to Amsterdam via Singapore, the only flights on offer is via Tapei and that is certainly what the KLM Country Manager announced at the beginning of March. They no longer have their planes serviced in Manila, no catering or cleaning, they no longer buy fuel nor do they do crew changes in Manila any more. They have all but pulled-out of the country. Everything is now done during one of the two 90 minute stops at Taipei whilst the Manila turnaround is as quick as possible (about an hour). Are you sure you really mean China Southern? Your description would fit Air Asia which flies out of Stanstead to Kuala Lumpur from where you can fly to Manila or Clark. Oh they won't move now. They've re-timed their flight and now arrive and depart Manila in the early evening. That avoids the bad visibility that often shrouds the airport in the morning plus its a far less busy time at Terminal 1 so they can prune turnaround times to the absolute minimum. All this is an aside from the reason you started this thread. Most major airlines allow one carry-on bag plus a laptop computer in its own bag/case. However, not all (British) airports allow for variations between individual airlines' cabin allowances. If you travel via Heathrow or Gatwick (or other BAA airport), the security there apparently won't allow you to have a cabin bag of 12 kgs regardless of the fact KLM allows it. My local airport, Cardiff, only enforces the 5kg rule on charter flights which make up most of its daily traffic. The situation is a little different with Philippine carriers. Both PAL and its subsidiary AirPhils Express are fairly relaxed but both Cebu Pacific and Zest are far more stringent (since they make good money from excess baggage charges). If you fly on a Cebu Pacific or SeaAir ATR type aircraft, then you will be weighed as well as your checked and carry-on bags. However the "rule" is a single 5kg bag, except for PAL/AirPhils both of which allow for an extra bag containing a laptop. Whatever you do, do not carry an umbrella or have one in your cabin baggage: it will be confiscated. If you're a smoker, get your wife/girlfriend to put your lighter inside her change purse (seldom checked) as it too will get confiscated - even if in checked baggage.
I believe they have one daily flight to Manchester as well. Cathay is a good airline and the food/service, whilst not up to Emirates' or Singapore Airlines' standard is certainly better than BA, Lufthansa, Air France or KLM. Mae and I flew from Cebu to Hong Kong in Cathay Business Class and their individual "pods" on the A340 were very comfortable and equipped with a laptop power-point as well as a decent sized TV screen. The seat converts into a fully-horizontal bed unlike the Business Class seats on KLM's 777s which don't quite make it. Virgin also flies the route but they're pricey now.
Back in April and May the Singapore route popped up in the booking tool quite a few times, I was checking loads of different flight combinations every day as I've found in the past that there is often a short window when really cheap flights crop up. I've not done a similar deep check of the schedules recently. Interesting to hear that they went that far in pulling all of that business out of Manila. Yeah read a lot of reviews of them and they have not been favourable, since the KLM pull out from Manila if you go looking for an award booking the vast majority of lower miles flights on offer will be on China Southern as they are now members of SkyTeam. Try to get a classic award on an AMS-MNL flight and they won't do it for standard miles, usually double miles now, standard miles awards are all China Southern and not very good schedules, long stopovers awkward times and so on. I did a lot of searching and got lots of comments like "we were totally ignored for the whole flight", "no proper meal is served", "flight stewards could not understand us" stuff like that. It's odd that in 21 arrivals in the early morning I never once got bad weather or poor visibility, I have pictures from almost every trip but I take your point, though the change in Manila arrival time is also not great, I really liked the old way getting in first thing gave me the whole day and I had gotten good at getting the jet lag out of the way on the flight. The other way round I got in late at night and could just get up and go to work the next day, now you lose the whole day in the UK as you get back in the morning, means an extra day off work if I want to return on a Sunday like I often did before. Yeah at John Lennon airport and at Manchester KLM had their own lane and signs detailing the different allowances, hope that's still the case at Manchester (they shut the LPL-AMS route back in March) Yeah the limits on PAL and the likes create a problem for me if I want to book flights to Hong Kong then fly on from there. Do SeaAir weigh the passenger too ? I'll need to remember not to use them until I've lost a bit of weight I know all the other rules for baggage and would never take a chance on getting it wrong, although I once accidentally had a Swan Morton scalpel handle buried in the folds of my backpack and had it dug out at Schiphol when I was on my way back to the UK I was really just looking to see if I could feasibly switch to another carrier other than KLM, but I think that for my requirements I am stuck with KLM and whatever they want to charge these days, which seems like around 900 quid on a good day on average.
