UKC

Trying to sort out flights to geneva and wondering how much of a hassle Easyjet is with a rucksack full of alpine/trekking kit + hand luggage?

Cheers

Steve D

In reply to SteveD:

Why should it be painful?

Pack all gear which might be construed to be a "weapon" eg ice tools, metal ware, crampons etc in your rucksack as hold luggage along with spare clothes etc and the rest in your hand luggage. Easyjet publish a list of articles nor suitable for hand luggage.

It's not rocket science

In reply to SteveD:

Last time I went to Geneva, I wore my mountain boots on the plane and got the rest of my kit within the 20kg limit so no problem. At the time, I don't think mountaineering equipment came under their "sports equipment" category (unlike skis for example). Not sure if that's changed, but if it is, you can pre pay and this increases your total limit to 32kg.

In reply to Trangia:


Mainly because the last time I used Easyjet (to take a bike to the pyrenees) the only part of the trip that wasn't an absolute breeze was Easyjet. Despite booking everything and paying all the extras, they still tried to screw us over at the checkin. Haven't used them since, I prefer to drive but it isn't an option this time.

Thanks for the reply

S

In reply to SteveD:

Not Easyjet as such (just happened to be flying to Geneva), but Liverpool airport security: They have a strange policy on stoves at the moment.
We had a Jetboil refused as hold luggage, even after they had inspected it and acknowledged that it was safe. No gas cylinders, just the pan and burner.

In reply to SteveD:

Have done the trip many times with EasyJet and never had a problem. I carry boots and as many heavy items as I can pack into my 45L rucksack as cabin baggage, and ropes, climbing gear, clothes and any pointy things in the hold bag. It's worth investing £10 or so in a small luggage scale so you can ensure you don't exceed the weight allowance. As long as you stick to the rules there's no reason why you should have any difficulties.

In reply to SteveD:

I think you have been very unlucky. I've flown Easyjet numerous times to France and Spain with climbing gear in my hold rucksack and never had a problem. The only problem I've ever encountered was Spanish Customs who made all 5 of us on a climbing trip unpack all our gear including unrolling our tents. They then looked inside the tent poles!

Good luck anyway.

In reply to Trangia:

Just a question related to this. Why don't they accept climbing equipment as 'sports equipment'. What else could it be?

In reply to Everyone:
Cheers Guys, sounds like my fears are unfounded, getting from Guernsey to Geneva was proving to be a PIA. We have direct flights but they are alternate days and I will have run out of leave by then so can't take the extra day required to fly direct.

On the plus side the direct flight back home does serve free champagne

Steve

In reply to SteveD:

Check the weights allowances very careful, always play safe with weight its just not worth the hassle, if in any doubt stump up and put an extra bag in the hold, the only kit i carry on the plane are boots and cameras.

In reply to SteveD:

Be aware that Easyjet have reduced the maximum size of the hand luggage and will no longer guarantee that you can take the old size, 55x40x? on board as hand luggage if the flight is full. I'm not sure if that means they would charge for an extra bag.

In reply to GridNorth:

No, it is just a slightly fairer way of dealing with the situation of too much hand luggage meaning some of it ends up in the hold.

The maximum size is 56x45x25cm, however it is not guaranteed that this won't end up in the hold (no charge). There is a smaller size, which is chosen because it fits under the seat in front so there is guaranteed no need to put it in the hold. Book speedy boarding (the first 6 rows or the exit row) and you get on first so the maximum size bag definitely fits in the overhead.

That said, as Wizz have introduced a charge for the larger size, it wouldn't overly surprise me if easyJet followed suit at some point.

Neil

In reply to SteveD:
I fly out to Geneva three or four times a year with Easyjet, from various Midlands airports. No issues except once (5 years ago) the Swiss took my rope from my hand luggage and put it in the hold (Must have had an anti-bondage policy in those days, since relaxed post '50 shades of Grey')

I've always found the check in staff pretty understanding if I'm a kilo or two over limit as well.

Good service, good airline, in my experience - Not like those tossers at Ryanair.

In reply to SteveD:

I have done this the last three summers and the only problems I have had have been paying excess for not factoring my rope into my calculations and ending up being way overweight. If in doubt book a second bag, and it should be otherwise fine (It cost me a £100 for this mistake).

In reply to Strachan:

Careful - on easyJet it always used to be that adding a bag *didn't* add any extra weight. You can I believe buy extra weight in advance for cheaper than at the airport.

Neil

In reply to Neil Williams:

Anyone any idea on the question I asked above?

In reply to jon:

Nope, suggest you ask them!

Neil

In reply to jon:


As I understand it, it's not really a case of them not accepting it, rather that it just doesn't appear in the drop down menu of sports equipment. Maybe they're just trying to keep this list from growing too large, I don't know.

I know people have got away with claiming their climbing gear was snowboarding gear or whatever.

In reply to knthrak1982:

That would mean disguising and lying about it and that in itself could risk problems.

In reply to Neil:


I don't need to. It was just a general question out of interest, as this seems to pop up about once a month.

In reply to jon:

Yeah, I wouldn't lie about anything when flying, if found out it might wreck your holiday (or worse).

Until you step out of the airport at your destination they hold all the cards. Actually, they probably still hold them until you arrive home.

Neil

In reply to jon:

Looking at it further, I think the main reason is that there isn't a single large item associated with climbing, unlike a snowboard or bicycle. Therefore you're better off just increasing the weight limit.

In reply to knthrak1982:

I've often wondered about buying an old golf bag off ebay, & putting all my climbing gear etc into it

In reply to Everyone:

Great stuff guys I probably won't be carrying climbing kit for this one, just trekking gear and crampons, walking axe, etc, should be well with weight limits so I don't see that as a problem.

Cheers

Steve

In reply to SteveD:

I've just flown to and from Geneva with BA and with their 23kg bag allowance as standard per person we had no problems with axes etc and I worked out cheaper than Easyjet!

In reply to SteveD:

Had no problem going to Geneva from Newcastle some time ago with one large bag (containing rucksack), but on the way back the baggage was (just) overweight, and the Geneva check-in staff made me split it (luckily flying KLM so had an extra checked baggage allowance).

The rucksack then had an argument with the baggage handlers... https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=425317992179&l=337977a4a7

So I'd be careful with how the baggage is secured (guessing the straps caught in the machine, despite being secured as much as possible), and Geneva seemed more fixated on the strict rules on baggage weight.

In reply to Gareth C:
Jeez that looks like it's been dragged under the plane from Geneva to Newcastle. Do you really think that the straps got caught in a machine? Did they reimburse you?

In reply to jon:

I think it got caught in the baggage handling at Schiphol. Nobody on the flight onwards to Newcastle got their luggage, and when it finally turned up I had hexes that had ¼ machined off, same for cams and 'biners. Lots of damaged slings and rope.

KLM did fully recompense me - new rucksack, rope and rack - I don't think they could argue with the evidence...

In reply to SteveD:

I went Edinburgh to Geneva and back last summer. All my dangerous looking crampons / axe / rack went in hold luggage. Made sure it was under the weight limit (20kg it think?).

The rest I took on board in a Crux ak47 which is definitely too large to fit into the tester. Luckily I managed to avoid doing that by having my back turned to the staff at all times!

In reply to Gareth C:

I used to use AMS a lot and they always put rucksacks in a plastic box to prevent that happening. I guess on this occasion they forgot.

Neil

In reply to jon:

From memory, "Sports equipment" costs a lot more than just luggage - about £60 for a pair of skis, rather than about £20 for a hold bag, so my climbing equipment is definately not "Sports equipment".

In reply to Joe G:

I think generally sports equipment = too big and heavy to fit a normal check-in bag.

Would be interested to see what would happen if you put a Brompton bike in a normal suitcase...

Neil

In reply to Joe G:

Ah, I see. I'd not really understood. I'd mistakenly thought it was advantageous to define it as such.

In reply to jon:

It might be if the climbing equipment is *very* heavy.

Neil

In reply to Neil Williams:

Why not sporting equipment?

Originally climbing equipment went as sporting equipment on EJ - you just had to tick a box and fill in what it was for. Once I got stopped when they asked what it was, I said climbing equipment, they asked was climbing a sport (as much to themselves as me), we agreed climbing was a sport and all was well.

A few years ago they changed the web interface and restricted the number of sports that were "sports" by a drop down choice box on the web interface, I think a few half hearted attempts were made by people to argue the toss with EJ. I even recall someone posting a "let's get EJ to include climbing gear as a sport" thread on UKC (thread hijacked by people going on about carbon impact of air travel vs car travel) but it went nowhere.

Declaring your climbing gear as "ski (mountaineering) but I'm hiring the skis" apparently works for winter stuff but not for me as I was going sport climbing when this change occurred.

So according to EJ climbing is NOT a sport but gear heavy activities such as scuba diving and golf are. Anyone want to argue the toss with EJ again* I'd be for another go.

On the plus side if you pay for a bag and fill it to the limit with gear it'll be fine. Get scales, wear a pile of heavy clothes / boots on the plane and you'll fit camping and alpine gear in one bag.




* To shortcut the carbon emission argument - the carbon emissions people short haul flights are roughly equivalent or better than car, bus or rail travel per passenger mile, it is just that you cover more miles in planes because they are faster.

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

"* To shortcut the carbon emission argument - the carbon emissions people short haul flights are roughly equivalent or better than car, bus or rail travel per passenger mile, it is just that you cover more miles in planes because they are faster."

It is generally accepted that being a passenger in a full flight is roughly equivalent to everyone on said flight having driven their own average family car instead. That's not *quite* as good as the figures for a full car, or a full coach or train, but it isn't even nearly as bad as some make out and it is largely because of the distances on long-haul in particular that air travel causes issues.

Neil

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

Given the climbdown over bikes, if the BMC got involved it might well get somewhere.

Neil

In reply to Neil Williams:

I think it is worth a pop at defining climbing a sport - I didn't know there had been a change of heart re: bikes - that is quite encouraging.

In reply to duchessofmalfi:
EZY do listen. Carolyn McCall, their CEO, was once on a flight I was on from Geneva to Luton. When it was called, she and her entourage sneaked in down the side of the Speedy Boarding queue in the days when queue position was vital to ensure a good seat. I had no idea who she was, but commented loudly about this to no-one in particular in that typical British passive-aggressive manner, and rather than "do you know who I am" she willingly went to the back - not before having an interesting conversation about things that could be improved. Conversations like that with regulars led to improvements like mobile check-in/boarding cards and allocated seating.

Neil

In reply to SteveD:

I flew easyjet to Italy last month, i had axes and crampons and when i was asked if i had anything dangerous i told them about the axes and crampons and i was told they where fine. I don't think climbing gear is considered sports because you can fit it into a normal sized suitcase, it's generally the bigger items ie, skis, surfboards, bikes etc which need to be declared as sports items as they as need treating differently when being loaded.

In reply to SteveD:

I have always managed to get full alpine kit on board as normal hold baggage. What's the advantage in having it declared as sporting equipment? Are you entitled to carry more weight more bags?

In the last couple of years EasyJet have started asking me to load my duffle through the exceptional bags checkin but I think this is to do with the straps rather than the size.

In reply to GridNorth:
"Are you entitled to carry more weight more bags?"

** CORRECTION ** They have already changed this, so I can see no benefit to climbing gear being sports equipment unless it weighs over 20kg. Book an extra bag and it appears you get an extra 20kg to go with it. And an extra 20kg bag is cheaper than a piece of sports equipment.

So unless you have over 20kg of gear, don't start the campaign

Neil