UKC

Hello,

I’m looking to book a flight from the UK to New Zealand this May.

As I’m going for a year I’ll need to take quite a lot of stuff: camping, climbing, ski touring. 

Can anyone reccomend an airline that is good/good value for taking excess baggage. Lots of them seem to charge by the kilo (50 usd - eeek). 

I'll need a total of 5 23kg bags and 1 ski bag between my partner and I. 

Thank you.  
 

By parcel courier it's around €9/kg by air.

How much of that stuff are you using regularly in NZ? 115kg of luggage is A LOT. I think I would find it hard to fill 5x 23kg bags even for a year away. 

A full winter climbing rack, tent, sleeping bag and winter boots / clothing is what... 30kg? Ski gear weighs a lot, perhaps the "sports equipment" is a good option for airlines and you can pack extra clothes in with your skies and boots. 

Failing that, take your ski boots a d rent skis out there or possibly buy second hand? Unless you are going to be based in Queenstown, Wanaka or similar how much of your gear is really going to be used?

Air NZ were previously the best, 2 x 23kg each when flying via LA. Starting up the uk route again might not be soon enough for you. 

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/air-new-zealand-london....

I'm guessing he's working so some of that might be extra stuff for client short falls etc..

Can't help directly, but check what  quarantine procedure it might have to go through.  Mate of mine emmigrated to NZ (admittedly a good few years ago) and he concluded it wasn't worth the effort for his outdoor gear.

I’m planning on living in Wanaka and guiding out there, not the most minimalist of jobs in terms of stuff needed. 

We might not need 3 bags each, but will deffo need more than 1 each. 
 

@Jimtitt - who is best for air freight?

They'll certainly expect to see all footwear, tent bottoms etc.  Then if soil free, they'll spray with disinfectant/herb or pesticide as extra protection. 

Business class on most airlines gets you 2x23kg each. If you're flexible on flights and can find one of those odd days when the upgrade is insanely cheap, that plus a ski bag each might work out cheaper than paying the surcharges. Probably won't but it's worth a quick look.

Depends, I only use DHL for down there but I'm in Germany. You just have to see whose cheapest and who makes the customs easiest! Which is probably be an issue, a lot of countries staying over 6 months you are importing the stuff.

Hi Tom

After lots of trial and error, I now almost always fly Emirates. I've found Emirates give you the most luggage (possibly Qatar too, but I haven't flown with them). I think it depends on the class of ticket (within economy) but last time I flew (last year) I got 45kg check in included. No limit to the number of pieces. They're also the quickest Auckland to UK, just a couple of hours in Dubai. UK to NZ/Aus its an overnight stay, but they offer a free hotel room (you have to hunt about a bit on the website to find/book it). It's a bit of a faff, and if you have lounge access I'd probably just stay there, but if not it's good to have a shower and lie flat for a few hours.

You can also fly direct to/from different UK airports, I fly to Glasgow, so no changing at Heathrow. At one point with Air NZ you had to change from Heathrow to Gatwick to get to Scotland, not what you want after 26 hours on planes!

There's a direct flight Dubai to Auckland, but if you want South Island, you can change in Sydney/Melb for ChCh (and sometimes that's cheaper for Auk too), and the last leg is on Qantas. Only adds a few hours.

I think Qatar do similar options.

Amd as the others have said, Send my Bag seems to be what most people I know use to send an extra bag, but its not super cheap.

Good luck!

Agree re Emirates, just a shame about the tacit acceptance of UAE that comes with flying through there. But easy flights, the A380s are quiet and comfy, the departure airport coverage in the UK works pretty well. Bear in mind even if you go first class with Emirates the AKL to ZQN leg will be on their partner JetStar, which is a lot more EasyJet-esque. 

(twit alert) I haven't actually flown economy on Emirates but at the pointy end the bag allowance is good -  2x32kg plus carry on (x2) and an extra bag with their higher tier frequent flyer. This is an airline that has first class suites with an onboard hot shower in a dedicated bathroom and somewhere to store your falcon in flight. It's really rather nice up there but (i) there's a risk of becoming an entitled a-hole and (ii) we are surely stuffed as a species if we need to have a ten minute shower at 30,000ft and can't wait until actually back on the ground, nice as it was.

In Y it depends on fare class - bargain bin is 20kg, saver 25, Flex 30 and Flex+ 35kg. Additional bags are "relatively" cheap  - I think on the day price is USD250 per bag but if purchased in advance it's about half that, which makes it reasonable. Also make sure your sign on for Skywards as although you might not get a huge amount of miles from this trip they show willing to the airline and usually help when luggage is a tickle over the allowance

Everything that has been used outdoors needs to be amazingly clean and scrubbed - even then it will all be inspected and disinfected. Just go to your zen place and let them do what they need. Allow plenty of time in AKL to clear biosecurity with climbing and tramping gear - if you had 3-4hrs that would be ok but less than that you will run the risk of missing connections. It's more efficient now than previously but pack a sense of humour that still works after 24hrs on economy flights. They are particularly keen on getting grass seeds out of the tongue and lacing on your mountain boots and remove them all with tweezers if they are there. They are often quite happy to chat about tramping and the outdoors while they do so. You will just want to stop travelling and lie down but look upon it as a challenge

Have a great trip.... lots of friends in Wanaka, although it's pretty expensive these days. The mountains remain spectacular.

b

One option is to buy new stuff in the uk and get it delivered to nz for when you arrive. Stuff here is expensive and the second hand market is quite good, so if you sell it all at the end of the year it might still work out cheaper than flying your stuff out and back again with you.

Good beta / thanks. Just got 40kg of luggage for £999.

Do Ethiad actually weigh handbags? Says you’re only allowed 7kg…

Good stuff!

Emirates? Or Ethiad? Emirates have never asked to weigh my carry on rucksacks (20 or 30l) but I've seen them weigh other people's small wheelie cases and check they'll fit in the overheads. I'm always a bit nervous tho and try and keep it to 10kg just in case. I reckon I can plead a few extra kg if I need to, or fit things in my pockets in an emergency!

Premium economy via usa gets 2x23kg