Thomas Cook hand baggage allowance

[ilesmark]

Hi all

Am about to go to Greece with TCX 1046. The hand baggage allowance according to Thos Cook's website is a measly 6kgs.

Anyone have any experience of how rigorously policed this is, whether there's any margin allowed over this? My wheelie suitcase alone weighs nearly 3 kgs!

Thanks in advance.

Mark

[highflyer40]

Get a lighter case. They are a low cost airline. They will be very strict. It's how they make there money.

[Dash8driver1312]

It's how they make their money there ;-)

Sorry, couldn't resist!

[Hotel Tango]

No experience with TCX. However, I find that it often depends on how large and heavy it looks in the first place, as well as the mood of the individual checking you in. So basically it's a gamble. Equipment I carry often brings my bag weight to 8 or 9 Kgs. By using a soft non wheelie bag which (obviously to the eye) meets size limits I have always (touch wood) avoided it being weighed. I found out that wheelies often tend to attract extra attention.

[vctenderness]

Thomas Cook are hot on this. Last year at LGW I put my suitcase on scale which was under limit. Put hand baggage on which was slightly over.

Rosa Klebb on the check in desk made me take things out of carry on and put them in suitcase for hold.

It didn't occur to her that end result was same overall weight and that loaders would now handle a heavier bag and I would have to lift a lighter one into hat rack on board:ugh:

Although at out station they didn't even weigh hand baggage.

[ExXB]

It likely did occur to her, but rules are rules. She isn't paid to ignore them.

She could have rejected your carryon for being overweight and made you check it for an additional fee - and then you would say, why can't I simply move things from one to the other ....

[ilesmark]

All - OK, thanks. I have decanted my stuff into a soft non wheelie rucksack and will doubtless get very hot with all the extra clothes I'll be wearing.

Bl00dy money-grubbing fascists! Easyjet doesn't have any weight restriction at all and even Ryanair allows 10kg these days FFS.

[Hotel Tango]

Bl00dy money-grubbing fascists!

That's a tad unreasonable. All airlines have baggage regulations. Many vary. You don't HAVE to fly with them if you don't like their rules!

[ilesmark]

That's a tad unreasonable

I expected a response of that nature! :=

However, I am not sure I even WAS made aware of those baggage limits before I booked, and when even the likes of Ryanair isn't as tight as that then AFAIAC it raises the question of why TCX needs to be.

I will now sit back and wait for the torrent of corrective invective :D

[west lakes]

I certainly recall the same cabin baggage limit 15 or so years ago when we went to the USA with Thomas Cook, as I was slightly over on the way back!

So it's nothing new and is no doubt in the T & Cs which you no doubt read before booking

[Delph]

First post so please be gentle!

Some years go I read somewhere (yes, I know....:hmm:) that it's safer to have as much of the baggage as possible in the hold, keeping the weight in the cabin lockers and under seats down to a minimum. Is there any truth in this? Or is the safety bit nothing to do with weight distribution, and more to do with how much general stuff there is all over the cabin?

[Hotel Tango]

You publicly call Thomas Cook Airlines "Bl00dy money-grubbing fascists!" and I get the := for saying you're being a tad unreasonable. :hmm:

[ExXB]

Before clicking on that 'buy' button, after checking on the "I have read and understand the T&Cs button" one should actually spend a couple of minutes actually reading the T&Cs.

Yes, I know, it's like reading a manual for your computer, or your car, or that latest kitchen gadget. You don't need to read any frigging manual, you know how it works.

But there would be a lot less grief if you understood up front what is expected of you, and what you can expect from the airline.

These terms are not negotiable, but it's your choice if you click on buy, no one is twisting your arm.

Caveat emptor.

P.S. The industry made an average of $8 per passenger, last year (one of the most profitable ever) so of course the airlines must be money-grubbing fascists! It's no wonder that Warren Buffet is accused of saying "Had I been at Kitty Hawk, I would have shot them both."

[west lakes]

A bit puzzled as there seem to be no checked baggage charges, so why does everything to be hand baggage?

Thomas Cook Airlines: Baggage Fees and Policy - SeatGuru (http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Thomas_Cook_Airlines/baggage.php)

Checked Baggage Allowance: Determined on a per flight basis. Check your ticket for more information.

Allowances Range From:


Weight: 15 kg to 30 kg

[S.o.S.]

ilesmark has been given a warning notice.

My thanks to the forum members who pointed out the error of his ways as I had a busy day.

This site will not allow acid remarks about someone doing their job. If you have an argument with the airline - then argue with the airline.

Booking online has many benefits, once of which is the time to study carefully the terms and conditions of carriage before you pay for them.


post script
You will not be surprised to learn that ilesmark did not take it on the chin! I don't mind being sworn at in public but I mind that the forum becomes an unpleasant place to be. I am old fashioned in that I think people come to this particular forum of PPRuNe to learn, help and sometimes be entertained. I even think that some might visit here as 'time out' and relaxation. In 16 months he's managed to be the first to goad me into banning him and I was happy to oblige. Accordingly, he won't be back!

[S.o.S.]

Hello Delph and welcome to the forum, sorry not to have replied earlier but we had some trouble in the 'cabin' but your enquiry is now cleared for take off. :ok: You will see that, when mentioning another poster, it is etiquette to put their name in bold, using the buttons above the edit text box.


The weight in the cabin is not so much about 'weight and balance' as the airlines have a very clear idea of how much stuff is where. It is the concern that too much stuff in the cabin will cause a problem in an emergency. If a bag trips up someone making for the emergency exit? Whilst some airline rules may seem curious/strange, you can always decided not to use that airline.

I'm sure that more folks will be along shortly to give more detail.

[VS-LHRCSA]

Another thing that needs to be factored in is the seating density of charter airlines. For example, compare a charter A330 with up to around 350 pax, compared to a scheduled carrier that may have 250-300 pax across a variety of classes. The available overhead stowage is pretty much the same (give or take a few wardrobes, galleys, etc) but you have up to 100 more cabin bags that need to be squeezed in.

[cavortingcheetah]

In the airline context the Fascists were not particularly money grubbing, certainly not when it came to matters of prestige and passenger comfort.
The Italian government started Ala Littoria using Savoia-Marchetti aircraft in 1934. The company went on to invest in Iberia, acquiring a 12.5% stake in that airline shortly after the Spanish Civil War. Passenger comfort and speed of travel, regardless of cost, were priorities of these political flag carriers whose aircraft often flew the fascist symbol emblazoned on the tail.
In 1934 Ala Littoria established a world record for long distance civil flight, flying between Rome and Mogadiscio. In the following year the airline started a subsidiary carrier, the prestigious Linea dell'Impero. This flag carrier used the Cant Z.506, a triple engined float plane, on the route Rome-Benghazi in order to provide what was in those days a no expense spared service throughout what was the Italian Empire.
If one wishes to ascribe political motivation to cost cutting on airlines perhaps a scrutiny of Aeroflot might reveal that cost cutting was more an attribute of nations of the left than it has been of those on the right. Either argument is a tenuous one. The original statement that equates fascism with money grubbing is deeply flawed as a premise.

[ExXB]

A bit puzzled as there seem to be no checked baggage charges, so why does everything to be hand baggage?

They do sell 'air only' tickets without a checked baggage allowance;

Check In Baggage Allowances | Thomas Cook (http://www.thomascook.com/baggage/check-in-baggage/)

[ExXB]

S.o.S. Don't envy you your job. You should ask for a raise :hmm:

[El Bunto]

Whilst some airline rules may seem curious/strange, you can always decided not to use that airline.
Ah, that old chestnut.

My company decides I need to go on-site in Chicago for two weeks for a project. The secretary hands me my United booking reference. No choice was given. I never agreed to the airline T&Cs.

A family books an inclusive-tour holiday. On the day of departure it turns-out it's on a Volotea 717 and only the first 75 passengers are guaranteed cabin baggage. No choice was given. They never agreed to the airline T&Cs.

Both actual events. Names removed for witness protection!

[ExXB]

El Bunto

In the first instance the purchaser did agree to the airlines T&Cs. The contract is between the airline and the guy buying the ticket, not necessarily the passenger.

Can't say for certain re the all inclusive holiday, but I suspect that the purchasers did agree to the tour operators T&Cs

[Delph]

Why thank you S.o.S.!