Excess Luggage Lufthansa
 

Hi there!

My name is Niko, I am a private pilot and this is my first post here.

A good friend of mine is moving to GB (from Austria). His flight is a Lufthansa flight on the 3rd of January. Have you got any Ideas how to avoid excess baggage payments or at least how to keep them low? Since he is moving permanentely, taking less stuff with him isn't an option.

Thanks in advance and all the best!

Niko

The only sure way to avoid excess baggage charges is, I regret, not to take any excess baggage! You could explore airfreight charges, but I think that will be expensive, plus "handling & documentation charges" at each end!

I would suggest road transport as being the most economical and simple method, you could Google something like "freight forwarders Austria" - I'm sure there'll be various companies who could give you a quote. They'll want to know the aprx total weight and volume. Also, ask for their "door to door" and "depot to depot" rates, for your cost comparison. I'd guess a 4 to 5 day transit time would be expected.
Good luck!

Agreed, ground freight. I worked in Munich for 18 months and had a lot stuff by the end of it, including items of furniture and so on. I got quotes and used a door-to-door service. That was 2001 so no longer relevant in cost comparison. Freight companies have regular shipments every week and so your goods get loaded into a van/container and off they go. they do all the paperwork and you pay them. Easy. The saving of time and effort alone, is worth the cost.

If your friend MUST take extra suitcases on the day - they should phone LH for accompanied air-freight (names vary). As I recall, you deliver the cases to the airport at least 24 hours before your flight. they then travel on your flight at a special rate. NOT excess bag rates.

Lastly. Have a friend drive over with a suitable vehicle BUT don't try one-way car/van hire as it's VERY expensive. Go the freight companies, there will be competition amongst them.

Paying excess baggage charges up front is normally cheaper than paying at check in.

Depending upon how much he expect to take, and the charges involved, it could even be cheaper for a friend to fly with him and have a double allowance as long as the friend get straight back home afterwards and doesn't bring their own stuff.

Or do what others do, bring it a bit at a time. On moving to the UAE, I got the essentials in the 30kg allowance but the next three rips were also 30k but i went back empty each time, and brought another 30kg.

Even though I now have Gold Status, it still only gives me 46kg so sometimes you just have to make do or pay up.

Check the LH website
(Summary: 1st piece to 23kg:free. 2nd piece to 23kg:€75. To 32kg: €125. In the absence of a sliding scale a la Air NZ, further pieces appear to cost the same per unit.)
If you're thinking airfreight, factor in the handling charges etc and the costs in time and transport to deliver and collect from what is usually the a**hole of the airport....