paulears Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 We're all in Belfast doing panto, and today I've been plagued by the cast and crew waving travel expenses at me. We bought their air tickets for them, but they came packed for 8 weeks away - no way to get home at all during the run. Flybe charged £10 per Kg and Ryanair £13 per Kg. One dancer had to pay £180! This means that it would be much cheaper to TNT or even Royal Mail a big box home at the end of the run. My question is - is this something new, I don't remember being hit with this kind of expense previously - one dancer bought two tickets and spread the load - it was cheaper! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noiseman Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Hats off to the dancer who used their noggin and worked out it would have been cheaper to book 2 seats and use the allowance.They could also be "generous" and fly a mate over to act as the donkey. From what I remember, Ryanair now charge for all checked luggage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac.calder Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Sadly, yes, the prices have become much inflated - because of "Fuel" doncha know. Even using an "Excess Baggage" service (like Excess-Baggage), where they buy the empty space on planes and guarantee delivery within three weeks, you are looking at about 4 pounds a kg for domestic + handling fees for domestic and 6-8 pounds for international + handling fees. This is helped along by the reduction in the maximum weight of checked luggage. A couple of years ago, most carriers (at least internationally) allowed two bags at 25kg each. Now, unless you are flying into the US, it is 1 bag at 20kg. I can only assume the same is true domestically. That said, 18 or so kg of excess baggage seems a slight bit excessive. Clothing and "essentials" for 6 months (admittedly for a guy) came to only 50kg for me - and that included my tools (15kg) and X-Box360 (far too heavy), my DVD collection (5kg) and a speaker system (2kg). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedd Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Afraid I come to this one with my Aviation Industry hat on. Yes, the costs of the excess baggage are extremely high, however it is extremely likely that the airline lost money on the tickets they sold to you, and the airport probably lost money on allowing the flight to operate, whilst probably handling the baggage for next to nothing. The airlines have to recoup this cash from somewhere. Onboard meals, excess baggage and any other extras you can think of are the only way to do this. As for the airport (which actually had to employ the staff to move the baggage) - they probably don't even charge for the aircraft to land or take off any more. All their money is received from car parking and whatever you spend in the terminal. I'd be very surprised if the money you paid to the airline for excess baggage handling actually went to the people doing the handling. Unfortunately it's the way of the industry - back in the day, people used to pay what it cost + profit, to the airlines, the airlines paid the airport for the Air Traffic Control, baggage handling and navaids service they received, and everything was fair and happy. Afraid it's the nature of the beast nowadays with low cost carriers. I don't like the situation, it devalues the work of the airport and makes the operational staff feel like a sideline to the "real" business of selling coffee, papers and car parking spaces. As an aside (and probably not relevant in this case), children have the same baggage allowance as adults. You can either share the baggage out to the lighter travelling children, or (if the airline will let you) buy a childrens ticket to be the empty seat and use the baggage allowance from that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djw1981 Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Possibly cheaper to do a one way hire of a van and put all kit into it for going home, and send it by ferry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDP Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Yep we have had this before. Their excuse is that it is in the small print, and you should of read it. Of course, nobody does, in the real world - so they play on it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_Beech Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 The van idea is cheaper. I remember a similar instance, though this was a normal show that was over that way for not as long as 3 weeks. It was cheaper to buy a van with a bit of tax and mot on it, insure it, pay one guy an extra days wage to drive it over, plus an extra day on one hotel room, and fly the rest of them in the next day. Extra benefits like being able to take a spare guitar and a real drum kit not a set of flats helped but were not vital. It would have been about £30 more expensive if they had scrapped the van afterwards instead of selling it and to me it would have been worth it. Incidentally I think they made a profit on selling the van but that's not relevant here. SO surely a 1 way hire on a job that seems much larger would work well. Don't get me wrong, by all accounts the van wasn't the nicest thing to drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 As an aside (and probably not relevant in this case), children have the same baggage allowance as adults. You can either share the baggage out to the lighter travelling children, or (if the airline will let you) buy a childrens ticket to be the empty seat and use the baggage allowance from that. Nope, they'll catch you on this one. To book the child's ticket you have to name the child...and unless a person of that name is there and travelling on the plane their luggage can't travel either. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedd Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Nope, they'll catch you on this one. To book the child's ticket you have to name the child...and unless a person of that name is there and travelling on the plane their luggage can't travel either. Bob Thought I was being a bit crafty, this is why I work in Air Traffic Control, not Check In! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_s Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 wouldn't work now, but a few years ago we sent a show to New York (about a month after 9/11 as it happens, but Bob's comment about security issues didn't seem to apply then) with an actor playing a cello. We bought a seat for the cello as it's owner was not prepared for it to go in the hold, then argued succesfully that as it had a ticket, it should have a baggage allowance, so got the two trunks of last-minute props and costumes that couldn't go on the sea freight on the aeroplane along with the actors and stage management without paying excess. Needless to say, this wasn't Ryanair. 10 quid a kilo, typical free allowance on proper airlines of around 22 or 23 kilos as I remember, so a bill from ryanair of nearly 300 quid if you really pack your suitcase. They might as well just hoist the jolly roger and fly off into the sunset cackling "pieces of eight! as they go.... Cedd's perspective is interesting. The budget airlines justify this by saying they give the choice to the customer with the option to save money by taking less luggage is a fine example in my opinion of doublespeak claptrap. Anyone traveling for any length of time needs to take a reasonable amount of luggage, and therefore has no real option in the matter. They are then subsidising the overnighters or day-returns with no luggage requirement, who are apparently not actually paying their way. so I could suggest a further two options - either travel in what you stand up in, and buy a new wardrobe when you arrive; or employ the old walkdown / curtain call trick (usually to facilitate getting to the bar quicker) of under-dressing - wear every item of clothing you think you'll need on the trip in many layers...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noiseman Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Give it a while and they'll start weighing the passengers and charging accordingly.Believe me it weight really is an issue they WILL do it. The lighter the plane the cheaper it is to run.Seems sort of fair to me as why should I pay the same as a 200kg fatty?!? BTW have the airlines reduced the fuel subsidies they started charging a while back yet? The world oil price has dropped over 50% from what it was a year ago. Hmmm it just like chip shops (you know every year they put the price up " 'cos the new potatoes have gone up mate" but they never go down in the winter again!!) Random rant over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 but Bob's comment about security issues didn't seem to apply then) with an actor playing a cello. It used to be fairly common simply to book an extra seat in the name of (eg) "Mr Cello". Not now. The Musician's Union reached an agreement with the Department for Transport in 2006 which allowed musicians to take their instruments on board as hand luggage. If you're a MU member, there's apparently a document you can get from them that will remind the airlines of this. However, there's now some inconsistency on how fees are being charged. http://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/site/cms/...asp?article=802 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Post the excess baggage home using royal mail - sent via "parcelforce" (which you can send over the counter at any post office) you'll be paying around £1/kg and if you have a corporate account you can use you can squeeze that down to 40p / kg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceecrb1 Posted November 23, 2008 Share Posted November 23, 2008 This is exactly why I fly Iberia, BA or Air France for home trips. The "budget" airlines alwyas work out the same price, but it in baggage costs or the physical effort in lugging the bags around and checking in again at the stopover point.... This trip (get home on sat yeeey) cost me 350€s with a stop in paris, using air france...with ryan air, I'd have to drive to madrid 4 hours (ie a fuel tank with return trip), park the car for 10 days (90€) and fly the return trip for 120€ and pay excess baggage on top..... not so budget anymore.... I see air traviel "slowing down" in the future if things dont change..people really started taking trips abroad becausovee of the budget airlines. and if they start getting closer to "standard" prices... whats the point... at least by paying a little bit more you dont get rude staff and small print waved at you, and you arnt in the push&shove race to get a seat.. which I HATE so much... might as well just put cowbells round our necks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roryfm Posted November 23, 2008 Share Posted November 23, 2008 And this is the reason I use services like payperparcel.co.uk which will ship up to 31kg for under a tenner via dhl across the UK, much simpler for carting things the length of the country...roryfm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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