Travel Question

[Alex]

Allison, you mentioned you were glad you didn't take your box with you. What sort of problems do you think you would have encountered. The reason I'm curious is that we're flying up to Seatac for the Oktoberfest at Leavenworth (a little town definitely worth visiting!), and I'd like to know what to expect. Anybody else, please jump in so I'll have a good idea what to expect! Thanks in advance

Alex

[Animaterra]

The main reason I was glad not to bring the box was the heightened paranoia at the airports I visited. It contained no liquid, gel, cream, or anything overtly forbidden, but it looks unusual and would be likely to cause concern and delay among the unenlightened TSA workers.

 

However, I have to say that most of those I encountered were patient, courteous, and often had a friendly sense of humor (of course, I didn't try to crack any "bomb" jokes or anything to challenge their sense of humor!).

 

I'm betting that you won't have a problem in October. SEATAC is one of the better airports I've visited.

Have fun!

[geoffwright]

My concertina was 1 cm too big without its case so I had to chance putting it in the hold.

 

Two of us arrived at East Midlands with one over-large (containing well-wrapped anglo) and one smaller case, one underweight, one overweight. I explained why it was overweight and the RyanAir checkin girl said fair enough. I booked 7 months ago so nothing to pay.

 

Arrived at Shannon to fly back with exactly the same luggage. The European jobsworth-ette on the RyanAir checkin said I would have to pay for both cases so I quickly told her where to shove her French accent as I didn't have to pay. She then told me to take some luggage out of the heavier case but would'nt let me weigh the lighter case to work out what to swap. Her Sagess Normane (Norman Wisdom) was called into questioni again as I told her to N@ckers and weighed it anyway. She kept our passports and sent us off to repack.

My 3 colleagues got off less lightly and were made to pay for their overweight boxes.

 

Moral - RyanAir, please note these weight restrictions are your self-imposed, money-grabbing rules not the Dept of Transports'. If you do not use a bit of common-sense and initiative, you will lose money because I just won't bother flying with you when the restrictions are lifted (if ever).

Be Warned about flying DireAir.

[Chris Timson]

An interesting article here considers the sensibility of the current flap (not, though, Ryan Air and their overly-expensive approach to budget flying).

 

Chris