Skiing with BA flights, seasoned traveller advice please

I thought I was up to speed with baggage allowances. However I'm a little confused with the official wording on the BA website. I'm looking at flights into Lyon and a way of travelling with 2 sets of skis and boots and luggage between 2 of us without paying extra for ski carriage.

AFAIK, BA allow 1 checked bag per person free up to 23kg, but the wording from their website casts doubt on that now.

Any seasoned BA ski travellers able to help?

Also, can I carry boots in hand luggage going through T5 and in/out of Lyon st exupery?

Many thanks






"How large can my bag be?

The maximum dimensions of the bag are

90cm x 75cm x 43cm (35.5in x 29.5in x 16 in), including the handle, pockets and wheels.



What to do with larger/bulky items
You may take bags up to the dimensions 190cm x 75cm x 65cm (75in x 29.5in x 25.5in), including the handle, pockets and wheels.

Any bags carried in addition to your free checked baggage allowance will incur an extra bag charge.
A heavy bag charge may apply to bags over 23kg (51lb)."

From my experiences on BA:

I took a ski bag with skis as my only bag, and did not pay an extra charge. It was weighed at check in. My brand new skis were damaged in transit with BA. Repairs subsequently carried out to tails with Epoxy Resin. :(

I have carried ski boots as hand luggage through T5 on several occasions without any hassles. Make sure they fit the gauge limits.

I have no knowledge about Lyon airport, too many years since I've been there.

Remember that your carry-on allowance with BA is 1 bag plus laptop sized bag. It all helps...

This ruck sac will take a pair of ski boots, top and tailed easily, plus a fair bit more and complies with hand baggage dimensions.
http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/tt-carry-on-40-p151735

We had a similar situation with KLM into Venice last year which worked well. Two pairs of skis, poles and one of my boots in double ski bag padded up to 23 kg with ski clothes. Other 3 boots in a second bag along with everything else. Weight was tight so we used hand luggage as overflow and tried to limit by using travel-sized toiletries, travelling in outdoor footwear and ski jackets etc. The weight quickly mounts up (our boots are 11 kg alone) but should be easily doable for a week as long as you're not packing the kitchen sink. -)

Not sure about BA but KLM asked us to let them know 24 hours in advance that one of our bags would be oversized. However we didn't on the way back and had no problems checking in so may not bother this year.

My experience -

On one of the only two occasions that I travelled with BA instead of Air Canada, my ski bag did not make it on the same plane. With any decent airline this would have been a minor inconvenience. Most airlines have efficient systems in place to courier the luggage to your hotel (so can actually be quite good if you do not need the bag for a couple of days). However, when my bag failed to be delivered the following day, BA were useless. They couldn't tell me where my bag was, trying to get through to anybody who could tell me what was going with my bag was like talking to a brick wall, having left numerous voice mail messages and submitting messages to the online lost baggage portal. In the end, after three nights and with the ski part of my trip fast approaching, I drove from downtown Calgary to the airport myself, found the BA office and demanded that they tell me where my bag was. It took them 10 mins to find out that it was in the customs hall. The claims department then quibbled over the cost of my gas to and from the airport. Given that I paid an extra 75 quid in extra baggage fees, this was an appalling service.

steverandomno wrote:My experience -

On one of the only two occasions that I travelled with BA instead of Air Canada, my ski bag did not make it on the same plane. With any decent airline this would have been a minor inconvenience. Most airlines have efficient systems in place to courier the luggage to your hotel (so can actually be quite good if you do not need the bag for a couple of days). However, when my bag failed to be delivered the following day, BA were useless. They couldn't tell me where my bag was, trying to get through to anybody who could tell me what was going with my bag was like talking to a brick wall, having left numerous voice mail messages and submitting messages to the online lost baggage portal. In the end, after three nights and with the ski part of my trip fast approaching, I drove from downtown Calgary to the airport myself, found the BA office and demanded that they tell me where my bag was. It took them 10 mins to find out that it was in the customs hall. The claims department then quibbled over the cost of my gas to and from the airport. Given that I paid an extra 75 quid in extra baggage fees, this was an appalling service.

Steve, sorry to hear about your experience, but thats not really relevant to the question I asked.
It could happen on any airline. In fact, it did to me with Monarch and we waited 3 days. I also had skis damaged in transit at got the money back for replacing them on insurance.

My query is really relating to what you can take on BA flights included in the cost, and my thinking you can take a ski bag up to 23kg free seems to be right.

Thanks.

Tony_H wrote:
Steve, sorry to hear about your experience, but thats not really relevant to the question I asked.
It could happen on any airline. In fact, it did to me with Monarch and we waited 3 days. I also had skis damaged in transit at got the money back for replacing them on insurance.

My query is really relating to what you can take on BA flights included in the cost, and my thinking you can take a ski bag up to 23kg free seems to be right.

Thanks.

Sorry, I know it probably wasn't very helpful!
It could happen with any airline, but I think they handled it very badly.

I believe that the BA policy is that they don't really distinguish between ski's and other luggage. It is just an extra piece of luggage. The only concession I think they make is that they allow you to take boots in a separate bag.

My advice when there are two travellers, and this usually works out the cheapest for most airlines, is to get a double ski bag and get suitcases/bags that have a separate compartment large enough for ski boots. Decathlon do a great tall and narrow holdall/suitcase with a compartment for ski boots at one end and a large compartment for clothing at the other. That way you don't have to worry if they count boots separately or as part of your skis boots and poles set. You can then place both skis in the double bag, pad it out with clothes and check it as an additional bag.

A few years ago, there was an advantage in keeping the skis/poles and boots separate as most airlines made an exception. But now they all seem to charge something (though I think SWISS still carry them for free), and it is often better to just reorganize everything so, at worst, you are only checking in one additional piece.

I'm light years ahead on the double ski bag trick. I've been using one for about 6 years now. I used to be able to get it on any flight with any airline, quite often for free without prepaying as they never used to check if you had prepaid at check in.
But those days have gone, and the airlines wont now check in ski bags unless you've prebooked them, and can prove payment as well.
Some tour ops even send sneaky reps to the early morning check in queues to make sure those with ski bags have paid, so gone are the days of sneaking your ski bag on for nowt!

Also, after much debate on here and in other forums, many airlines have now introduced a weight limit for checked in ski bags, which Thomson Airways last season set, sensibly IMO, at 15kg. This now allows you to pack your skis and poles and QUITE A BIT of additional ski clothing in the ski bag so you can keep your 20kg bag allowance for boots and normal clothing, plenty for a weeks skiing anywhere. HOWEVER this has now put an end to putting 2 pairs of skis in a double ski bag, as the bag WILL now be weighed at check in.

Fortunately with BA their single bag limit is 23kg, same for sports equipment, so you could get 2 pairs of skis in at that weight.

I like the idea of a split level bag, boots in the bottom and clothes in the top. But the bags I've looked at are really expensive - Dakine and North Face for example are about £150 and I need 2 of them which I am not prepared to pay for at present, so I'll stick with my usual suitcases and stuffed ski bag for now.