Luggage Help for Flight Sabi Sand to JNB
 

Hi,

My daughter and son in law are going to South Africa next week for their honeymoon and I have an urgent luggage question.

They are travelling scheduled SAA or road transfer from US to JNB to Cape Town to Nelsprut and then road transfers to Ratt Rays and then by road to Boulders. They then fly from Boulders (Sabi Sand on Federal Air) to JNB. That is my concern since they will have a 44 pound weight limit for that flight (we understand this - no problem) but they are traveling with a rolling duffel (hard bottom with wheels and soft sides. Is that allowed? I assume they will use a bigger plane on that flight.

Thanks,

Bonnie

The Federal Air website doesn't indicate any restrictions on the type of luggage, but they do use some of the smaller Cessnas, so I'd suggest they check with their agent and find out which plane will be used for that flight and if there are any restrictions. If it's one of the smaller ones like a Cessna 206, that kind of bag could be a problem, given that luggage pod opening is only 9.5" by 27".

That's the problem with rolling duffles that have hard bottom... they already weight 7-9/lbs before packing them.

While there a duffle bags with wheels and cloth pull handles, soft-sided duffle bags without any metal whatsoever can be found for about $25-30. See a site as www.ebags.com (their own brand... which I own)... Or pop into a local Target, TJMaxx or likes who always have these.

Easy to pack, with the general weight limit of anywhere from 20-30/lbs for transit in these small planes and can be squished into the small luggage pods under the planes.

Oh, and soft enough to fold (rubber band around) and store in a closet... no bigger than a bulky sweater.

Once in Africa they will have no reason to have to pick-up or carry anything. And, at airports when arriving/departing whether at JNB or in the States... that's where luggage carts come in.

Another thing to remember... the camps and lodges do laundry. They don't need to pack all that many clothes and don't need a large bag. My bag usually comes in at around 10kg (22 lbs.) That was the case in October when I was in Cape Town and also at three safari camps in the Kruger area. We all have our favorite case. Mine is from www.ricksteves.com. (Convertible Carry-on) Your daughter and son-in-law have a time crunch, though, so they just need to check with the agent and find out if their current bags work or go with smaller bags.

A carry-on sized duffel bag each and one of these works perfectly for us:

http://www.brookstone.com/compact-lu...ctList|637876p

Very convenient.

Luggage carts as chritabir's link shows have been around since before rolling duffles were thought of. This is what airline crews used for years.

Such carts can be found at Luggage stores or departments, are lightweight, foldable and easily taken on board the plane to be used if/when walking thru terminals* or at your destinations.

*free carts though are available at almost every international airport when transferring between gates/terminals.

I still have a cart from the 70s that has held up and is useful for many things even if not traveling.

... and mine didn't cost but $15, if that!