While flying internally in China, what are my exact restrictions? One checked in bag weighing less than 44 lbs. But is there any dimension restrictions like width+length+height= ? inches?

Same with the carry-on. I read one carry-on per person has to be less than 11 lbs, but are there any dimension restrictions?

Then flying internationally from China back to the states, I'm back on United's restrictions of TWO checked bags plus a carry-on, right? So the best thing would be to buy all the souveniers at the last stop before we fly home (at Shanghai), right?

Thanks!

I don't know about dim restrictions on checked baggage but I do know that the weight restriction is sometimes enforced. As for carry on's, I've never had mine weighed and I'm sure it's often over 11 lbs as the rollaboard I normally use weighs almost 8 lbs empty. I've also been able to carry on my rollaboard + shopping bag + purse without anyone saying anything.

Yes, when flying back to the states, you'll follow UA's baggage limits.

I looked at China Southern's website, and cabin luggage dimension is restricted to 20cm x 40cm x 55cm, weight 5kg (11 lb).

No idea whether they are enforced.

[Interesting that you're also allowed two containers of beverages, not exceeding one liter total.]

And it doesn't say your 20kg (44lb) of checked luggage is one-piece only. So, maybe you can have two pieces, not exceeding 20kg total.

It's probably the same for other Chinese airlines.

Thanks, Patty and rkkwan!
I looked on the Air China site and didn't find the answer. Appreciate your looking it up. I'm hoping they won't be too strict. Probably depends on the ticket person we get.

expect them to be strict! chinese are very unflexible and the rule is the rule. they will follow it to the t.

Forgot to mention, no alcohol (even if sealed and unopened) in carry on baggage.

patty is right! they confiscated a bottle of red wine i had purchased with a label of the great wall on it. i wanted this for a souvenir. they gave me the choice of going back and checking it in my luggage, which would have been at least an hour wait.

And yet I travelled with a bottle of beer in my carry on, as did one other person in our group. My beer was fine, they took hers out of the carry on, looked at it, discussed it amounst themselves, then put it back in her carry on and off we went.

Thanks for the answers!

I have seen at some airports, they make you put your carry-on in a crate or something and it says if your carry-on doesn't fit into this, you can't bring it on, must check it in. Anyone see that for international flights?

flew southern china from beijing to guangzhou (CAN). i was over by 5-10 kilos and i had to pay. a lot. and of course, they wouldn't take credit cards, etc... just abide by the rules. exactly.

I believe that Chinese domestic airlines apply international (except to/from USA) rules, which is for checked baggage 20 kg max and as far as I remember no restriction on number of pieces. I imagine therefore that they would also apply IATA "volumetric weight" rules in regard to total volume. These, however, are fairly generous (again, from recollection), and it would be a very rare event for a passenger to fall foul of them.

I checked the websites of both the airlines we used for domestic flights in China. On both, the economy class checked luggage restriction was 20 kg (44 lbs)in one bag. At each check in, our bags were weighed. However, no one ever noticed our carry on bags. My mother carried one 1/2 size roller bag and a briefcase without problem. The rest of us had one backback each.

Thanks!

So I gather the weight is the key, not the dimensions for the checked in baggage.

On another note, they say to judge the safety of the water by the country from which you are LEAVING. Does that mean on the international flight from China all the way back to the US, we can't drink anything but bottled water and not use ice in our drinks?

Regarding the luggage we checked: We each had one large (but not gigantic) bag. However, we saw some really large, but probably lightweight, bags being checked by others. These looked like bags you might by a bedspread in, but much bigger - square, with handles.

On the water issue: that's probably true. However, I haven't been offered anything but bottled water on a flight in years. I never have ice in my drinks, so I can't say that I missed it. My mother did get ice in hers without intestinal repercussions, but I probably wouldn't recommend it. My suggestion - beer or wine, it'll be cold and you won't want ice!

Thanks, I gotta get an idea of how much I can cram into a suitcase and see how heavy it is.

I'll stick with bottled water I guess. Do they serve you enough water or should we bring some?

I would bring your own water. A month or two ago there was an article on Yahoo News about airline water safety and it suggested bringing your own...I couldn't find that article, but here is a similar one: http://www.finewaters.com/Newsletter...Water_Safe.asp

farflung,
Wow, now that's disturbing info. Thanks for the article. I assume the bottled water they give you on the airlines (if they do, I'm not sure) is fine to drink?

Three years ago we were in China. We had five internal flights. Our luggage was never weighed. In fact, the tour company sent it ahead to the plane, and the suitcase(s) appeared in our new room.

Our carry-on was never weighed even when we left the country.

However, the checked luggage was weighed when we left the country. After shopping for 3-weeks, some people had two huge suitcases. The suitcases were weighed and charges were made for any excess over 44 pounds.

I am no expert on water, but I would think that bottled water that has the seal intact should be fine. Often you can see the containers the flight attendants are pouring from, if it's just a pitcher and not from a bottle, I might be wary... I tend to drink a lot of water so have always carried on my own - I hate to pay the extortionate fees the airports and airlines charge!

I flew on 4 internal China flights and near the end, my luggage weighed 35 Kg (it started out at 28Kg). It wasn't a problem at all.

Also, forget bringing your own water. That's crazy. The Chinese airlines we flew (China Eastern and Hainan) were outstanding in quality, customer service, the planes were new. It was impressive!