luggage
 

I am leaving Calif for Australia on October 2nd.<BR>Am I allowed a carryon and a check in bag.<BR>Also what are the sizes for the luggage and is there a weight restriction?

ROSE,<BR><BR>I LIVE IN CA AND FROM MY LAST INTERNATIONAL (ALTHOUGH I DON'T THINK THE REQUIRMENTS DIFFER INTERNATIONAL VS DOMESTIC) FLIGHT VIA LAX, YOU ARE ALLOWED ONE CARRY-ON AND TWO (yes 2!!) CHECK IN BAGS. I DID GET A PAIR OF TWEEZERS IN MY CARRY-ON TAKEN AWAY FROM ME SO MAKE SURE YOU DON'T HAVE ANY CUTICLE SCISSORS, TWEEZERS, POCKET/SWISS ARMY KNIVES ETC PACKED IN YOUR CARRY-ON OR THEY WILL BE CONFISCATED! HAPPY TRAVELS!<BR><BR>P.S. YOUR AIRLINE'S WEB SITE SHOULD HAVE WEIGHT RESTRICTION INFO AND MORE DETAILED LUGGAGE RESTRICTIONS LISTED...

Rose.....Don't attempt to bring in food, especially nuts, nor any plant material or produce. It will be confiscated.

Linda,<BR><BR>I'm leaving this week for New Zealand & Australia. Where did you hear about leaving food at home? I had planned on bringing some snacks..apple sauce, fruit roll ups etc..snacks besides peanuts from the plane. <BR><BR>Will they confiscate that stuff as well?<BR><BR>

To Christina,<BR>Don't bring any food off the plane as it will be taken from you, plus there are sniffer dogs in the arrivals area to pick out people with food.

Christina...I didn't just hear about it, I experienced it! Arrived in Aus. with food, I was lectured, told I was lucky not to be fined (I know of someone who was fined), and food was confiscated.<BR>Marg, with an "au" in her email address, would know for sure. Trust her, trust me. Prices are real decent in Aus., buy stuff at the airport after you arrive.

They wouldn`t even let us bring in our crackers that qantas served us on the plane. There were garbage cans to dump any food you had in your possession in the airport after getting off the plane.

Australia and NZ are 2 countries that are lucky enough not to have some very nasty diseases in their cattle and in the grains and other produce , unlike the rest of the world. That is the reason that food is NOT allowed to be brought into Australia. We also do not have things like rabies in animals and our Customs fellows try and make sure that no food or contaminents get into the country. I personally knew a Sri Lankan Doctor who smuggled a certain type of chilli into Australia so that he could grow it for eating. People like him should have known better and his actions could have put entire crops at risk. If you cannot leave your food at home, then stay at home with it, it does not need a vacation.

I once got fined A$50 for bringing in 1 bar of undeclared chocolate, the brand is widely available in the world as well as Australia. A warning would have been better from the custom agent but I guess they were trying to justify their existent(Cairns International airport). They, the custom officers, told me that if I wanted to contest the fine I would have to go to court and it would be more expensive for me.<BR><BR>They, the custom dept, sure love tourist! On that trip I spent over A$40,000 on boat charters, hotels, food etc. and I will no go back to Oz so soon because of the very rude treatment that I received!

Hi Christina,<BR><BR>I fly between Australia and New Zealand at least once a month. You can bring certain foods into both countries. These are usually restricted to sealed foods such as baby food etc. There are certain foods that we like that you cannot get in New Zealand but are available in Australia....the three in paticular are Craft Cheese sticks for the kids, a certain breakfast cereal and a certain chocolate.<BR><BR>Once the plane starts decending entering either country most airlines play the customs and immigration video. These are straight forward and do give information that will be usefull at customs.<BR><BR>My recommendation is that if you have food of any kind declare it and let customs make the decision. Even though we have never had any trouble with the foods that I have indicated above we have always declared them.<BR><BR>We recently bought back some sealed foods from Fiji into New Zealand. Again no problems but always declare them.<BR><BR>David

Thanks everyone!<BR><BR>I respect what customs is trying to prevent from happening. I'll just bring enough for the plane ride. I just didn't want to eat a lot of airline junk food.<BR><BR>

I don't believe you Mr Hilton when you say that you were fined for bringing in undeclared chocolate because that is not a banned substance. However if you did not declare it and what you say is true then it was your own fault that you were fined because on ALL aircraft there is a film which explains what is allowable and what is not and in many languages, there are forms that also give you the information and there are flight attendants who will also answer questions. Just remember ignorance of a crime is not a defence in law.

Hello Mr.Hilton-<BR>I declared my packages of chewing gum and was not fined nor was it taken away. And as for the customs officials, remember they were doing their jobs. And the couple I spoke to, were nice and courteous too! As a matter of fact, I found the vast majority of Australians I met to be wonderful, much nicer than many of my fellow Americans! If you treat others w/respect, you will get the same treatment in return!<BR>Debbie

Hi Christina,<BR>I doubt you will have any trouble. I found that the last time I flew the food was rather nice actually - just depends on where it is made I think. If you are going on Qantas you can request ( prior to flying) a fat free / low-cal / salt reduced etc diet and by doing that too you will get served first!<BR>Have a nice one wherever and whenever

Liz,<BR><BR>The chocolate in question was a bar of Toberlone and since it's widely available in Australia I did not think it was necessary to declare it. Why didn't the custom agent just give me a warning or confiscate the chocolate, which I did offer for them to take away but no... they wanted to make a point. It was not because I was "ignorant" of your laws - I did not see any harm and thus I did not declare it. The customs authorities at Cairns and other small Aussie international airport need a lesson in manners and courtesy. I never experienced such problems in Sydney or even Perth only in Cairns! For what it's worth I wrote to complain about the matter to the Queensland tourism authority and got a satisfactory response from them and they have assured me that the custom agent involved was dealt with, harshly or not I don not know. You seem very uptight Liz, CHILL OUT BABE!

Don't worry about her Bill! She has been like that, uptight, for a long time now. Read back on some of her old post and you'll see that she's blindly patriotic and all thing Australian is beautiful and correct with her.<BR><BR>Cheers,<BR><BR>x

Oh for shame I am patriotic. I also am well travelled and have had the misfortune to go through customs recently in Boston and Philly and let me tell you Bill that if you are looking for rude then I suggest that you check out the airport staff in those cities for starters. <BR>You are not at liberty with any Government authority in any country to make a determination yourself on laws. On the form you signed it said NO FOOD ITEMS and that Bill means NO FOOD ITEMS not " oh I think this type of food is ok so I will bring it into the country. If you get a bad reply from them if you have done so then it is of your own doing.<BR>Further to you saying that you complained to the authorities and had a reply saying that the custom's agent was dealt with - that would never have been said to you. That is not policy with any Australian Government Departments.<BR>

On arrival to Sydney, I declared my unopened bag of Sunkist (brand name) dried prunes, and the customs man waved me through. I think it is better to be safe than sorry.

Hi guys:<BR><BR>Just had to stick my two cents in (for what it's worth). When you arrive in Australia or New Zealand. Please make certain that you declare your prescription medicines. My hubby make a grievous error and declared his perscription "drugs". I am sure you all remember when our pharmacies were called druggists, drug store, and whatever more but we did encounter one inspector who took my husband to the supervisory inspector who then saw the true picture and sent us on our way. <BR><BR>We had an absolutely marvelous time in a delightful country that we are looking forward to returning to. Again I cannot thank Aussies like Alan J. and Liz F. for their continued assistance to our many questions. Thank goodness this board does not get like the States' board.