leeann44

I have booked a flight with Jetstar from Sydney to Cairns and of course, their luggage allowances are less than my carrier from the US. I noticed in their websites fine print, it states "each passanger travelling on a JetSaver (me), JetFlex, or International StarClass fare to or from the United States may check up to 2 pieces of baggage for carriage in the aircraft hold".
Technically, I am a US traveler but I am traveling within Australia. Would this mean one or two checked bags for me? Any opinions would be appreciated!

leeann44

Frustrated by all the fine print on the Jetstar website, I just phoned them and asked! Yes, I am allowed 2 checked bags per person and the total weight must not be more than 70.5 lbs. Total size no more than 7.5 feet. Hope this helps anyone having the same luggage issues!

Bokhara

Hi Leeann44,
I would email them & seek clarification. As you say, you are travelling from the US, but whether that condition applies only to the inbound/outbound legs or also to internal flights isn't clear.

If you email & receive an affirmation that you can take 2 bags, print it out & bring with you in case of an issue at check-in in Sydney.

Good luck!

leeann44

Bokhara,
I searched the Jetstar website and could not locate a contact email address. All I saw were phone numbers, so that's why I called them. But you are correct, having it in print would be a good idea. I DID make sure that the lady on the other end of the phone understood that we were flying from Sydney to Cairns. Do you know of any email address???

leeann44

OK, I called them again! I think I spoke to the same lady (I could actually hear her roll her eyes!) and I stated: I will be flying to Sydney, spending a few days, then flying from Sydney to Cairns. I can still take 2 checked bags? She said "Yeah, that's fine..." So, I will take two and if they refuse me I will sell the extra piece of luggage to the highest bidder.

Betsy

We found that Virgin Blue also honored international luggage limits on four out of four internal flights much to our surprise and delight. We had packed lightly, but were at or a bit over the VB limit. They didn't even blink as they checked us through, but I'm not sure you can always count on their generosity.

chimani

Leeann44,

Would you care to clarify. Your post is contradictory.

Do you, or do you not, fit the definition of a passenger:

"travelling on a JetSaver, JetFlex, or International StarClass fare to or from the United States"?

TO OR FROM THE UNITED STATES.

Given your previous sentence:

"their luggage allowances are less than my carrier from the US."

CLEARLY NOT.

The English is clear enough to me. But what you seem to be saying is that you interpret it as meaning any person arriving in Australia from the US is deemed to have flown from the US with Jetstar or its affiliates.

So anyone arriving from the US on whatever airline is entitled (allegedly) to 70.5 lbs (as you put it). Whereas pax domiciled in Australia or flying in from Europe, Asia, NZ, wherever - get the std allowance of 20kgs (44 lbs).

Now if that is true, I, for one, will never fly with them again.

Perhaps you'd like to tell me:

(a) why Ameicans should get preferential treatment?

(b) why anyone should need 70 lbs of luggage. I mean, how long are you coming for - a yeat?

alr837

most countries/budget airlines seem to allow you to travel with the amount that your international carrier allows you to travel with.
with regards to the large amount of luggage that people from the usa are allowed - this has been standard for years, no idea why, but also works in reverese, and is the same for all flights to/fro usa to the uk

leeann44

I apologize for being an American flying to Australia! and no, I don't plan on bringing tons of luggage. Like you, I am confused about the allowances Jetstar shows on their website. They have different rules for every class of passenger and just the way it is presented is confusing. I didn't make up the rules, I was simply stating what "Morgan" at the other end of Jetstar's phone line said. If you, Chimani, have problems with the way they do business, you should give them a call and complain.

Betsy

Chimani, it's not preferential treatment. It's my understanding that various countries have differing agreements with airlines regarding baggage allowances. Maybe someone with more specific knowledge will address this.

SnRSeattle

leeann, sorry you got grumped at here. Usually people are very gracious. Must have pushed a grump button on someone! I was curious, too, because we are thinking of taking our snorkel gear in a separate suitcase so we don't have to take it in at night when we have a rental car. Sometimes two smalls are easier than one medium, and it is still not an excessive amount of weight.
Sally in Seattle

leeann44

Thank you, SnRSeattle! My thoughts exactly! When you're traveling all over the continent, experiencing a multitude of climates as we will be in June, you need more than one shirt and a pair of pants! We will also be snorkeling. We just figured we'd take our goggles and snorkel and rent the rest. So much to consider when deciding what to take. It only complicates things when you use an airline that wants you to fit everything into something the size of a juice box when you fly! haha (I also like to take our laptop and camera too.) Maybe these airlines should start weighing luggage PLUS each owner to get a total weight allotment per passanger! Lighter passangers could then take more baggage! Wouldn't THAT get some peoples knickers in a twist! haha

Neil_Oz

If you have a 32 kg allowance you can certainly afford to be more relaxed about your packing, but IMO the practicalities make it an excessive number anyway.

In our experience, which includes relatively lengthy (up to 7 weeks) trips in North America, Asia and the Pacific, anything over the general international limit of 20 kg is too much to lug around anyway. I'll admit that we went to about 22 kg each on our way home from our last 6-wk trip to North America, but that was only because we didn't bother throwing out a stack of books we'd bought for bedtime reading.

We're not fanatical pack-lighters and we've run into many travellers more experienced than us who've put us to shame. In fact on our 3-week organised tour of Vietnam with a group of Australians and Kiwis we were embarrassed to find that our just-on-20-kg bags were the biggest and heaviest in the group. We felt like rank amateurs.

leeann44

Dear Neil_Oz,
Light weight packing is my goal, for sure! Just lugging my own body around trying to get there will be exhausting enough! haha Thanks for all the advice everyone!

Toucan2

LeeAnn,

Did you go (was it June 2007 you were traveling?) and how did it go? Any problems on the Jetstar flight? (regarding weight limits that is)

I just got all my travel documents and was reviewing all of them, including the varying weight limits, and remembered your posting.

We changed our plans to take the train from Taree to Brisbane, and instead fly from Newcastle to Brisbane using Jetstar, but the weight restrictions are quite different. I don't plan on carting bricks or anything, just want to make sure I meet all the proper restrictions.

We'll be flying on American FF tickets to LA, then Qantas to Sydney, from Brisbane to Cairns, then Cairns to Sydney. So the only flight that is Jetstart will be from Newcastle to Brisbane.

leeann44

Sorry so long in replying! We had a time with jetstar! They were slow checking in people and when we finally did get to the front, they weighed our bags and said we were a few pounds heavy. And yes, we packed light! They said we had to pay before boarding and all these people were there to pay also. I thought my husband was going to have a coronary! They had to hold the plane to get everyone's fees collected! We threw some money at them and RAN to the plane! All this for about 5 pounds over! Good luck!

Toucan2

Thanks Leeann for your reply. Interestingly enough, a travel agent I know just had the same experience (flying Jetstar domestically when they had flown on the same trip on Qantas internationally) and had to pay excess fees. She was not happy, and it was interesting to see a travel agent even confused by the language of the sites.

Then she sent me a cool web site to estimate 20kg! You enter how many t-shirts etc and it estimates your weight! Very nifty.

stevew

Well I wished I had read this back in April - but didn't see it until tonight.

My wife and I are flying Qantas into Cairns, for some diving and then into Adelaide. After a week in Adelaide we booked a Qantas/JetStar route from Adelaide into Launceston via Melbourne. And a JetStar flight into Sydney where we spend our last 7 days.

We scuba dive and lug our own dive gear with us. So we will have 2 bags each and will be over the 20kg limit. I talked with JetStar when we made the booking and was told that they would honor the Qantas baggage allowance. Then after reading this thread, I called them again tonight and was told a different story. Although the first agent did put it in the record that we were promised we wouldn't be charged. So after some discussion I called Qantas as I booked these flights with them. I give Qantas some credit in that they spent a long time on the phone with JetStar on our behalf and the agent said she "thinks" we will get our baggage into Tasmania without a fee, but will have to pay from Tasmania into Sydney. The price of excess baggage is more than the original airfare and of course its a non-refundable ticket.

While I am thankful that Qantas did what they could to help us, I feel that they should have something on their website that would alert you to the difference in baggage allowances - wow!

It's not so much the money - but the way we found out about this and the different stories you get on the phone.

Amazingly there are 3 pages of printed material about fee's, fares, changes and the non-refundable part - nothing in all of that about luggage

After many years of taking holidays in Oz I always thought the Aussie's were treated better by their airlines than us yanks here in the states. Seems a bit of the US has crept into the down under airlines

Bummer

Cheers

leeann44

Like you, I called Quantas twice and Jetstar to check on the confusing luggage issue! Jetstar assured me the weight would be based on Quantas allowances. Not so! For our flight back, we threw away all extra toiletries, papers, anything we didn't absolutely need to lighten the weight. Such a hassle. I still think they should weigh the passengers PLUS their baggage. My husband and I are pretty small people compared to some we saw that morning, yet we were fined for being a few pounds over! haha

JakeRoberts

so what is the over weight cost?