Smeagol

I am about to book my internal flights BNE - Cairns - Cairns - Sydney over the Christmas period (07) i know very early but am mindful of peoples advice on here that they sell out quickly.
My question is this: our international flights are Bizz class so am probably thinking my luggae will be heavy for internal economy flights!! who would you say are the best carriers and who would you say are the cheapest excess baggage? (or indeed will i have a problem with either - i actually don't mind paying the charge i just dont want my bags refused)

Smeagol

DownUnder

Qantas is the intials for Queensland and Northern Territory Air Services(the original company) so no "U".
Qantas is the best airline in Australia. They would both charge for excess baggage. Virgin Blue also charges for everything else, even a stale bun!. Check www.webjet.com.au for best deals.

Betsy

We flew to/from Australia in October 2006 on Qantas for a month-long trip. We took four internal flights on Virgin Blue using really inexpensive Happy Hour tickets. We each had a 22" bag plus a carry-on tote, one with a computer inside. We checked the 22" bags, both of which were at or slightly above the allowed weight. Both carry-on totes were above the allowed weight. At no time were we charged excess baggage fees. They weighed the checked bags but didn't bat an eyelash. I think they recognized that we were international travelers and cut us some slack. It wasn't a question of the flights not being full, making the baggage load lighter; most flights were full or nearly so.

If you fly Qantas both internationally and internally, I think they will automatically honor the international weights on the international flights. Check the website.

It probably didn't hurt that we were very pleasant to the counter personnel.

Smeagol

Thanks guys.
I am flying Cathay to Australia, so not sure if that will work against me. Think i may just go with the times that suit us best....

Neil_Oz

All I can add is that the economy class limit is the international standard of 20 kg. Genrally we've never found a need to exceed that, even on 6-7 week trips, although we may have hit 45 kg between us on our last flight from SFO. Anything more than that is just too much to lug around as far as we're concerned, but being incipient communists we prefer not to use porters.

It's been said many times on this forum, but most visitors to Australia will not encounter a situation in which they'll have to dress any flasher than Smart Casual. (Me, I don't own anything above Dumb Casual.) Seriously, you'd have to be Sherlock Holmes to find a restaurant that demanded coat-and-tie, and neat casual gear is fine for the opera. Relax and enjoy is the message.

If there's any doubt about relative excess baggage charges I'm sure you could find out the charges on thye carriers' websites.

Betsy

LOL, Neil. Most of our stuff is dumb casual with a few pieces of smart casual here and there. Our month-long trip ranged from cold, blowy southern Tasmania to the tropical climes of the GBR, so we neede a greater variety than on a typical trip. We were delighted to discover that a lot of our lodging provided laundry facilities.

Smeagol

Thanks Guys
I am prepared for casual so i think my Vera Wang can stay at home (lol) it's just all the other crap i seem to drag around with me. Anyway am sure i will be fine as as i said i think i will do with the airline that times suit best.

wally34949

Last Christmas, I flew from Hobart to Sydney on Qantas. I had six hours in Sydney before my flight to London, and Qantas checked my bag from Hobart all the way to London. I had time to go downtown, which I probably would not have been able to do if I had to check a bag.