lowcountrycarol

I just booked a United mileage award ticket....must be the last 60,000 mile one left before United ups its mileage requirement next month. Going I am on US Air flights but i return on TAP airlines which has a very restricted carry on weight and size requirement.

Does anyone know if I will have to abide by their limitations when all the other flights allow larger/heavier carry ons? As United has never weighed my carry on I always pack it very full with heavy items as my checked bag is always right at 50 pounds. I always carry items requested by our Portuguese friends and restock our place with items I cannot get there so it is not clothes creating weight and space problems. Yes coming home will be lighter but my normal "United" size carry on is not allowed by TAP and I would like to use it to get all the stuff over there. Does anyone have any experience with this?

jamikins

I believe you will have to abide by whatever airlines' rules you are flying - i.e. flying United you abide by their limits, when you fly TAP you will need to abide by theirs...dont understand how it would work any other way.

Bedar

Use the bag you have going over. Then leave it there. Buy another there which conforms to TAP's regulations. Easy.

janisj

I agree w/ Bedar. Buy a cheap carry on in Portugal to fly home w/

But is the TAP flight a code share United flight? I'd check but AFAIK you get the baggage allowance for the airline you booked, not necessarily the metal you are flying. Worth asking on flyer talk or on Fodors Air Travel board.

lowcountrycarol

Bedar, that would work, leaving the larger carry on in Portugal but then five months later when I will return, more then likely on United with the much larger carry on rules, that larger carry on will not be here in the US when I need to pack it up again. I really do not like when award seats are with different carriers but as they say beggars can't be choosers. I will check in on the air travel board.

Janiisj, my eticket just gives the flight nimber (for leaving Portugal) which I do know is a TAP number as it is TP103 and a sentence that states "flight operated by TAP Portugal". My fear is that at check in leaving Portugal they will weigh my normal carry on and then charge me or insist it become another checked bag.....and I would have arrived to Lisbon from 3 US flights with no issues.

Thanks for the responses.

Bedar

Another concern might be:- what are the dimensions that US Air allows ?

lowcountrycarol

Bedar.....US Air is 45 linear inches with a 40 pound limit...TAP less then half the weight at 17.6 pounds and a smaller bag.

Bedar

So, leave some of the stuff in your checked bag there, and put the carry-on bag in the big suitcase. I can't imagine what sort of stuff you're ferrying back and forth since most everything is available in Portugal today. You'll figure it out.

lowcountrycarol

You would not believe what I "ferry "over..like key lime juice, pecans , maple syrup...all at our very dear friends requests and one year a computer for one of their teens.

nytraveler

Typically european airlines have smaller carryon liits because they fly different equipment and US size carry-ons simply won;t fit in the overhead bin. I have seen many americans have to gate chcck their carry-on in Zurich since it just would not fit on the swiss plane. So be sure you don;t have anything f value - or anything you will need on the flight in the carr on.

Sorry - but with a free flight yyou have to take what's available.