As described by a European airline, checked luggage maximum dimensions are 203 cm. Can anyone tell me what this converts to in terms of length x width x depth in incehs (or feet)?
Thank you for helping me through my ignorance.

go to www.onlineconversion.com and type in your information in the appropriate section

Multiply the cms by .4 (.3937 to be exact) and the answer is about 80".

I believe that what they mean with 203 cm or 80 inch, is that Length+Width+Depth should be less than that amount. In that way they give you more flexibility to other shapes than the standard L x W x D.

Example:

A large suitcase, say 40" x 25" x 15" fits in, but imagine you want to take a very long but narrow piece, say 70" x 5" x 5", this would also be allowed, because both have L+D+W=80"

Conversions: go to google, type <b>203 cm in inches</b> and hit Search.

Thank you all. Now I've got it! And I especially appreciate no one slamming me for not knowing this on my own. Thanks!!

It's 80 inches. And the original measurement was probably in inches to begin with, since it's very unlikely that a native user of the metric system would choose 203 cm rather than 200 cm even.

It's the Maximum 20kg (40 lbs) of TOTAL checked luggage per person that has me very worried considering we'll be there 3 1/2 weeks including a land trip as well as a cruise (formal nights)! That is very unrealistic for people on an extended vacation. It may work for those flying within Europe on a long weekend but not traveling from the USA to Europe for close to a month.

Hi T,

20 kg is 44 lbs.

Does that help?

If you have a kg or 2 more and you check in well in advance, they normally won't make any problems or let you pay extra. On top of that you can usually have about 7 kg of carry-on luggage. That adds up to almost 30kg!

I suggest you first figure out just how much you will have to take, then contact the airline and find out what their policies and fees are for excess baggage.

I have looked into this and Helvetic Airlines (Zurich to Rome) has strict requirements of total 20kg per person and 5 kg carry on. The overweight charge is 5 Euro for every 1 kg. overweight. They are a discount airline and according to their email response to me, strictly enforce this weight restriction. My overweight charge may eat up any savings had I flown with Alitalia or Swiss instead.

You would travel with more than 55 pounds? How do you carry it? Or hesitate to pay 25 euro, to go up to 66 pounds?

Lots of steel-toed hiking boots?

Three and a half weeks doesn't require any more clothes than ten days. Do you really want to be carrying around three weeks of dirty laundry at the end?

I once traveled for three months in Europe with a small suitcase (not more than 22 inches). I never looked poorly dressed or yearned for more clothes. I just brought with me quality travel clothes that were well coordinated. I have to admit, I never wore these clothes again. I was sick and tired of them.

This is tricky because we need different clothes for a 2 week cruise than we do for our 2 weeks on land. There are formal nights on our cruise which means tuxedo, dress shoes, gowns. There are also informal nights which require a sportscoat. If it was all land, it would cut our clothing requirements considerably. Also the climate will be much cooler in Northern Europe than it will be when we hit the Med.

I can't imagine packing a black tie ensemble and not having enough weight left from 77 lbs. for everything I could possibly use in a month. You <i>are</i> planning to launder once a week, aren't you?

20 kg in the suitcase
5 kg in the carryon
10 kg on me (sport coat, sweater, trench coat, and camera gear)

Some cruises will allow you to ship your stuff ahead so you don't have to tote around your cruisewear thru the rest of your vacation.

LOL...yes, we will do laundry once a week. One person in this family insist on a different pair of shoes with each outfit. That's all about to change!

One of the raps on the European discount airlines is they allow little luggage, and charge quite a bit for excess baggage.

You might look at using another airline. Or put some of your stuff in a box and use one of the courier services (FedEx, UPS, DHS (I think)) to send it ahead.

Clevelandbrown, I think you mean DHL