Beware of Thomas Cook’s cabin baggage scam.

[Borden]

Never having used Mr Cook’s airline before I was not prepared for their ‘nice little earner’ which I encountered on a flight from London Gatwick to Preveza in late September. To be fair I had read in my booking conditions that the weight limit for cabin bags on TC’s airline is 5kg. Call me stupid but I've been flying for years and never before has my cabin bag been weighed. On arriving at baggage drop I was very surprised to be asked to put my cabin bag on the scales, weight 10kg, so I'm 5Kg over. In fact my cabin bag weighs 4Kg when empty, a statistic that no doubt encouraged Mr Cook to set a maximum weight of 5Kg in the sure and certain knowledge that this would ensnare the maximum number of passengers. Take your average cabin bag add a pair of shoes and a couple of T shirts and you’re into ‘excess baggage’ territory.
Our hold bags were also marginally over at 21kg each mainly due to the boat bits that regularly account for 98% of the contents of my checked-in bag every time we fly. Most airlines will overlook such minor transgressions but not Mr Cook's airline. We were staggered to be charged £98 for a total of 7kg excess.
So if you must fly on Mr Cook’s airline the lesson is to use a soft bag for your cabin baggage as unlike most airlines they appear not to specify a size limitation. On boarding the flight we saw people cramming sizeable soft bags into the overhead lockers. Finally and to add insult to injury the seats are so tightly packed that my knees were painfully locked into the arm rest hinges of the seat in front for this joyous 3 hours of expensive misery and I’m no giant at 6ft in my socks. So beware that if you are 6 ft tall or over don't fly with Mr Cook's airline, you won't get in to the space they provide without having to endure severe discomfort.

 

[colind3782]

I have three Flylite bags and they're brilliant kit.

http://www.flylite.uk.com/

 

[maxi77]

Never having used Mr Cook’s airline before I was not prepared for their ‘nice little earner’ which I encountered on a flight from London Gatwick to Preveza in late September. To be fair I had read in my booking conditions that the weight limit for cabin bags on TC’s airline is 5kg. Call me stupid but I've been flying for years and never before has my cabin bag been weighed. On arriving at baggage drop I was very surprised to be asked to put my cabin bag on the scales, weight 10kg, so I'm 5Kg over. In fact my cabin bag weighs 4Kg when empty, a statistic that no doubt encouraged Mr Cook to set a maximum weight of 5Kg in the sure and certain knowledge that this would ensnare the maximum number of passengers. Take your average cabin bag add a pair of shoes and a couple of T shirts and you’re into ‘excess baggage’ territory.
Our hold bags were also marginally over at 21kg each mainly due to the boat bits that regularly account for 98% of the contents of my checked-in bag every time we fly. Most airlines will overlook such minor transgressions but not Mr Cook's airline. We were staggered to be charged £98 for a total of 7kg excess.
So if you must fly on Mr Cook’s airline the lesson is to use a soft bag for your cabin baggage as unlike most airlines they appear not to specify a size limitation. On boarding the flight we saw people cramming sizeable soft bags into the overhead lockers. Finally and to add insult to injury the seats are so tightly packed that my knees were painfully locked into the arm rest hinges of the seat in front for this joyous 3 hours of expensive misery and I’m no giant at 6ft in my socks. So beware that if you are 6 ft tall or over don't fly with Mr Cook's airline, you won't get in to the space they provide without having to endure severe discomfort.

Whilst the enforcement is sporadic almost all budget airlines are pretty strict on cabbin baggage. Ryanair does allow 10kg but it is regularly checked both at check in and again at boarding, mind you Mrs Maxi will fly back to UK next month for 40 euros which is quite reasonable, fly BA Club if you want less hassle but you may notice a cost difference

 

[Borden]

Whilst the enforcement is sporadic almost all budget airlines are pretty strict on cabbin baggage. Ryanair does allow 10kg but it is regularly checked both at check in and again at boarding, mind you Mrs Maxi will fly back to UK next month for 40 euros which is quite reasonable, fly BA Club if you want less hassle but you may notice a cost difference

Maxi77
Now 10Kg cabin bag allowance is not unreasonable but 5Kg verges on stupid. Thanks for the tip. I have flown BA Club from Vancouver and you're right it was far less hassle but sadly they don't fly to Preveza.

 

[sailinglegend420]

.....To be fair I had read in my booking conditions that the weight limit for cabin bags on TC’s airline is 5kg............

We ONLY fly Thomas Cook if there are no other flights in December in Turkey.

Flew BA in Greece which was cheaper than Easyjet if you add in the TWO cabin bags and the 25 Kilo hold allowance and the meal!

 

[lenseman]

I have three Flylite bags and they're brilliant kit.

Hey! Don't tell him otherwise he will be a bright as you and will have nothing to moan about?

 

[B&M]

Far cheaper to fly Easyjet to Corfu and get ferry, taxi to Preveza (we are saving some £200 next year by travelling this route). No cabin weight limit and more leg room on Easyjet. I only use Thomas Cook for return journeys when my cases are virtually empty.

 

[Borden]

Far cheaper to fly Easyjet to Corfu and get ferry, taxi to Preveza (we are saving some £200 next year by travelling this route). No cabin weight limit and more leg room on Easyjet. I only use Thomas Cook for return journeys when my cases are virtually empty.

B&M We did exactly that trip last Easter. EasyJet to Corfu, ferry then a 24 hour 1 way car hire from Iggy, raided the supermarket on the way and the car was collected the next day from the marina in Preveza. Miles better than TC air I agree. Unfortunately in September we were taking family and didn't want the hassle so flew direct to Preveza. Backfired a bit eh!!

 

[Cariadco]

Aegean Airline...

Beware that Aegean have started a new trick with your luggage.
You have to declare, on-line what luggage your taking, and if different when checking in..Bingo 60e charge.

 

[NOHOH]

It Gets Even Better with Monarch

Depending on which letters your flight number starts with.....you either get a 5kg hand baggage allowance....or a 10 kg hand baggage allowance..... I got stung for £40 that way this past summer.....Shysters....it wasn`t even that cheap a flight to begin with

 

[maxi77]

Maxi77
Now 10Kg cabin bag allowance is not unreasonable but 5Kg verges on stupid. Thanks for the tip. I have flown BA Club from Vancouver and you're right it was far less hassle but sadly they don't fly to Preveza.

The reality is quite a few airlinse do limit handbaggage to 5 kg, some are generous at 6 and some eve go as far as 8 or even 10. Most of the non budget airlines used to be pretyy generous about hand baggage what ever their rules said, though I did see some one stopped a few years ago with two roll on suitcases. Budget airlines are much stricter, weight is fuel is money so they do apply their limits quite severely and I suspect they pay bonuses to the ground handlers for catching those over weight/size.

 

[AndrewB]

I've just been caught by another Thomas Cook scam, or rather by Netflight, Thomas Cook's online flight booking company.

SWMBO found a budget ticket at a decent price with Netflight. She went right the way through the booking, providing all details, until the very last line, when it flashed "booking not confirmed". 5 minutes later a phone call from a Netflight operator, "saw you had a problem can we help?". No thanks, perhaps there's a glitch with the plastic, we'll try again. Try a different card, same thing. And 5 minutes later, another call. No thanks again.

Next day having checked the plastic's fine, third try, once again "booking not confirmed" at the end. Yet another unsolicited call a few minutes later. This time SWMBO says yes. "No problem Madam, I have all your details, it's sorted, you are booked, I'll confirm by email".

We then find we have been charged an extra £70 for a call-centre flight booking plus £30 for travel insurance we didn't ask for or want. Helpful call centre girl is now 'unavailable', and the extra money declared 'unrefundable according to our T&C'.

Avoid this company. You have been warned.

 

[tennisgirl1]

Olympic Air has a limit of 8kg on hand luggage.

 

[penfold]

We then find we have been charged an extra £70 for a call-centre flight booking plus £30 for travel insurance we didn't ask for or want. Helpful call centre girl is now 'unavailable', and the extra money declared 'unrefundable according to our T&C'.

Avoid this company. You have been warned.

Complain to your credit card company and get them to refund the money; it sounds fairly straightforward.

 

[MASH]

I can't comment on TCs baggage policy except to say that if the small print says 5Kg then you're asking for trouble if you take 10, self evident, isn't it? However, that "allowance" does seem mighty restrictive and downright stingy - not to say opportunistic and added to the sardine-can conditions inside their aircraft mighty annoying. Just don't fly TC again.

Easyjet's policy is one item of hand baggage, and that doesn't mean a laptop or handbag as well, it means ONE piece but as said above there is no weight limit which leaves you a huge amount of freedom. The reason for this incidentally is nothing to do with weight is fuel is cost, the weight of hand baggage is all but irrelevant, it is to develop a revenue stream in paid-for hold baggage (as everyone else does now) and reduce costs by making the baggage handling contracts vastly cheaper due to reduced volume handled - which makes your ticket cheaper. The one item limit is to reduce boarding times which is directly related to the number, not weight of carry-on bags that passengers endlessly faff around with. Too much take-up of this his does result in a lack of space in the lockers (Aircraft manufacturers designed the lockers a decade or three before this idea was dreamed up) which is why on busy flights your hand baggage may be taken off into the hold f.o.c. to avoid boarding delays.

For a few days right after 11-9 no hand baggage was permitted at all and loading and disembarking was blissfully quick and easy, 5 minutes or so for 150 passengers. It went right back to 15 or more as soon as bags were allowed again. QED.

Excess baggage charges on some airlines, though they may seem stiff, are often actually comparable to international courier rates as I found when trying to get a 30Kg box of gear out to Crete earlier in the year.

And "sports equipment", a description that covers a multitude of sins, is usually free and in addition to your hold allowance - but check the small print. Who says a spinny pole isn't a windsurfer mast for instance?

 

[SHUG]

C'mon get real!!! The rules are plain as day and for £1 you can buy luggage scales to keep you right.
See here: http://www.poundland.co.uk/product-range/a-z/luggage-scales-with-measuring-tape/

 

[charles_reed]

You'll find all airlines limit the size of cabin baggage and all reserve the right to limit the weight (otherwise the overhead lockers will fall on innocent passengers heads). Usually a weight of about 8kg is accepted but going to 10kg is asking for trouble.

I cannot understand people flying to Preveza (never mind using Thos Cook) the flights are intermittent and expensive and whilst total travel time via Athens may greater you can get from nearly all provincial airports.
Even now my next year's flights LHR/ATH and back are only costing £54 each way and I get 23kg hold baggage, seat-choice and am fed within that price.
Whilst Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool are all far closer to my home, LHR is conspicuously easier to connect to.

 

[macd]

Borden:
you've got problems! I once flew Thos Cook (never again) and there was so little seat room I had to put two limbs in the hold. Cost me an arm and a leg.

 

[MASH]

all reserve the right to limit the weight (otherwise the overhead lockers will fall on innocent passengers heads). Usually a weight of about 8kg is accepted but going to 10kg is asking for trouble.

With respect, the public can do without misleading "advice" like that. "Usually a weight of about 8Kg" - Hooey! Different airlines = different weights. Read the small print or you'll get it wrong. Nothing usual or unusual about it.
"Going to 10Kg is asking for trouble". Well, maybe, if the limit is 8. But not on airlines with no limit.
"Fall on innocent peoples' heads..." Oh dear. I really don't think that's a factor. Oddly enough airlines are technical enough to have figured out whether this is a problem or not. ...anyway, how do the lockers know who is innocent and who is guilty so they can decide where to fall?

READ THE SMALL PRINT, and don't assume, like this poster, that there are general rules that apply ANYWHERE.

 

[BeBe]

So if you must fly on Mr Cook’s airline the lesson is to use a soft bag for your cabin baggage as unlike most airlines they appear not to specify a size limitation. On boarding the flight we saw people cramming sizeable soft bags into the overhead lockers. Finally and to add insult to injury the seats are so tightly packed that my knees were painfully locked into the arm rest hinges of the seat in front for this joyous 3 hours of expensive misery and I’m no giant at 6ft in my socks. So beware that if you are 6 ft tall or over don't fly with Mr Cook's airline, you won't get in to the space they provide without having to endure severe discomfort.

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