Kalkan Turkey Forum - EnjoyKalkan.com
Travel and Accommodation => Flights and Travel => Topic started by: Kalkankiwi on July 19, 2008, 07:21:22 PM
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Flying out with Thomas Cook next week from Gatwick. Am restricted to 15kg hold luggage and 5kg carry on. Have done a trial pack today and am struggling to fit it all in. Just want to know how strict Thomas Cook are at Gatwick. Are they allowing you a couple of kilos grace or are they strictly enforcing the 15 and 5. Any advice appreciated.
KK
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Answer to this is, it depends. Firstly on the total number of passengers and secondly on who you pick or, are sent to at check-in.
In April, I was a Kilo or two over and had no problem, even though the flight was full. At the next door check-in were some younger people one of whom was also 2 kilo''s over, they got sent away to pay excess.
An older friend came out with approaching 40k in May 2007, on a half full flight and got away with it.
We have bought some lightweight holdalls now as most suitcases of a reasonable size weigh at least 4.5k. Also, even decent hold luggage doesn''t last very long if you travel regularly. I get quite upset about it, grrr.
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Yes, it is annoying, and with some flights you are not sure what your allowance is until you get your tickets!! We have also now bought new holdalls to try and keep the weight down and invested in luggage scales, which are really helpful.
Kalkankiwi, you can save a lot of weight by buying your toiletries and lotions when you get to Kalkan.
Any other helpful tips to pass on anyone?
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Yes ladies could cut down on weight by not bringing much and buying a complete new wardrobe of clothes when they arrive ;D
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Are you offering to pay Kevincat99? ;D
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Err - sorry joanH you have caught me at a bad time - having just had to pay a huge water bill of 21 YTL otherwise you know that i would have been only too pleased to ::)
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Joan,
The answer is leave your Kalkan clothes in your apartment. Then you only have cabin baggage and zoom through Dalaman airport. Thats what I do but getting Carole to do it nooooooooooo.
See you soon
Doug aka Eric Pollard!!!! ;) ;)
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I have Doug, but there are so many good sales on, it is just too tempting to add to my "Kalkan" wardrobe.
I have drastically reduced the amount I now bring out.
I don''t bring anything of Ray''s!!! ;D
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You don''t need much. I manage to come out with 9-10k in luggage. Heavier on the way home as I always bring back olive oil soap!.
Honestly, you only need a couple of changes of underwear, a couple of bathing costumes, 4/5 T shirts & a couple of pairs of trousers.
Anything you wash is dry in 4/5 hours & no one in Kalkan gives a flying **** what you wear.
As my son says: "Chill, Winston".
Enjoy your holiday - Kalkan ain''t a fashion parade!
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I struggle with 20kgs allowance, its shoes and toiletries that weigh the most, even though Kalkan is not a fashion parade it is nice to get dressed up, you will only need lightweight clothes at this time of year and mix and match, make sure you use your full 5kgs cabin allowance. Thomas Cook are usually easy on you going outbound but be carefull when you return at Dalaman they will sting you for everything
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We returned from Kalkan a month ago. We flew with Thomas cook and paid the extra for 20kg and still struggled (my sandals probably) you don''t realise how much everything weighs. Going out at Cardiff they seemed OK but coming back at Dalaman many people were really getting clobbered for going over such a little, a few had been charged £45 for going over hardly anything they were quite shocked. We were surprised too as we were under the limit going over and just on the limit coming back, this was a bit baffling as we only bought one small Turkish throw which was very light, as we didn''t want to worry about going over the limit, and we actually came back with a lot less as we left all the heavy bottles of toiletries over there and the bits of food we took (my hubby had to take his salad cream sauce etc and bars of chocolate) all which weighed quite a lot. So really we should have been weighing lighter. Talked to many people in the airport and they were saying the same thing. Weighed the cases when we got home on our electronic scales which was spot on when we went and it appeared that the Dalaman scales seemed to be weighing heavy. So if I were you I''d be careful and bear in mind what you''re fetching back too of course, Cardiff airport seemed fine didn''t hear any complaints can''t comment on Gatwick but they were definitely on the ball at Dalaman. Hope you have a good holiday anyway, in my experience we take far more than we wear and anything goes really in Kalkan. I''ll be worrying with packing next week as I''m off to Kyrenia in North Cyprus, have to cut down on the sandals I think then I might actually be able to buy some souvenirs!!
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My friend got clobbered at Dalaman for excess baggage. A lot of people seemed to have to pay excess baggage at Dalaman so be careful.
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We got done for excess baggage last July at Dalaman so were extra careful in October last year and again a fortnight ago. We were fine in October and on way out from Glasgow early July we were at least 8 kilos under. On way back from Dalaman the other day we were 0.2 kilos over. Couldn''t believe it as we had ditched all the heavy toiletries,left behind at least 7 books and had hardly bought anything to bring back. I''d love to know just how accurate the scales are.
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Hi joanH
Been wondering for ages if & where i can purchase something for weighing luggage,where do you get these scales from Joan?
Cheers
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just googled it and came up with this www.scalesexpress.com/product.php?productid=16486&cat=347&page=1
looks like just the job though not sure how check in staff would react if you wished to debate the accuracy of their scales with yours ::)
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We flew with thomas Cook in March, we had 15kg each. I filled my case with all things for our villa and my husbands case with our clothes, we weighed the cases before we left home and we were bob on with the weight, we were also spot on at machester.
So when we came home it meant that my case was empty and my husbands case should have been 15kg, we did not have anything extra in the case. At Dalaman both cases weighed 26kg!!!!! this doe''s not make sense, they were also charging people left right and center, so please do be careful on your way home, the Dalaman scales are deffo set up wrong, in our case it seems like Dalaman scales are out by 11kg!!!!
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We have a cheap holdall each, bought from Argos, and make sure we never fill it full....and we have used these over and over for many holidays at home and abroad.
Any toiletries we take are decanted into small bottles from superdrug.
As we stay self catering we also take clothes detergent decanted into a small bottle (cos i''m a sensitive girl and can only use a certain product!) for use in handwashing/washing machine....clothes dry so quickly in the heat!
I take a pair of sandals for evenings, a pair of daytime sandals, and lightweight clothes that can be mixed and matched for evenings and days.
MrB travels light, clothes wise! ::)
Any books/mags we take are left behind, and we don''t take any heavy goodies home with us.
And we take our snorkelling gear.
So far, so good...we always tend to come in under the allowance at both checkins. :angel:
P.S its a good job the 2 litres of Bombay Sapphire are purchased after checkin!!
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Beach towels also weigh heavy but you can buy cheap ones in Kalkan and then leave them there - works out less than paying excess luggage.
On our flight back earlier in the year a number of people being charged excess luggage at Dalaman were adamant that they had significantly less in their case than they had on the way out but their cases were now weighing heavier.
They have never weighed our hand luggage at Dalaman so perhaps it will help to put a couple of heavy items in it!!!!!!!!!!!
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They sell them on QVC and I have noticed a few adverts now in the Sunday papers and week-end supplements. They are all about the £20 mark, although I did spot some in a local luggage shop for £9.99. I have to say mine were spot on with the scales at Manchester airport.
If they are "out" at Dalaman, I would ask for a re-weigh, if I thought mine was the more accurate weight and they were trying to charge me.
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Thanks everyone.Found similar ones on Ebay for £1.99
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I''ve just been reading through this thread about the excess baggage and solutions for it.
Don''t try putting more into your hand luggage. All the above happened to me in May, went out heavier than going back and argued my case. The supervisor then insisted on putting my hand luggage on the scales to put the total together and tell me this was why I was overweight!
I managed to get her down to 30L from £90 - but it was difficult.
It seems to be a problem mostly with Thomas Cook flights. They are over zealous.
The point about the scales being wrong is a good one. Gatwick recently got fined for being the wrong callibration. So perhaps anyone getting charged for being overweight when they definitely know they''re not should demand to have their luggage weighed on another machine. It might be a solution, unless like the fairground stalls, they''re all working off the same percentage difference!
Rosie
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We flew with Onur air in June with two suitcases each weighing 21kg, 2kg over the limit in total and no charges made at East Midlands check-in.
On the way home, we were close to the end of a very long queue at check-in and I watched as bags were being weighed. Some much heavier than ours were checked in with no charge. Our cases, when we put them on the scales, weighed 22kg each!! We had nothing additional in the cases and had left all heavy items in Kalkan, toiletries, books, magazines, food items etc, so we anticipated that the cases would weigh significantly less.
Oh no! same old story.....we had to pay 10YTL per kilo excess baggage a total of 40YTL. When I challenged this I was greeted with a smirk, which I would have dearly liked to wipe off the lady in questions face, and told to pay up. At 03:00hrs this wears a little thin and especially as it seems to happen year on year. It all leaves a bad taste at the end of a wonderful holiday. :-X
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does anyone know if Onur have a max suitcase weight (two people one case - 40Kg allowance but max weight per single item is less ) ?
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I may be wrong, but I don''t think that baggage handlers are allowed to lift one item weighing more than 30kg
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When we were leaving the UK last week to come back home to Kalkan, there were signs at all the check- in counters saying that any bag weighing over 30 kg would be refused.
Lantana
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Thanks ! - The kitchen sink will have to stay at home 8)
BF
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we were clobbered by Monarch a few years back..the scales were actually moving up and down with nothing on them!! (the desk was controlled by ace handling)we pointed this out to them but got the same smirk and attitude..people in the line next to us were checking in with no charges,friends we met checked in with more luggage than us and a rug and not charged....now i rent property with a washing machine and travel so light my bag feels nigh on empty ;)