Many thanks to all for your help and advice, it has been great. I am packing as I write this, I'm going tomorrow. In fact this time tomorrow I will be on my way to the airport!!!! So excited.

Again thanks so much for the advice.

Kindest regards

Gillian

I think Airlines do not realise that having such low baggage allowance is detrimental to their country's economy as travellers will be wary of doing much shopping as they would not want to pay extra cost for going above the limit!

Regards

Jaya

Hi,

I did this trip in May. My suitcase weighed 23kg or there abouts for all the flights as did most others and we got away with it. However they did not like you taking the mick so if your suitcase was really over than you had to take some out. My hand luggage probably weighed a ton but it was never weighed! I certainly picked up a lot of souvenirs on the trip so be prepared for a little extra weight going home! There was free laundry on the cruise if you had an upgraded room which a lot of our group used. Any questions just ask, it is a fabulous trip

Lucinda

Wow! many thanks for taking the trouble to reply while away, it's really brilliant of you. The information is very welcome, it sounds great I can't wait to get there, I'm so excited. One further question, what's the weather like at the moment? Will I need many long sleeved things?

Very many thanks

Kindest regards

Gillian

I am on the tour at the moment, and as we speak, the 20kg does not seemed to be inforced to heavily, and you probably can get to 23kg, but I would say be prepared to shift it to your hand luggage if things do change, as for hand luggage as long as it fits the dimensions of the restrictions the kg seems to be ignored, we have seen people, locals that is, with boxes of apples, well over the hand luggage weight.

But remember this is what we are experiencing, at the moment.

I will say the laundry service has been excellent at all the hotels so far, we are at chengdu at the moment. Pandas tomorrow.

Hope that may help, but l would say try and travel light, you don't have time to change most evenings, due to traffic, use the hotels 24 hour laundry service, put it in the bag before you leave in the morning its back by 7ish that day. It is a little expensive but cheaper than excess baggage. 3 shirts, 1 pair of trousers at xi'an £14.

Be prepared China is nothing what you imagined and until you get to Xi'an you don't really see the true China, its a great holiday so far. And don't be to worried about the Xian hotel the next at chengdu is as good as Beijing, but so far Beijing has the top breakfast choice, and I mean choice, you will see. By the way Xian hotel is good and clean, just in need of renovation and brightning up.

Hi Tim,

I have just found your reply,

Apologies again,

Thanks

Regards

Gillian

Hi Gillian, I have spoken to my colleague who deals with China flights and they've informed me that we used to have a special arrangement with Air China where we could carry up to 30kg. This was changed in early 2013 and reduced to 23kg contractually. Now, if all of the flights are with the same carrier then 23kg is allowed all the way through the tour, but this isn’t the case with this departure. The 20kg only kicks in if there is a flight booked by our agent in China (due to issues where we weren’t able to secure the right flight to fit in with the itinerary) - if we do this then the ticket chain breaks as the internal flight booked by the agent is not connected to ours.

Normally all Just You travellers get booked in as a group and the baggage weight is averaged out and does not incur extra charges if the group stays within the allowance.

As the flight between Xian and Chengdu is booked by the agent we have to abide by the restrictions. However, there haven't been any issues with luggage restrictions since the change so we do not foresee any issues with this departure.

Thanks,

Tim

Hi Bob,

Many thanks for your reply. It's very reassuring to hear 23kg should be ok. I have researched it a bit myself and I agree with you but it would be good to have a Just You representative speak to Air China and get a clear answer. I think they should be fighting for 23kg especially, as you say, the hand luggage allowance is very small at 5kg. It's things like camara, camcorder etc that weigh so much in hand luggage. I'm going in 10 days time so I'm really excited.

kind regards

Gillian

Hi Gillian given what some other folks have said and our tour manager on the India tour said (different tour I know but the principle seems to hold true), that if the international baggage allowance for your hol is 23kg and the internal flights are 20kg, then if you are a bit over on the internal flights it'll be no problem - once you're not over 23kg! This has seemed to pan out on a number of hols I've done where there are internal flights and a number of the group were over 20kgs and there was not a problem. I seem to remember recently on another China posting that Air China have a miserly 5kg allowance for hand luggage so you might run into more problems that way!

Hope this helps,

Bob

Hi Tim,

Thanks you for your message. Please help us, judging by the forum, this is a frequently recurring question asked by many Just You customers over the last couple of years. The editor then definitely reassures them that "Just You have a special arrangement with Air China" and in fact the limit is up to 30kg unless other UK flights are involved. What happened to the special arrangement?

I researched this a bit and it seems it is usual for the weight allowance of "main carrier" to be accepted for a whole trip even if it involves other carriers. Can whoever handles the China holidays and the Air China bookings check this out.

For a trip of 17 days the extra 3kgs would be very helpful it makes a huge difference. If I go away with a bag on the very limit I would be afraid my bag would be too heavy on the way back if I bought anything. I know some might chance it but it would bother me for the whole trip. Suitcases weigh 4-5 kgs so from a 20kg allowance it only leaves 15kgs of contents.

Adding to hand luggage isn't an option because Air China has a very miserly 5kg limit on this. As cameras etc can't really go in checked in luggage this will be tight too.

I think Just You should be fighting for the 23kg allowance for their customers and then be clear about it, as seems to have happened until recently. I can see it would be much easier for you to suggest the lower weight to be on the safe side but a Just You representative needs to arrange the 23kg for us.

I have emailed you because the person I spoke to no the phone last week promised to get back to me the next day with an answer but hasn't. Time is running out, only 10 days to my flight now.

Regards

Gillian

Hi Gillian, most of our holidays have a baggage allowance of 20kg plus hand luggage. If you are concerned about exceeding the baggage allowance, perhaps for the internal flights you could transfer heavier items to your hand luggage?

Thanks,

Tim

Hi Gillian given what some other folks have said and our tour manager on the India tour said (different tour I know but the principle seems to hold true), that if the international baggage allowance for your hol is 23kg and the internal flights are 20kg, then if you are a bit over on the internal flights it'll be no problem - once you're not over 23kg! This has seemed to pan out on a number of hols I've done where there are internal flights and a number of the group were over 20kgs and there was not a problem. I seem to remember recently on another China posting that Air China have a miserly 5kg allowance for hand luggage so you might run into more problems that way!

Hope this helps,

Bob