Leaving on Wednesday to our first holiday, ever....we are not new to intl travel but this is our first time not visit family or traveling for work.

Any way, we are flying BA to Heathrow then to Prague.

My question is what is the allowable weight for checked in baggage?

In reading the BA website it seems that for intl flights the weight allowance is ~70lb....but since we are connecting to a regional flight I am afraid we will be limited to ~52lb.

I have a tendency t pack like I am deploying...so weight is always a challenge. In my 29" roller I can fit 2 weeks of winter clothing in one side....the bad part is the other side is all kit and kit is heavy.

I am really trying to avoid the bag dig through and shuffle I have done in the past...especially the one in Jakarta that lead me to unintentionally smuggling a machete through Indo security and into Doha...much to my and the guy running the xray machines surprise.

Hope he still is using that machete in good health

My flight to London then Brussels was on British Airways. Taken about 45days ago.

The "Regional Weight" trumps the international weight. So 50lbs was the limit.

At first I was concerned that the limit was too limiting. But after paring down, everything seemed to be just fine. I didn't miss anything that I left behind. I'm convinced that traveling with half the crap you normally bring is a better experience.

Andrew

I fly through Heathrow frequently, connecting everywhere. I avoid Heathrow, and Britsh Airways, if at all possible.

Keep your bag below 50 lbs.

Be careful about US rules that allow you to have two items to carry aboard; people tend to stretch "one carry-on and one personal item" to the limit. I have seen a lot of baggage, even electronics, thrown in the trash in Heathrow when people get off flights from the US and find out that what worked on United or American is not tolerated on British airways. They end up throwing one suitcase away, sometimes a briefcase, and in the past I've seen bins full of laptops and other things get chucked.

Personally, if it doesn't fit under the seat in front, I don't try to carry it aboard British Airways (or most anything else). A number of international airlines are like that. KLM, for example, can be very strict.

My roll-away bag is 44 lbs; it weighs nearly 25 lbs empty. I can live out of it year-round without coming home, and typically go for several weeks to several months out of that bag. Find a way to lighten the load-out, if you can.

Pack for the most restrictive travel; if you're using smaller aircraft that have a lower restriction, plan on that. Generally if it's the same airline, and you're ticketed through on one trip, it's not a problem, but keep in mind that this may change on the return trip, depending on how you're booked.

If several of you are going, move things between bags to balance the load.

As for avoiding someone going through your bags, good luck. My bags get searched regularly. Especially coming out of the US. They have crew tags on them, and they have metal plates that spell out "crew" for the x-ray, and still get searched all the time.

Thank you, down to 55lb.

Now to look at my carry on backpack, it works for US domestic but technically is over 23" tall.

quote:

Originally posted by dewhorse:
Now to look at my carry on backpack, it works for US domestic but technically is over 23" tall.

As member sns3guppy suggested: Experienced travelers know better than to push their luck. BA's limit is 56cm (22 in.). At over 23 in. you are more than 3-1/2cm over the limit. Note also the 45cm x 25cm (18 in. x 10 in.) (width x height) limits.

I don't know how they are now, but, every time I flew through Heathrow, many, many years ago, the officials there were even more humourless than their American counterparts--hard as they may be to imagine.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by dewhorse:
Now to look at my carry on backpack, it works for US domestic but technically is over 23" tall.

As member sns3guppy suggested: Experienced travelers know better than to push their luck. BA's limit is 56cm (22 in.). At over 23 in. you are more than 3-1/2cm over the limit. Note also the 45cm x 25cm (18 in. x 10 in.) (width x height) limits.

I don't know how they are now, but, every time I flew through Heathrow, many, many years ago, the officials there were even more humourless than their American counterparts--hard as they may be to imagine.

I would agree, normally I try to avoid Heathrow since they made me miss a flight due to a carry on that had to be checked after I landed.

BA was not happy either since I made them book me out of Gatwick that same day.

On the positive side the immigration fellow was very understanding