Leedor

Hi all, we are flying Finnair HEL-SIN and then Qantas SIN-SYD. 2 adults and 1 infant. Finnair luggage allowance for this leg is 23kg per person including infants (69kg total). Qantas for this leg is 30kg per adult and 10kg for the infant. So I'm wondering if this Qantas allowance is just counted as 70kg to spread across bags (we'll have 3 large suitcases) as we please - in which case we can aim for 23kg in each, easy - or if Qantas might insist that we have 1 of the bags limited to 10kg - so we'd have to repack all our light but bulky things into the lightest bag and hope for the best.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Lee

scoow

I am moving this thread to the Qantas forum where the experts can help with your question.

scoow, Information Desk moderator

edy4eva

Can be 70kg spread across, no need to worry.
Are these separate tickets?

Leedor

Thanks scoow and edy4eva and sorry for any newbie mistakes/questions/answers. Not sure what the separate tickets question is asking exactly. The 3 flights (2 adults+infant) were bought using BA Airmiles. The two legs (HEL-SIN and SIN-SYD) are part of the same ticket purchase ie all flights were bought at once. So unless I've misunderstood, it sounds like I can spread the 70kg as it suits us across the 3 bags. Good to hear!

Mwenenzi

Leedor Welcome to the forum

Reads as if its 1 ticket/PNR HEL-SIN-SYD. Not 2 seperate tickets of HEL-SIN followed by SIN-SYD as a seperate ticket.

If SIN is just a transit you will check in your bags at HEL and then never see them again to SYD. So not an issue.

If SIN is a stopover you will need to meet QF bag limits of weight and number of checked bags, when you check in. But as above just spread you 70 kg in the 3 several bags

Or better still take less weight (hard with a infant). Be carefull with your carry on baggage size & weight limits on both airlines.

edy4eva

If this is a single ticket as described, you'll be limited to the first carrier's allowance which is 69kg. I suggest you contact BA EC and double check the baggage allowance on the ticket just to be safe.

nux

Out of interest, is this a return or oneway booking? And how long is your stopover in SIN?

A multi-partner redemption through BAEC with avios (it is no longer called Airmiles) is more expensive than using one partner. For HEL-SIN-SYD it is 70k avios in economy, but booked separately it would be only 50k avios (although with no protection for misconnects/delays).

Leedor

Thanks also to Mwenezi, edy4eva again and nux.

Yes, a single ticket but with a stopover. We are not so concerned about the 69 vs 70kg limit rather that one of our 3 bags may be limited to 10kg. Limiting weight will be difficult as we are not just on holiday, we are leaving Finland for Sydney and carrying with us everything we need since our things were shipped to Sydney and across a tough winter climate through tropical!

Anyway it seems like it is the total weight of our bags rather than per bag and that is fine.

nux: yes, it was 70k avios for the multi-partner flight - sorry to hear if I've wasted avios but I am fairly sure I checked for individual flights as well and they weren't available - only available when booked as one trip. Anyhow, what's done is done.

Cheers all.

Dave Noble

Each time you check in, then the baggage allowance will be dependant upon the journey to the next stopover point

If you have a stopover in SIN, then Finnair's baggage allowance of 1 bags of max 23Kg per person will apply to for LHR-SIN

When you then check in with Qantas for SIN-SYD, Qantas's allowance of 30Kg per adult and 10Kg per infant will apply for the journey SIN-SYD

If you have no stopover in Singapore, then Finnair will be the most significant carrier for that journey and so Finnair's allowance will apply all the way from LHR-SYD

If you have no bag which is under 10Kg, then you may be charged excess baggage in Singapore for the infant since there is no rule that allows passengers to actually just pool allowances, but I think you would be unlucky if this occured, however if you want a zero risk situation, I would aim to ensure that you have 1 piece at 10Kg and 2 x 30 Kg when checking in for Qantas and not just turn up with 3x23Kg

Mwenenzi

How long is the stop over?
What flights are you on?

And welcome to Australia (when you get here)

thadocta

Are you really sure about that? I was under the impression that the MSC rule applied to the ENTIRE ticketed itinerary, rather than individual segments.

If it was otherwise, it would make a joke of the reasoning behind bringing in the MSC rule, as the intention was that the same allowance would apply across an entire trip (if on the one booking), thereby eliminating all of the uncertainty regarding allowances between different carriers.

Off to do some research on this, but I think you are wrong on this one Dave.

Dave

Dave Noble

The only time when the allowance is fixed for the entire itinerary is where the journey is to or from the USA where the allowance in force at the beginning of the itinerary applies to the entire ticketed itinerary

The only thing that is fixed for other journeys is the use of MSC for allowance from checkin point to stopover/turnaround/termination point

serfty

No - Dave is correct.

Generally, with IATA 302, luggage allowance for each individual journey within a booking is based on the MSC of each journey. The "Most Significant Carrier" being that carrier Operating the Segment qualified as being the "Most Significant".

However, there are exceptions to IATA 302 in relation to bookings with flights to/from(/furthest checked point being in) the USA where:

• The first checked baggage allowance for a booking applies to travel for the entire booking, and
• the "Most Significant Carrier" for the entire booking is that carrier Marketing the Segment qualified as being the "Most Significant" for the first journey.

Here's a good page on this: Most Significant Carrier - Cathay Pacific

Leedor

Wow, thought this was going to be a relatively simple question but seems there are a few sides to the story. Thanks to everyone for your input, I will try to call BA EC soon to clarify this and advise.

Leedor

So, BA EC specified:
On AY0081 (HEL-SIN) we would in fact be entitled to 2 x 23kg per adult and 1 x 23kg per infant = 5x23kg suitcases total.
On QF0006 (SIN-SYD) we would be entitled to 1 x 30kg per adult and 1 x 10kg per infant = 2x30kg + 1x10kg suitcases total.
They were unable to advise if weights could be pooled and advised to contact Qantas.
Qantas responded:
"Please note that the baggage restrictions must be adhered too. Meaning that the babies suitcase cannot weigh more than the 10Kgs stated, so we would advise to split the extra weight between the other 2 suitcases."
I imagine then that it is as Dave Noble suggested and that it would depend on the check-in staff on the day and we would probably be ok but there is a chance that pooling of allowance would not be allowed.
Thanks again to all for your valued inputs.