Hi all,

I'm currently in Kota Kinabalu, and trying to find a way of getting a bunch of luggage from here to Cairns, Australia (3 people traveling with lots of personal and scientific gear). One option is taking Air Asia to Sydney, and finding a way to Cairns from there. I can buy 40kg of checked baggage per person. In addition, I can buy 40kg of sports baggage per person. The question is, how likely are they to let me check a bunch of non-sports-gear under the sports baggage allowance? I understand they're not supposed to (de jure), but i'm wondering how this works in actual fact (de facto).

I've been in jams on Air Asia before with luggage, on a domestic flight, and they've been quite accommodating in trying to use sports luggage allowances and otherwise to help from from paying an absolute fortune. It might help that I have my wife with me and 3 year old daughter climbing all over me while checking in.

It's a risk, but if I could get a sense of just how risky it may be and therefore make it a calculated risk, then I could perhaps make a decision on what to do... any thoughts greatly appreciated...

thanks,
allie