I find the whole travelling with ski equipment very stressful - I will always book with an airline that will let me take what we need....this is getting harder as most airlines transatlantic are 2 x 23Kg each which even then is infintely better than trying to ski in europe.

If you have your own kit, you are best part of 20Kg each just for this stuff - skis, boots, helmets, backpacks etc etc.

We usually travel with a double ski bag (15KGs) and a Saloman kit bag with two pairs of boots + all the other gear, ski clothing etc (25KGs). Recently a number of airlines have gone for a 23KG limit which means stuffing ski jackets and/or salopettes into the ski bag which I can deal with. We also have to take at least one suitcase for 'normal' apres-ski clothes! So a as an absolute minimum 2 people are going to be travelling with 60Kgs (and for us that's travelling light to be honest)

The problem comes when you have a flat 20Kg each (bmi connections or charter flights!).

It just can't be done (charter flight to Chamberry with a 15Kg limit anyone?)

I don't mind paying excess baggage as long as it's reasonable and I know I'm not going to turn upat the airport and being asked for an extra £100 each way. If I get stung for £20 that sounds reasonable for a bit of extra baggage handling. Start charging £5 a kilo (bmi!) and you can forget it.

And it really annoys me that I spend the whole year on full fare tickets with no baggage but the one time I travel with stuff I have to worry about distributing 20Kgs amongst my person (wear ski jacket!) and hand baggage - one day I'll board a flight in my ski boots......

so my call to BA (and the other airlines) - make it easy for us to enjoy our sport - we're usually a few kilos lighter than the rest of the passengers anyway (I wish!!!)