For our upcoming trip to the US from the UK with BA we have 3 bags @ 32kg each * 4 pax = 384kg. We are a family of four, with two children, which entitles us to two strollers and two carseats as well. So that could be over 400kg (900lbs).

Just wondering if anyone has ever managed to use their full baggage allowance when travelling as a group like this?

I guess if you were moving home it might come in handy, but otherwise 400kg seems pretty crazy.

On overseas flights, I see it all the time. Overseas trips for leisure are typically for extended periods of time, so lots of luggage, and often with gifts to boot.

I guess it varies but the four of us did 2 weeks in Mexico with only hand luggage.

When we visit Asia it's nice to bring home souvenirs and food you can't find at home, and we could do 40kg or more on top of what we brought out with us, especially if friends request certain items, but 400kg is a different league from 40kg. I'm planning on bringing one of these: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=260504401560 back, plus half the Mexican grocery store, but even so I can't see us going anywhere near our allowance.

When I first moved to Asia I had 3 exactly 32kg bags, a large carryon (which had my LCD TV/Monitor), my laptop bag, and a smallish backpack...Though, only one 32kg bag was of clothes, I didn't want to waste my luggage space, so I filled the other 2 with either gifts for the GF, or things which I could have bought when I arrived, but why waste the money buying them again when I already had them in Canada and I had the free luggage space.(Utensils, fry pans, shampoo, toothpaste ect.)

3 connections

My record travelling solo was:
-48kg over three checked bags. And OS graciously waved the fee.

As a family consisting of three adults and one toddler:
-130kg on SQ. Not counting car seat, collapsible cot. Twelve pieces of checked luggage. And graciously, they didn't charge excess luggage since I was a *A Gold and wife was *A Silver. Better still, we had 30 hours transit in SQ and they allowed us to check the bags all the way through to Europe. God bless SQ!

Recently, I flew on SQ to SIN. As I checked my single bag in, the attendant asked if I had any more. To which I remarked that that was enough, I thought. She then related a story about a Jordanian family she checked in a few days prior with 200kg of excess luggage on the day. And she casually mentioned that this same family sent ca. 500kg on air cargo a few days prior. She didn't mention how many family members there were, though.

As a family of four (two adults, two kids): five checked bags, one child's mountain bike, one car seat and a collapsible bed. Cost EUR50 for the bike... And that's all the way from Europe to Australia. No other charges.

NG1Fan

When moving back to the US from Spain, I had three large bags which were all around 30kg and then my two carry-ons. Luckily they waived the fees for me though I was just an AA Plat at the time (I was in J).

Most of my things were with the movers but I had significant amount of clothing and then several bottles of Spanish wine

I think for normal travel these allowances are really high. But you have to see that the allowance you quoted was for travel in First. In Economy the allowance is now 23kgx2 on most overseas flights. That's not a lot. When I was still shuttling a lot of stuff between residences in Europe and the US I often had one or two suitcases even filled to the allowed 32kg. I remember how very surprised I was when I took a flight from EWR to ZRH with a heavy 32kg case and on my way back they didn't accept it anymore, saying the luggage allowance had changed to 23kg in the meantime. I was late and the gate agent was a ...... I should have argued that I bought the ticket before and the change should be grandfathered in. But I didn't know that and got ripped off. Still angry when I think of it.

Also, as others stated, when you bring gifts or goods for the family these levels can easily be attained. I think the craziest luggage loads are probably on flights from the first world to Africa and parts of Asia. It's the Brown's Osmosis law of traveling goods.

Till

It's a lot relative to what you would need for a typical return trip.

Maybe not so much if you are moving home, but that's what freight companies are for.

My husband and I travel several times a year to Tahiti/Moorea for extended stays, up to two months at a time. Because of the Tahitian tradition of bringing gifts to local friends, and also because we bring food and toiletries that are either difficult or expensive to buy there, we are ALWAYS at our maximum travel allowances of 70 pounds per checked bag (x 4 for the two of us), a rollaboard and a personal item apiece (with the heavy stuff in it), which adds another ~65 pounds each. Total: about 410 pounds for the 2 of us.

So far, we have never had to pay excess baggage fees on the international flights, but almost always do on the domestic USA leg and on interisland flights in French Polynesia.

(Our bags coming home are virtually empty -- we could fit our clothing in a backpack each, if we didn't need to drag the luggage home!)

Mrs Overpacking Paint Horse and I took four full size 50 lb bags, two maximum size carryons, two large briefcase style bags, and one wooden cane from DFW to ATH then DXB to DFW. At least we were able to check everything through going and returning. After having to move everything by ourselves into the DXB terminal, unload it onto a security scanner, then reload it all to check it in I think she may pack less next time.

The trick here is to buy luggage of different sizes, such that when you travel with some empty, you can fill a smaller one and put it inside a larger empty one. And, when they're all full, it's not really a limitation, as you tend to be weight-limited anyway.

The "most checked baggage" award that I know of personally goes to friends of the family, who in the 1970's moved to Hawaii on a whim. They had never actually been there before, and just thought it sounded good and decided to move there sight unseen. So, they packed up basically their entire lives into check-able boxes and flew there with basically their entire set of worldly possessions in checked baggage. They reportedly had dozens of boxes, and didn't really care about the extra baggage charges, which were not much back then and when you factor in the convenience and speed, it made sense to them.

The most I have seen a single passenger check in was ~75 pieces weighing 1.5 metric tons. It was a diplomat who was returning from a posting abroad.

I've also had a diplomat ask if we could check-in his Mercedes E-Series that he wanted to take home to be his ride over the holidays. Unfortunately for him, it could not fit into the X-ray scanner so would have had to go as cargo.

The most carry-ons I have seen a single passenger try to take aboard was 42 pieces weighing 730 kgs. He owned a restaurant and had stocked up on the Duty Free booze just before Christmas.

On some of the more popular trader routes (China/Dubai to Africa especially), 50-100 pieces of luggage for a single passenger are not uncommon.

B747-437B

makes jay z / beyonce chartering plane for luggage (when they had booked entire SA F cabin) seem insignificant.

Nothing compared to what B747-437B has seen, but the most I've checked in myself was about 125kg (4 bags of 32kgs each). Once on SQ when I moved from SIN to SFO a few years ago (used up the full PPS bag allowance), and once on BA (3 bag allowance + �60 for the 4th bag) when I moved from SIN to LON last year.

What does it say about me if I can reduce all my worldly belongings to 4 suitcases every few years?