Extra Luggage
 

Hello,

I am a bit confused with the extra luggage charges on economy. I will be travelling from Europe to US. How many extra luggage are we allowed to take?

I understood that the second extra luggage is $100, third is $200. What about if the third is oversized/overweight, is it still $200? also can I take more than 3 total luggage?

I'm moving to the US so I'm trying to figure out if it's cheaper to check in a few boxes (3-4 total, small-medium sized) as extra luggage or else use a shipping company and ship them out.

On most flights, UA won't complain if you'd like to pay them a lot of extra money for excess baggage. On some flights, particularly around holidays, they may refuse. That's more common on Central American routes, though, which are generally flown with smaller planes. I've never heard of a luggage embargo on a Europe flight.

If any piece is oversized or overweight, the $200 stacks with the other charges. So, if you bring three pieces, and one of them is overweight (23-32 kg), you'll get 1 free from the fare, then $100 for the second bag, and $400 for the third bag.

How much overweight? There is a limit to the maximum weight they will accept as checked baggage (not sure if published). I remember to have to deal with it with the particularly heavy piece of equipment.

Generally speaking, after a certain size shipping will become significantly cheaper, especcialy if using sea shipping (albeit quite slower, of course)

The upper limit for check-in luggage is (officially) 32kg or 70lbs

My guess is that they will not really be flexible on this as they have to ensure the safety of the baggage equipment and most especially the baggage handlers.

Actually, it’s contradictory. They state that the maximum is 100 lbs in one place, but then they list the fees only up to 70 lbs. I don’t know if they might charge twice for bags between 71 - 100 lbs.

I would be wary of using cardboard boxes. In the past, I've had to sign a liability waiver when checking something in a cardboard box.

That said, you might also want to consider a couple of basic ideas about strategic packing of things versus clothing. First, make sure your luggage (or box) is completely, totally full. Any empty space needs to be filled with something, even if that something is as mundane as an empty plastic water bottle or dirty clothing.

Second, bear in mind that for most of the journey, any luggage will be in what we might consider upside-down position, with the wheels in the air (this is so it will slide around less). And that you should be packing with the assumption that someone will, at some point, throw or drop your bag with far less care than you would use to move it.