Ski boots - hand baggage or checked in

Not allowing boots as hand luggage is not a new phenomenon for me. I've had to repack in the check in queue and that was a few years ago.

I've heard the same from many airlines including Easyjet. usually blaming 'security' for not allowing it. If not security the weight allowance for cabin bags.

The problem is, whatever you've read on their terms and conditions you have to abide by what the check in desk tell you if you want to board. As security don't seem to have a problem it seems like the airlines are using it as away to make extra cash. Now there's a surprise!

The only way I can see you getting anywhere is to challenge the airline, with evidence of security procedure, upon your return.

OK - for those of you/us who like to pack boots in hand luggage, is this purely for weight distribution issues?

Well, clearly no Thomson holidays or flights for me :cry:

I've just weighed my boots in their special trolley (wheely) boot bag - 8 Kg!

Old Andy - I put my boots in my hand luggage because I'd just bought an expensive special mini-suitcase for them (£50) and I wanted to try it out :lol:

Ally

OldAndy wrote:OK - for those of you/us who like to pack boots in hand luggage, is this purely for weight distribution issues?

Sorry Andy I'm feeling a bit dim this morning. Are you asking what the reason is for choosing to take boots on as hand luggage?

If so, then yes weight distribution is a biggy for me. As they do weigh so much (as in an earlier post) your single hold luggage allowance can be decimated as soon as they go in. Although there is a 5k limit on hand luggage, they seem to forgive a kg or so. My boots were just about ok and MrEvs were over. Saying that, on our last holiday our hold luggage was over by about 7-8k anyway, but the check in guy said that the TO had just told him not to charge for excess otherwise we would have had to pay £10 per kg. He then allowed us to be even more cheeky and check in our boot bags too! All in, our hold luggage must have been at least 15 - 20kg over.

In short, it seems to be all about what the TO feels like doing on the day, except for the specific airline's standard conditions.

I'm now considering how workable it is to put our boots into the cases, and ramming the boot bags full of socks, knickers, pants etc etc to take on as hand luggage :roll:

I've just bought a double sized ski bag. It's got more than enough room for boots, Skis, poles and will take most of my clothes, and plenty of Heinz soup for a mid piste snack. I'll be taking my hand luggage mainly for my laptop, camera and any clothes that don't fit into my ski bag.

I'm flying BA (not my choice), and while there are a number of cabin crew who are hell bent on destroying their own careers and ruining people's holidays, they are pretty good with weight allowance. I'll be flying out of city airport, so hopefully won't be affected by the potential strikes.

I suppose the work around is to put your ordinary shoes in as hand luggage and wear the ski boots until you have gone through security and swap over after that.

andymol2 wrote:I suppose the work around is to put your ordinary shoes in as hand luggage and wear the ski boots until you have gone through security and swap over after that.

I love this suggestion! :lol:

andymol2 wrote:I suppose the work around is to put your ordinary shoes in as hand luggage and wear the ski boots until you have gone through security and swap over after that.

:mrgreen: Brilliant!

I may go a step further and don my jacket, ski trousers, goggles and hat.

Check in - "Going skiing sir?"

"What gives you that impression??"