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Plakias => PlakChat => Topic started by: harribobs on June 10, 2008, 11:35:59 PM

Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: harribobs on June 10, 2008, 11:35:59 PM
i'm sure this was discussed elsewhere but i am damned if i can find it

manchester airport two weeks ago, we were pretty sure we were close to the 20 kilos limit but i was very surprised to be told the first case was 24.7 kilos and they were going to charge me £25 for it!

remembering t'other thread i asked to see their calibration certificate and there was a definite buttock clenching behind the desk, the supervisor came over and told me their scales were better than mine so i asked why? show me the cert ( they didn't have one) the case was then re-weighed on the adjacent scale and miraculously came down to 20.5K  

to show their authority they made us transfer half a kilo to our hand luggage, wonderful people....
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Yvonne on June 11, 2008, 06:37:47 AM
Quote from: harribobs
i'm sure this was discussed elsewhere but i am damned if i can find it

manchester airport two weeks ago, we were pretty sure we were close to the 20 kilos limit but i was very surprised to be told the first case was 24.7 kilos and they were going to charge me £25 for it!

remembering t'other thread i asked to see their calibration certificate and there was a definite buttock clenching behind the desk, the supervisor came over and told me their scales were better than mine so i asked why? show me the cert ( they didn't have one) the case was then re-weighed on the adjacent scale and miraculously came down to 20.5K  

to show their authority they made us transfer half a kilo to our hand luggage, wonderful people....


Same thing happened to us in Tenerife in Feb.  Told us both cases were 1K overweight when we knew we were well under.  Got us by the proverbial and had to pay £20.  New tax maybe?
Yvonne
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: George on June 11, 2008, 08:11:24 AM
Quote from: harribobs
i'm sure this was discussed elsewhere but i am damned if i can find it

manchester airport two weeks ago, we were pretty sure we were close to the 20 kilos limit but i was very surprised to be told the first case was 24.7 kilos and they were going to charge me £25 for it!

remembering t'other thread i asked to see their calibration certificate and there was a definite buttock clenching behind the desk, the supervisor came over and told me their scales were better than mine so i asked why? show me the cert ( they didn't have one) the case was then re-weighed on the adjacent scale and miraculously came down to 20.5K  

to show their authority they made us transfer half a kilo to our hand luggage, wonderful people....

Good on ya Chris, I'll keep that one in mind!!  

george g...
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: John R on June 11, 2008, 08:23:05 AM
Quote from: harribobs
i'm sure this was discussed elsewhere but i am damned if i can find it

manchester airport two weeks ago, we were pretty sure we were close to the 20 kilos limit but i was very surprised to be told the first case was 24.7 kilos and they were going to charge me £25 for it!

remembering t'other thread i asked to see their calibration certificate and there was a definite buttock clenching behind the desk, the supervisor came over and told me their scales were better than mine so i asked why? show me the cert ( they didn't have one) the case was then re-weighed on the adjacent scale and miraculously came down to 20.5K  

to show their authority they made us transfer half a kilo to our hand luggage, wonderful people....

That is SERIOUS and ought to be reported to the trading standards folks. If they then check the scales and they are wrong they will be in ultra serious trouble with very heavy fines indeed. Using wrongly calibrated commercial scales is a very serious offence.

John R
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Mike G on June 11, 2008, 09:22:02 AM
Quote from: John R
That is SERIOUS and ought to be reported to the trading standards folks. If they then check the scales and they are wrong they will be in ultra serious trouble with very heavy fines indeed. Using wrongly calibrated commercial scales is a very serious offence.

John R
I agree that you ought to do that Chris. In recent years I weigh everything on my kitchen scales (I can do it in about 6 "batches" with balancing things on a tea tray) as my previous method of weighing myself on bathroom scales with or without the luggage was proving inaccurate. It now agrees to within less than 0.5kg. Incidently, my bag weighs over 3 kg empty.

Mike

ps. what was Paleohora like Chris?
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: harribobs on June 11, 2008, 01:11:16 PM
 oh you can bet i'll be taking it further!!

paleohora was wonderful, it was very hot but we got in some good walking and plenty of beach
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: George on June 11, 2008, 03:50:06 PM
Quote from: harribobs
oh you can bet i'll be taking it further!!

paleohora was wonderful, it was very hot but we got in some good walking and plenty of beach
Keep us up to date Chris, what John says is true, if the scales are in commercial use, by law, they must be calibrated, and to have that much difference in weights there must be something wrong somewhere.

george g...  

Just a thought, Mandy's boots didn't fall out during the transfer to the other machine did they??
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: harribobs on June 11, 2008, 03:55:27 PM
 no they didn't but i think the check-in girls foot came of the scale
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Rowena & Carl on June 13, 2008, 11:20:03 PM
Quote from: harribobs
no they didn't but i think the check-in girls foot came of the scale

Thanks for the tip, who were you travelling with? as we are off on Tuesday with Easyjet from Manchester & my suitcase is always over! Need to be really harsh with the packing this year I guess or need a new suitcase that weighs about 5kg!

Rowena

Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: harribobs on June 14, 2008, 03:45:31 PM
XL Rowena

i'll think twice before doing it again
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: John R on June 14, 2008, 07:30:25 PM
Quote from: harribobs
XL Rowena

i'll think twice before doing it again

Gee thanks - we are with XL from Manchester for first time this year.

John R
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Yvonne on June 14, 2008, 08:42:00 PM
Went with Monarch when it happened to us, although I do not personally blame the airline.  The action we took was:
1.  Bought a holdall (weighs les that a K) and 2: invested in some luggage scales (£20 from Lakeland).  This certainly paid off for us on a recent trip to Canada.
Yvonne
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Alex&fran G on June 25, 2008, 07:23:25 PM
Quote from: Yvonne
Went with Monarch when it happened to us, although I do not personally blame the airline.  The action we took was:
1.  Bought a holdall (weighs les that a K) and 2: invested in some luggage scales (£20 from Lakeland).  This certainly paid off for us on a recent trip to Canada.
Yvonne

We had 20k of luggage this year because we booked before the changes, I was surprised when our 2 cases came to 44kilos, and nobody said a word.
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: George on July 07, 2008, 02:28:38 PM
Quote from: harribobs
oh you can bet i'll be taking it further!!
Hi Chris, how's the campain going, any progress?? Or is that a stupid question  ?

george g...
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Rowena & Carl on July 08, 2008, 12:58:04 AM
Quote from: George
Quote from: harribobs
 oh you can bet i'll be taking it further!!

Hi Chris, how's the campain going, any progress?? Or is that a stupid question  ?

george g...


Ok I didn't learn my lesson!! suitcase was over on way out but was ok as had room in hand luggage to off load 2KG, however despite leaving quite alot in Plakias with the scooter (ok I did buy quite a bit too... but I'm a girl! & the litre of Olive Oil from Eftitios our taxi driver probably didn't help) even so in Heraklion my case was 34 kilo's & Carl's 24 kilo's & he had nothing extra in his bag (Well in fact less as we lost a bag of things whilst in Plakias). Anyway the girl who checked us in was really nice & at first she said we were 13 KG over but she'd only charge for 5KG @ 9 euro's per kilo but then she said if we had another bag we could check in it would be only 15 euro's so the end result wasn't so bad. But never again I will go home with nice clean ironed clothes!! Shall invest in this gadget from Lakeland sounds good, Thanks
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Allan Barham on July 08, 2008, 08:43:01 AM
Quote from: Rowena & Carl
Quote from: George
Quote from: harribobs
 oh you can bet i'll be taking it further!!

Hi Chris, how's the campain going, any progress?? Or is that a stupid question  ?

george g...


Ok I didn't learn my lesson!! suitcase was over on way out but was ok as had room in hand luggage to off load 2KG, however despite leaving quite alot in Plakias with the scooter (ok I did buy quite a bit too... but I'm a girl! & the litre of Olive Oil from Eftitios our taxi driver probably didn't help) even so in Heraklion my case was 34 kilo's & Carl's 24 kilo's & he had nothing extra in his bag (Well in fact less as we lost a bag of things whilst in Plakias). Anyway the girl who checked us in was really nice & at first she said we were 13 KG over but she'd only charge for 5KG @ 9 euro's per kilo but then she said if we had another bag we could check in it would be only 15 euro's so the end result wasn't so bad. But never again I will go home with nice clean ironed clothes!! Shall invest in this gadget from Lakeland sounds good, Thanks

I met a fellow on the beach one year who claimed that he bought all his holiday clothes in charity shops and never bothered to take them home.  His strategy might not win the approval of the distaff side but seemed perfectly logical for the men.  I can't ever remember needing my dinner jacket when dining in Plakias!  We haven't resorted to his strategy yet but we would admit to never taking home beach umbrellas, beach mats, and other holiday paraphernalia which we usually offer to anyone on the beach who would like them on our last day.

Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: George on July 08, 2008, 08:54:47 AM
Quote from: Allan Barham
I met a fellow on the beach one year who claimed that he bought all his holiday clothes in charity shops and never bothered to take them home.  His strategy might not win the approval of the distaff side but seemed perfectly logical for the men.  I can't ever remember needing my dinner jacket when dining in Plakias!  We haven't resorted to his strategy yet but we would admit to never taking home beach umbrellas, beach mats, and other holiday paraphernalia which we usually offer to anyone on the beach who would like them on our last day.
On a similar note, the majority of my 'daytime' clothes (for the beach etc.) are bought in the cheap shops, ie Primark, TJ's etc., yes and charity shops, and are disposable items. So a lot of my stuff gets dumped before I come back as well.
What's the point in hanging on to a £2-3 t-shirt!!? Buy some more for next year, when you get back. Been doing it for years!!

george g...
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Barny on July 08, 2008, 09:02:38 AM
I think I tend to hang on to things, The vest I wear in PLakias, as seen in my avatar, was bought from a cheap shop in Sheldon, Birmingham for my first visit to Plakias some 19 years ago and has been on me for every visit. my beach towel is also the same age but the shorts are only ten years old!  23 days to go!

                                                    Barny.
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: George on July 08, 2008, 09:12:29 AM
Quote from: Barny
I think I tend to hang on to things, The vest I wear in PLakias, as seen in my avatar, was bought from a cheap shop in Sheldon, Birmingham for my first visit to Plakias some 19 years ago and has been on me for every visit. my beach towel is also the same age but the shorts are only ten years old!  23 days to go!

                                                    Barny.
Must admit Barny, the 'vest' sounds a bit iffy.  

I've also got a beach towel I've been using since the year dot. Freebie from American Express about 20 years ago. It's getting a bit thin now which is good, cuts down on the weight a bit though!!  

george g...
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Barny on July 08, 2008, 09:21:34 AM
It does get washed George!  I've also rented the same motor bike for the last six+ years, I reckon I own it now!

                       Barny.
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: George on July 08, 2008, 09:28:12 AM
That's pretty good Barny, to find a bike that's lasted for 6 years!!

george g...
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Barny on July 08, 2008, 11:09:29 AM
I think its on auto pilot as all it does is, Stella--far end--Antonis--far end--Stella, I did once venture out of Plakias to go to Damnoni but the police had me for no helmet.

                                       Barny.
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: George on July 08, 2008, 11:31:51 AM
Quote from: Barny
I think its on auto pilot as all it does is, Stella--far end--Antonis--far end--Stella, I did once venture out of Plakias to go to Damnoni but the police had me for no helmet.

                                       Barny.
I was going to call you a lazy G**, but Pete and I have decided to hire the cars lunchtime, and I suppose mine will be doing roughly the same as your bike. Flisvos > far end > Antoni's > Flisvos. With the odd excusion to explore and 'Do' the 'Road'.
It's got to a point where I've been there done that, so it's going to be there just for convienience I suppose.

What's all this got to do with excess luggage?

george g...
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Barny on July 08, 2008, 12:20:30 PM
Oh yes, this is the luggage thread! Talking of leaving things behind, I remember years ago people always left unused or part used stuff in a box at the place where they stayed. I had a big clear plastic Li Lo which I folded up all nice and left for someone to have. This was a bit cruel as it was burst and I had this picture of someone spending time to inflate it, only to find it deflated ten minutes later!
Any one else got a confession?

                            Barny.

Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Mike G on July 08, 2008, 01:00:28 PM
Quote from: George
On a similar note, the majority of my 'daytime' clothes (for the beach etc.) are bought in the cheap shops, ie Primark, TJ's etc., yes and charity shops, and are disposable items. So a lot of my stuff gets dumped before I come back as well.
What's the point in hanging on to a £2-3 t-shirt!!? Buy some more for next year, when you get back. Been doing it for years!!

george g...
I'd rather go the Primark route than take second hand underpants from a charity shop although I do very much approve of recycling. The principle of buying for your holiday then dumping is just a symptom of our throwaway society and a reason the world is running out of natural resources. So, basically I'm with Barny on this one.

Mike
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Barny on July 08, 2008, 01:22:35 PM
On the subject of re cycling, I wonder how they cope with the amount of plastic water bottles that are discarded in Plakias alone? and glass beer  bottles (thats bottles made of glass containing beer) is there a re cycling plant nearby?

                                          Barny.
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Mike G on July 08, 2008, 01:30:42 PM
Quote from: Barny
On the subject of re cycling, I wonder how they cope with the amount of plastic water bottles that are discarded in Plakias alone? and glass beer  bottles (thats bottles made of glass containing beer) is there a re cycling plant nearby?

                                          Barny.
Reps and others ought to be encouraging visitors to drink the excellent and safe tap water where properties have a direct mains feed. The advice not to drink it because of the minerals is rubbish (why do they think bottled water is also called mineral water?). I take my beer bottles back to the supermarket where they refund €0.10 and are re-used. I suspect tavernas and bars dump them but hope they recycle. Are there any recycling facilities on Crete?

Mike
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: George on July 08, 2008, 01:43:41 PM
I think they're called bins, Mike!!

george g...
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Barny on July 08, 2008, 02:12:31 PM
How would you know if there was a direct mains feed? I drink it from the tap but its a long way to keep going back to fill my glass!! (sorry)  I remember years ago at certain restaurants if you ordered a bottle of water it would turn up and the seal was already "taken off for you!" we thought!!

                             Barny.
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: George on July 08, 2008, 02:26:16 PM
I can't say I've ever drunk the tap water in any quantity, but do clean the pegs and use it in the kettle, and I've never had any problem.
The trouble with water in any different country is that it will have different bacteria in it to what you're used to and if you are subseptible, one might feel a little 'tummy trouble' for a couple of days until you're used to it. There's nothing 'wrong' with it!!

We're drifting off again here!!

george g...
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Barny on July 08, 2008, 03:12:35 PM
Anyone seen my luggage?
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: George on July 08, 2008, 03:20:09 PM
If your vest is in there Barny, it's probably where you left it!!  

george g...
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Barny on July 08, 2008, 03:24:58 PM
George I think you envy my vest? and I must get last years sand out of the luggage I think that made it heavier.
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: George on July 08, 2008, 03:35:06 PM
I think I'm back with the holdall this year, I compared it with the case I took last year and it's so much lighter, and I can get more in on the way back!

Ok, I've started to think about packing, and I've still got two and a half months to go yet!!
Boy scout training, I reckon!

george g...
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Mike G on July 09, 2008, 09:17:18 AM
Quote from: George
I can't say I've ever drunk the tap water in any quantity, but do clean the pegs and use it in the kettle, and I've never had any problem.
The trouble with water in any different country is that it will have different bacteria in it to what you're used to and if you are subseptible, one might feel a little 'tummy trouble' for a couple of days until you're used to it. There's nothing 'wrong' with it!!

We're drifting off again here!!

george g...
If that is a concern then I can understand that some don't want to take a risk on holiday. The same applies to bottled water as well though, so to be logical you ought to boil everything. You also wouldn't eat taverna salads which will have been washed (hopefully) in tap water. The high acidity of your stomach can cope with most things.

Sorry, still a long way from excess baggage charges. Any response from the airport or carrier Chris?

Mike
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Tony and Sandra Smith on July 09, 2008, 09:41:20 AM
Quote from: Mike G
Quote from: George
I can't say I've ever drunk the tap water in any quantity, but do clean the pegs and use it in the kettle, and I've never had any problem.
The trouble with water in any different country is that it will have different bacteria in it to what you're used to and if you are subseptible, one might feel a little 'tummy trouble' for a couple of days until you're used to it. There's nothing 'wrong' with it!!

We're drifting off again here!!

george g...
If that is a concern then I can understand that some don't want to take a risk on holiday. The same applies to bottled water as well though, so to be logical you ought to boil everything. You also wouldn't eat taverna salads which will have been washed (hopefully) in tap water. The high acidity of your stomach can cope with most things.

Sorry, still a long way from excess baggage charges. Any response from the airport or carrier Chris?

Mike


I am assured that the post-pradial Raki that I drink will kill any beasties that I may have eaten!  :'(

Tony
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: John R on July 09, 2008, 11:31:24 AM
Quote from: George
I can't say I've ever drunk the tap water in any quantity,

george g...

We drink the tap water in Plakias in vast quantities - we find it to be superb quality water and really enjoy it. (like the Raki too !!). At Medusa you will find us frequently leaving our table to top up our (water) glasses from the cooled supply (of water) that Babis has under his counter. After many years of this activity on our part he has at long last given up shouting to us "Hey - that is my job"

John R
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Tony and Sandra Smith on July 09, 2008, 11:42:19 AM
Quote from: John R
Quote from: George
I can't say I've ever drunk the tap water in any quantity,

george g...

We drink the tap water in Plakias in vast quantities - we find it to be superb quality water and really enjoy it. (like the Raki too !!). At Medusa you will find us frequently leaving our table to top up our (water) glasses from the cooled supply (of water) that Babis has under his counter. After many years of this activity on our part he has at long last given up shouting to us "Hey - that is my job"

John R



John. Are you sure that you're not topping up from his raki store!!!!
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Allan Barham on July 09, 2008, 12:16:47 PM
Quote from: John R
Quote from: George
I can't say I've ever drunk the tap water in any quantity,

george g...

We drink the tap water in Plakias in vast quantities - we find it to be superb quality water and really enjoy it. (like the Raki too !!). At Medusa you will find us frequently leaving our table to top up our (water) glasses from the cooled supply (of water) that Babis has under his counter. After many years of this activity on our part he has at long last given up shouting to us "Hey - that is my job"

John R

Quite right John - the tap water in Plakias is of excellent quality and we have never had any tummy problems from it.  Babis does insist on supplying water by the glass - at all the other tavernas they will bring you a large jug if asked.  At Medusa you either have to catch Babis' eye or, as you do, self serve.

Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: John R on July 09, 2008, 10:16:03 PM
Quote from: Tony and Sandra Smith
Quote from: John R
Quote from: George
I can't say I've ever drunk the tap water in any quantity,

george g...

 After many years of this activity on our part he has at long last given up shouting to us "Hey - that is my job"

John R



John. Are you sure that you're not topping up from his raki store!!!!

I think he would do more than shout at me if that was the case  
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Yvonne on July 12, 2008, 02:08:02 PM
Yesterday we booked with Monarch for our usual 2 weeks in Tenerife in February.  Do you know that they have started to charge for ALL hold baggage now?  We had to pay (to get the best deal) in advance £5.99 EACH for both outward and return journeys.  Has anyone else come across this yet?  They do generously (?) allow 20 kgs. Another tax?
Yvonne
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: John R on July 12, 2008, 05:26:06 PM
Quote from: Yvonne
Yesterday we booked with Monarch for our usual 2 weeks in Tenerife in February.  Do you know that they have started to charge for ALL hold baggage now?  We had to pay (to get the best deal) in advance £5.99 EACH for both outward and return journeys.  Has anyone else come across this yet?  They do generously (?) allow 20 kgs. Another tax?
Yvonne

This is becoming fairly common place. Another way of raising cash to cover fuel charges. Easyjet have done it for a long time now.

Last week we flew with easyjet to Venice and find them excellent - have flown with them many times now. It is great to have no noisy entertainment and not to be pestered with food we didn't want. The hot bacon roll we chose was excellent and just what we needed. Leg room seemed good to us. Only £70 return as well - including taxes and baggage charge. The worst part was our return to Gatwick where the time from landing to  our luggage getting to the conveyor belt far exceeded anything we have ever experienced at Heraklion which we used to think was very slow. Not a particularly busy time either.

John R
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: Ploppy on July 13, 2008, 04:07:38 PM
Quote from: John R
This is becoming fairly common place. Another way of raising cash to cover fuel charges. Easyjet have done it for a long time now.

Last week we flew with easyjet to Venice and find them excellent - have flown with them many times now. It is great to have no noisy entertainment and not to be pestered with food we didn't want. The hot bacon roll we chose was excellent and just what we needed. Leg room seemed good to us. Only £70 return as well - including taxes and baggage charge. The worst part was our return to Gatwick where the time from landing to  our luggage getting to the conveyor belt far exceeded anything we have ever experienced at Heraklion which we used to think was very slow. Not a particularly busy time either.

John R


 We flew EasyJet for the first time when we went to Faro recently. It was better than I expected, the leg room was great but that maybe have been down to the standby plane we had (strange gettting on to a plain white plane with no livery). We were cursed with a screaming infant on the way out but can't blame EasyJet for that!
So we are feeling happier now as we are also using them to come out to Plakias in September.
Title: excess baggage charges
Post by: John & Zell on July 23, 2008, 11:43:02 AM
Coming back last week 15.3Kg over, pleaded all inocent and was charged for 10kg at €11/kg =€110
I don't know  who decides on the rate/kg but it sure does seem to vary
John & john