Air Asia - extra baggage

[chocolate]

hi,

i'll be travelling w/Air Asia and knowing that they have a straight regulations on excess baggage and that my equipment will exceed 15kg, i would like to find out what's the deal really is.

i checked their website, but that doesn't seem very clear...

if we pay the "sports equiment" fee, does that mean we get 15kg on top of the 15kg already-free baggage? Or is that just a penalty on "heavy/scuba" luggage?

thanks in advance.

 

[Arturo]

Hi there. I am just returning from a diving trip to Sipadan. Took several flights with AirAsia and, indeed, there is an issue with luggage beyond 15 Kg. However, there is a silver bullet for divers. Check my Sipadan trip report just posted on scubaboard.

 

[broadreach]

The question is how much heavier then 15Kg will your bag be?
If your bag doesn't have an obvious scuba logo on it, they will not charge you for "sports" equipment unless you volunteer the info that you are carrying scuba gear. By the way, that charge seems to apply regardless of weight. It doesn't allow you additional 15 Kg.

If you figure out in advance how much weight you need you can usually prepay when you purchase the ticket and avoid the hassle.

I usually make sure I'm under 15 Kg - I use bags that weigh less when empty, put my heaviest items in my carry-on and sometimes resort to carrying the heaviest stuff (e.g. torch batteries) in my pockets...
But I also don't travel with tons of camera equipment that weigh too much.

 

[Arturo]

This is how it worked out for me:

I always travel with two duffel bags. In the first one I carry all my clothes and belongings (that bag weighted just about 15 Kg). In the second one (which is not marked with any diving logo) I carry my diving gear. I had to tell the person at the counter that my second bag was carrying diving gear and that was it. They charged a fixed rate (around US$ 11-12) for the second bag and did not even bother to check its weight (which, incidentally, I know was approximately 14 Kg.)

 

[gee13]

Hey guys

My flight is out tommorow to Sipadan and I was wondering if anyone can give a quick reply on carrying regulators on board the airplane as part of the 7kg allowance. There is someone in the article below that said Air Asia didnt allow regulators on board??

AirAsia & Scuba Divers: A Love-Hate Relationship


Any quick replies before tommorow would be great!

 

[Arturo]

No problema carrying your regulator on board AirAsia planes as part of your carry on. On February 2009 I did it all the time. First flying KL-Tawau, then Sandakan-KL and, finally, Phuket-Bangok. Have a good diving. Hoe you enjoy Sipadan as much as I did.

 

[Zippsy]

I flew Singapore - KK - Singapore recently with dive equipment in a too obvious dive bag. I pre-paid for 20kg and had no problem going to KK even though the actual weight was a little over (with all clothes in the too). I didn't pay anything for "sports equipment". On the way back, I paid the small amount on excess baggae for the overage - in cash! If you try to pay for excess baggage by credit card at the counter, do everyone a favor and just through your gear away. Several people did that and it took 20-30 minutes for each person while they argued, pleaded then finally tried to deal with computer issues because the credit ard charge in done over the internet even at the counter. What a backup it caused!

 

[FMmck]

Hi, we travel a lot with air asia and is always a 'pleasure' to deal with the excess weight. It is even more fun with two divers and try to fit all in in one bag. You have to calculate what is right for you. Last year we paid 40 RM = 8 euro for the extra (we had an other bag as well) sports equipment, but cannot excess 15 kg. If you do, you pay per kg excess fee. You can also carry the equipment as normal luggage (they do not care) and pay the excess (over 15kg) which is 15RM per kg. So calculate yourself which way is less costly. It does not work to add two dive equipment of 2 persons in one suitcase which should be 30kg = 40*2=80. They calculate per equipment bag.
Regulator or batteries etc. can be carried on board. They just want to know what it is when going trough X-ray. Air asia is strict on the weigh-in but for the rest a great airline for us sofar. You know what to expect.

 

[xariatay]

Took Air Asia fr Tawau to KK. Please note that they DO NOT have FREE baggage. Will have to buy whatever weight u r checking-in. I bought 10kg + 35kg for my hubby. However, we were still 3kg overweighted & had to pay 30MYR. Regulators do not have to be checked-in, they didn't weigh the hand-carry but do keep your hand-carry to cabin-size. ;-)

 

[sipadiver]

Hi.

I travel pretty light. Usually I pay for 20kg of check in luggage, which covers my bag of scuba gear, and I've never paid for the Air Asia sports equipment option. Never realized it existed actually

But since it seems to have become an issue lately (to other people) I thought I better pay for the sports equipment option.

But if I do, do I also have to pay for "the check in luggage option" as well? In other words, does the Air Asia sports option cover my scuba bag which I have to check in?

It seems obvious that the sports option should cover my check-in scuba gear bag. But bureaucracy as it is - I usually assume the worse - I'm guessing the Sports option only gives me the right to carry on 20kg of scuba gear but I still have to pay for a check in luggage option. Anyone know?