Sharm Airport - any diver excess baggage problems?

[shelski]

Hi, last year we were in Sharm and on departure at the end of our stay, we were behind a couple of blokes who were asked at check in if they had diving equipment. They said yes and were being charged excess even though their baggage was within the limits! They kicked up a real fuss (rightly so) but i'm not sure if they had to pay or not. When we were asked the same question we replied NO and were waived through (it was obvious by our luggage that we were divers) even though mine was overweight! Anyway, I just wondered if anyone had encountered the same problems. If they weigh your baggage and you are over, what do they charge? Any tips for avoiding it??? Cheers!

 

[CmbtApl]

We (my daughter and I) just returned from a week of diving in Dahab and flew in and out of Sharm el Sheikh. We flew Egypt Air from/to Cairo. Our ticket said we were limited to one bag each of 20kg. I worried about over weight baggage as well since we had three bags between us and they all weighed about 20kg. Nobody asked anything and we didn't have to pay anything. That being said, Egypt Air's excess baggage charge is 6 EGP per kilo of overweight. I don't know about any other airline. We found everybody very accommodating on our trip.... it was excellent.

Have a great time.

 

[alchemist117]

I find the hassle is flying out from the UK. Flying back, they don't really seem to care about the weight.

 

[Eau_Girl]

It will depend on who you are flying? Are you on a charter or a regularly scheduled airline? If it's a charter check on the rules beforehand. I was on Thomas Cook. If you called in advance you could get an extra 10kg for GBP20 return. If you showed up at the airport it was GBP8 or 9 per kg (each wAY!). So I paid in advance and had no problems. Others on my liveaboard were on Excel. If you have your cert card they give you an extra allowance as a diver.

 

[ArthurGerla]

I find the hassle is flying out from the UK. Flying back, they don't really seem to care about the weight.

Same here.

I flew to Amsterdam from Sharm tonight and checked a 24 kg duffel bag without any hassle.

 

[shelski]

Ok, just returned from week in Sharm. Main luggage weighed 24kg, hand baggage 5kg. Bloke in Sharm check in tried to charge us excess - however, prior to travelling, I'd printed out a section from the Thomsonfly website which states 5kg extra free baggage available on production of diving certification. The face on the check-in guy was a picture.... as was my smug grin )