USA 3000 Airlines and scuba gear

[teamheatwave]

From USA3000 Webiste:

On an Apple Vacations charter USA3000 Airlines baggage allowance is limited to two bags weighing no more than 50 pounds total together. Passengers are urged to consult with their tour operator to determine the extent of liability coverage before they travel. USA3000 Airlines encourages the purchase of separate travel insurance for your vacation!

BAGGAGE EXCESS CHARGES (applied per Section)
Additional Bag $50.00 (weight not to exceed 50 pounds)
Excess weight over 50 lbs - $50
Golf Bags $50 (as an item over two checked bags)
Surfboards / Boogie boards $50 (over 50 lbs - $100 charge applies)
Windsurfer $50 (over 50 lbs - $100 charge applies)
Pet In Carrier $25 (IN CABIN ONLY DOMESTIC FLIGHTS)
Bicycle $50

 

[granthammer]

They should make some kind of exemption for divers! All you have to do is show them your c-card and prove that it is just diving equipment in the bag and you should be weight free! 50 lbs total for both bags!! My dive gear alone weighs 40 lbs! And that is packing my wet suit, light, batteries, regs, and camera in my other bags.

 

[chrisc]

Basically, you get what you pay for. I personally would rather pay the extra $50-$75 more per person and fly American or Delta to Cancun and get 70lb PER bag. Who knows what would happen if you had to file a claim with USA3000, I know that the claim I had with American was paid in 3 weeks without question, and included a voucher of $100 for a future trip.

 

[granthammer]

Basically, you get what you pay for. I personally would rather pay the extra $50-$75 more per person and fly American or Delta to Cancun and get 70lb PER bag. Who knows what would happen if you had to file a claim with USA3000, I know that the claim I had with American was paid in 3 weeks without question, and included a voucher of $100 for a future trip.

I'll keep that in mind the next time I travel...thanks

 

[teamheatwave]

"I personally would rather pay the extra $50-$75 more per person and fly American or Delta to Cancun and get 70lb PER bag."

If it were only $50-$75 fine. But its not. Right now USA3000 is at $369 R/T and Continental as of yesterday was still hovering around $600. American too was in the mid $500's. Also, depending upon your departure cities, your choices are limited unless you want multiple connections, a long layover and arriving at 5PM vs lunchtime. You lose a whole day there. I cannot see the logic in paying for a day when I get there so late all I do is unpack, eat and then go to bed. Getting there by lunchtime gives us a whole extra day.

 

[ggunn]

"I personally would rather pay the extra $50-$75 more per person and fly American or Delta to Cancun and get 70lb PER bag."

If it were only $50-$75 fine. But its not. Right now USA3000 is at $369 R/T and Continental as of yesterday was still hovering around $600. American too was in the mid $500's. Also, depending upon your departure cities, your choices are limited unless you want multiple connections, a long layover and arriving at 5PM vs lunchtime. You lose a whole day there. I cannot see the logic in paying for a day when I get there so late all I do is unpack, eat and then go to bed. Getting there by lunchtime gives us a whole extra day.

I hear that! The flight times for a "7 day" Funjet package last year (of which I did not partake) from Austin "feautured" a 7 pm arrival time and a 9 am departure time. That's only 6 days no matter how you slice it. If it were a Cancun drinking trip, then yeah, OK, that's seven nights, but Coz is all about the daylight hours.

 

[Kat]

You can't please everyone.

When flights depart at 6AM passengers need to be in the airport at 3AM. If the flight goes on time, you'll be in Mexico before noon. But there are always a few who complain about the departure time. And there are also a few who arrive after a night in the bar & are denied boarding.
Any flights with a departure time of 7AM-11AM on weekdays, upsets people because they didn't know there would be rush hour traffic. So, they have had to leave extra early & sat for hours in rush hour traffic or they missed their flight.
Any departures after 11AM gets people to their destination too late in the day. So people will complain about that.

ggunn, personally I would have passed on that flight too. But I am sure that there were people on that flight who were A-OK with those times, or they wouldn't have booked it.

 

[ggunn]

You can't please everyone.

ggunn, personally I would have passed on that flight too. But I am sure that there were people on that flight who were A-OK with those times, or they wouldn't have booked it.

Um, maybe, but there are those who have only the choice of flying then or staying home. Certainly there are those who have the time and money to go there so often that it doesn't make a diff to them if they lose a whole day. But anyway, I wasn't suggesting that those flights shouldn't exist, only that it would be better for me, personally, if flights that arrived late would leave late and vice versa. There are obviously customers for those flights; I'm just not one of them.

Of course, there's also the fact that Funjet (and Adventure Tours as well) will not book a stay of more than a week on an air-only deal; that's another reason I'm not a customer. But as you say, there are plenty of folks for whom that is not an issue.

 

[Kat]

Ggunn,
I agree with you. You are losing a day. I do go fairly often f/ fairly cheap - but a day is a day. I want every darned second I can get.
I hit the various travel websites on a regular basis. Usually looking at hotels. I had heard before that you couldn't book more than a 7 nite stay f/ air-only. I went to the website to check it out(FJ) You can book 4, 6, 7, 11 or 14 night air-only from either Chicago airport. Did a little more looking & found that from Austin, TX. it is only a 7 night air-only. I don't know why. This seems stupid. If the charter can bring you back in 7 days, why not 14? I would think that would discourage some people from traveling w/ them, as it has for you.

Back to the USA3000 issue. IMHO their luggage allowance is not bad, considering some charters only allow 40 pounds per person.

 

[downdown]

For info on baggage allowance and fares along with routings go to the USA3000 website at
www.usa3000airlines.com