Anyone here work for / flown with Thomas Cook?

rG-tom

rG-tom

rG-tom

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Hey guys,

I'm departing in just under 2 weeks to go to Lanzorote with my other half for my 21st birthday.

One thing i've just realised though, is that the airline im flying with (thomas cook) have a much stricter hand luggage limit than most.

Most airlines like BA don't specify a weight for hand luggage, just a size restriction, but according to my tickets and the thomas cook site they limit hand luggage to 5kg! Far too low a weight for me to take any of my camera gear with me, and i was planning on taking advantage of the unique nature of the island to do some landscape work.

My bag is nearly small enough to fit in, within 50mm but it weighs in even with the bare essentials at over double :|

My question is, who here has flown with them and have you ever had your hand luggage weighed? I know i never had with any other airlines.

Also, as a side thought what if I were to be carrying the camera around my neck like a japenese tourist would they perhaps overlook it?

Any advice would be good :) I've phoned the airline and they have said it's my own risk if i want to try it on the day but i'd like to go into it with as good an idea as possible.

Obviously due to the nature of the gear its definitely not going in the hold, far too valuable and fragile, being mainly glass n all :p

Cheers

Tom.
 
I don't know anyone called Thomas Cook, let alone flown with them.

Airlines are pretty tight on baggage weight nowdays. There is slight tolorence but not a lot.
 
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Stupid question - but.....

Have you actually weighed your bag ? Their limit of 5kg is a fair bit & I'm having trouble working out why your Camera gear would be anywhere near that.

My SLR with battery and 2 lenses weighs about 1.2KG. If I have all the other stuff with it (Flash,mini Tripod,extra batterys etc) - my bag weighs about 2.5Kg. For me to make up the other 2.5Kg I would need a large amount of other rubbish in there.


And yes, they will more than likely weigh your bag and charge you usually about £8 per extra kilo over - or ask you to remove stuff.
 
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yes i have, and fully laden it's 17.5kg. The bag with nothing in it weighs in at 3.7kg according to the manufacturers website. I'll be taking around 10-15kg of stuff:

Camera: 1.5kg
Normal lens: 1kg
Telephoto lens: 1.6kg
Tripod with head (and this is a carbon fibre jobby): 2.5kg
Flash or 2 with batteries: 1kg
Bag: 3.7kg
Possibly laptop for extra storage: 2.4kg

So 14kg if i take the laptop :/

Tom.

The tripod i can throw in the suitcase, but nothing else id be comfortable with going in there.
 
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Should have gone with Easyjet, if its hand luggage sized and you can carry it then you can take it.
 
indeed, my other half booked the holiday though and not me, and it completely slipped my mind to even ask that question, as ive never seen it on any airline before :/
 
Flew with TC to and from Lanzarote and not once was our hand luggage weighed. as long as it fits within the size limits you will be fine :)
 
17.5kg?
isnt your main suitcase only meant to be 25-30KG (dependin on air-line) ?

also, they are far more relaxed if you get there early, towards the end of the line when the plane is nearing full is when they get arsy over weights.
 
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Are you sure your scales are correct?

I flew to Jamaica last month and my entire suitcase weighed 19kg. The wife's weighed 20.5kg.

A camera that weighs 1.5Kg seems a bit heavy??
 
Flew with them to Canada last year. They didn't check our hand luggage but we probably weren't over the limit anyway.

Thomas Cook really nickle and dime their passengers. We've just booked another holiday through them and they now charge £10 per person per flight to guarantee seats next to each other! My girlfriend and I decided that after two weeks together, that was probably the last thing we wanted guaranteed. :p
 
I took a fair amount of camera gear on a Thompson plane, dont think they weighed it thinking back.

They did express some concerns at security about the AA batters clip I was carry in case the batteries all died. Admittedly it did look a bit suspicous. I didnt risk taken my monopod in the cabin though, think that could be seen as a weapon.
 
They usually weigh it at the check in desk. Take your heavy stuff out and have whoever takes you to the airport hold onto your stuff whilst you check in. After checking in pick up your stuff an go through security ;)
 
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