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[Closed] Warning - Monarch airways. Transporting bikes

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[#2046284]

Booked our flights in July - the T&C's stated 30kg for sports equipment at a cost of £40 each way.

Packed all my kit up today and the bike bag came in at 29KG.

I was speaking to a 'customer service' agent today about something else and she informed me that the weigh was reduced on 1st sept to 13KG!!!!!

The fri66ing bag weighs 10kg, they wanted £9 per KG in excess each way =

so £47 return for the bike bag + £288 in excess baggage.


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 4:47 pm
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Surely if your ticket was booked and paid for before the changeover date the 30 kg limit should have still been valid?


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 4:55 pm
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Yeah, I'm no expert on legal matters but I would have thought that when you pay for something you have entered into a contract and in this case the contract was based on a set of Terms and Conditions at the time you paid. If those T&Cs did not explicitly state the weight restriction was going to change on 1st Sept they wouldn't have a leg to stand on. I suspect your problem might be that you don't have a copy of the T&Cs as they were when you paid for the flights to check it. Good luck sorting it out anyway


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 5:01 pm
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Surely if your ticket was booked and paid for before the changeover date the 30 kg limit should have still been valid?

Already tried that route.

They quoted some clause, they said if i dont like it then they will refund my flight (but not the taxes, fuel surcharge etc)

Im very pis7ed off!

Good luck sorting it out anyway

Thanks

I think i've got a way around it - im going to use another bike bag and split the bike&bits down further. Hopefully ill get them below the (stupid) new 13kg weight limit (ill put the other 3kg in my hand luggage)


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 5:06 pm
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http://www.monarch.co.uk/faq/flights/baggage/sports-equipment-charter

Says £23.50 per bike, per sector there. Have you told them it's a bike?

I assume it's a MON flight?


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 5:27 pm
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Different rules for Scheduled and charter. Seems a bit arbitrary.

[url= http://www.monarch.co.uk/faq/flights/baggage/sports-equipment-scheduled ]http://www.monarch.co.uk/faq/flights/baggage/sports-equipment-scheduled[/url]


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 6:25 pm
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It's a zb scheduled flight. Yep 23.50 per bike each way plus the £9 per KG excess each way - 13kg limit.


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 6:51 pm
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Tell em it's a hang glider!


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 6:55 pm
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dude, i had the same issue recently flying back from barcelona with monarch. i booked it and checked the allowance afterwards (stupidly) when i realised that the allowance was 13kg. phoned them up a couple of times, first person i spoke to told me that 13kg was correct, but they had had loads of complaints about it and would raise my call as another - she was really sympathetic, especially when i told her my bike actually weighs more than 13kg!

on the second phonecall (i was a bit fuming as there was no way around the issue...buying another seat would have been cheaper than getting stung on the return leg) the call handler i spoke with told me that they were in the process of changing their policy on this and it was in fact 32kg, just the website had not yet been updated.

maybe give them a call yourself - i found the call centre to be great. they advised me to print off the page for the charter flights where it states 32kgs.

as it happens, the lass who checked my bag in on the way back couldn't care less about that limit and checked my bag in without even weighing it.

one thing to be wary of though...with monarch when you pay for hold luggage (18kg) it is limited to 1 bag! i was checking in 2 bags (totalling 15kg) but had to consolidate them.

hope that helps & that yours goes as easy as mine.


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 7:07 pm
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Peachos- thanks for the advice. I'll call them again now and see what they say.


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 7:13 pm
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no worries - let us know what they say.


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 7:16 pm
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BIG thanks to Flybe Exeter then - my bike (in the heavy bike case loaned from LBS) weighed nearly 40kg. The checkin girl told me it was over the health and safety limit of 30kg but after checking with her supervisor they let me take the bike and bag on as it was. (admittedly I ahvd paid them £30 each way 15 minutes earlier)
When we got back speaking to a mate he had the same issue with Thomson and he had to take the bike and case back to his van and strip it down as much as possible to get to their 32kg limit.


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 7:17 pm
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So, me & Mrs Gruntfuttock are flying to Goa with them in January. Not taking bikes, but what are the luggage allowances per person? I seem to think it was 20kg last time we went with them.


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 7:19 pm
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@esselgruntfuttock

AFAIK you 20kg allowance can only be 1 bag. which is pretty shyte if you ask me.


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 7:28 pm
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I spent ages carefully whittling my bike and packaging down to the weight limit for Jet2, then they didn't even weigh it. I was outraged!


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 7:32 pm
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What pisses me off is they dont charge extra for fat obese ****ers that are clearly a hazzard if you need to get out of the plane in a hurry.

Their flab hangs over their seats onto you are they usually sweaty and smelly.

Been ripped off with excess baggage with bikes a few times like you guys and commented that I must be 30 KG's light than Mr and Mrs Fatknacker behind me, didn't go down well, dont try this route. 😳


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 7:40 pm
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Update- just called monarch.

After 5mins of bullshit bingo with a rep she admitted that monarch have had an influx of complaints since the change on 1st sept and that they were in the process of changing.

Peachos- I quoted everything you said, including the charter print out story and the fact that you had suffered with this whilst in Barcelona and It worked - Ta muchly!


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 7:53 pm
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weighed nearly 40kg. The checkin girl told me it was over the health and safety limit of 30kg

Pretty much all airlines are 32kg max per bag. Most check-in scales read at around half a kilo higher than calibrated scales/the outsize baggage belt. 31.4 kg is always my target weight 🙂


 
Posted : 01/10/2010 10:58 pm
 bruk
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Remember flying to Canada in 1994 taking bikes on charter flight. To get in weight limit had to strip bike of bits. Crankset complete with chainring in hand luggage. Don't think you would get away with that now though!


 
Posted : 02/10/2010 12:47 am
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Monarch have now updated their T&Cs it is now 20Kg per bike for your £23.50

http://www.monarch.co.uk/faq/flights/baggage/sports-equipment-scheduled


 
Posted : 18/10/2010 3:22 pm
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they said if i dont like it then they will refund my flight (but not the taxes, fuel surcharge etc)

Well thats a bit naughty as the tax isn't due until [b]you[/b] take off so theres no reason for them to refuse to refund it. Even if you miss a flight (and still have to pay the fare) the tax should still be refunded to you.


 
Posted : 18/10/2010 4:27 pm