Hello sun lovers, my good lady, my daughter and i are about to make the move to Brisbane from sunny Coventry. Have just got the Visa and was wondering if anyone could give me information on who is best to fly with? being a carpenter i have to bring my tools with me along with lots of baby stuff as Aoife will be a year old when we move. all advice will be greatly apreciated as long as its not about how to spell appreciated...lol:smile:

 

Hiya
We flew with Singapore Air and they were fab. If you have not yet activated your visa you should also be allowed a larger luggage quantity than the norm,i think its approx 40kg each, so make sure you enquire about this prior to booking anything.
Good Luck with everything
Cal x

 

we were looking at their baggage allowance already as a number of people have recomended them, and thank you again we didnt realise you could get more prior to activating visa.

 

We've flown with Singapore airlines twice now and they have been fantastic - wouldn't use anyone else! We also had the double baggage allowance ... but had heard a few scare stories about people being charged extra for the double luggage. So being a bit of a panicker ... I contacted SIA before travelling and they sent me an e-mail with it all in writing! I printed this off to take with me - it meant I was able to breathe easy ... though we had no problems anyway. Good luck with all your plans

 

Once again thank you, but "double baggage" this is the first time ive heard about this, how do i go about getting this?

 

When you ring the airline for a quote, explain your permanently migrating and ask for the extra allowance. Get them to e-mail you confirmation of it and print off the email to take to check in with you.

Cal x

 

Look at AirNZ as well.

We flew with them 6 years ago and then e got 64kg each as standard! That was a temp visa allowance! Not sure what it is now

 

457 Visa

We are flying with Singapore airlines on 3rd April, as we are flying on a 457 they class this as a temp visa hence we are not entitled to the double allowance... Frustrating as we are planning to turn our visa in to perminant residency...

We are currently going through the nightmare of what to take and not to take due to these restrictions. We want to get as much in hand luggage as we can but 7KG is nothing when most bags on the market weigh at least 3KG

 

Hi There seasickste, we just flew with Singapore Airlines, there are a lot of things you can take on the plane which does'nt count towards your weight allowance. Between My partner, Me and our daughter we carried 3 large cabin bags + laptop + toys and baby food and the staff actually helped us carry them on without weighing them or making any type of comment, the cabin crew were great and very helpful.

 

Hi SeaSick,

This is probably too late for you, but the carry on bag doesn't have to be pretty. Practical is the way to go, so get one of those multi coloured nylon market bags; they're extremely lightweight and cheap. And as Kev has said, you can hand carry on stuff in addition to the allowance. Also, if you are travelling with kids, you will be boarding before the hordes, which means that you will have first dibs at the overhead lockers, so there is no need to worry about space.

Singapore Airlines is without question the way to go, if you can afford it. Cathay Pacific aren't bad but please avoid Thai. Their flights from/to Heathrow/Bangkok are full of sex tourists and ne'er do well's and they use old 747s. This advice is borne out of 25 years of working at Heathrow.

Good luck on the 3rd; you must all be so excited and nervous and full of all of those emotions that all of us that have already made the leap, have gone through. Have a great weekend.

Cheers

 

Thanks for the feedback guys! Even though it was not my post to start with!

We do still fly on the 3rd (4 days!!!), mixed emotions at the moment, one of leaving family and another of excitement that finally after a year or so of planning were finally on our way!

Anyway we are flying with Singapore airlines, but are initially going on a 457 temporary visa and we were only initially given the standard 20kg check in luggage, whereas if we were going on a permanent visa they would allow double (40kg) and there is no way my wife could fit her supply of Yorkshire tea in at 20kg!! So we had words with them and explained we were emigrating for good (missing out the need for Yorkshire tea) and they were good enough to increase it to 25kg, still not much but it is enough for me, my wife and even the tea as we are almost packed!

Though I do believe that 25kg is like the unwritten allowance for everyone as it's not worth arguing with customers over 5kg and its a perk they can freely give which makes the customer feel like they have gained something!

We have been out and bought lightweight sports bags for carry on, they are ideal and will mould in to any of those stupid size guide stations. Singapore also allow laptop bags on top of the 7kg as stated above, so we both have these too!

We are actually now wondering what to fill all the space with because I've told my wife no more tea!

We will let you all know how it goes!

 

Just to let you know that you can get Tetley here, both tea and beer!!

If you're bringing/shipping any electrical goods, you may want to consider buying some plug adapters. You can usually get them at Boots in Terminal Three. It's a lot easier than changing plugs when you get here.

Good luck and keep us posted