I want a big and light suitcase

[BagOfCrisps 24]

Thats outrageous?! Why the difference.

[Slippery Jim 65]

Let us know DiGriz, get down there.

 

JellyBelly, it's a Delsey bag, the biggest size in their Helium model.

51 x 76 x 35 cm

136 L - 3,9 kg

Doesn't seem to weight that much, but maybe I'm just getting stronger with age

[NoFakie 45]

Slightly offtopic, but with KLM, the price is essentially Amsterdam + two flights that go there. So you can go to the UK and fly back from there, or alternatively fly back from another European airport they fly to for pretty much the same price. Its called flying open jaw. If your hometown is near an airport served by Ryanair, EasyJet, Jet2b etc. it means a one-way flight with them will let you tack on another little trip for very little extra money and with your baggage through checked on your way back to Japan. If shopping in the UK is your thing, you'd be better off having the holiday elsewhere first, e.g. take KLM to say Rome, then onto the UK, and then fly back from your home town with your bulging bags all through checked.

 

They don't tell you this on the website, so I just thought I'd point it out.

 

The KLM booking engine is a real mess with slow servers, so make sure you're sitting comfortably.

[grungy-gonads 54]

That's very interesting Mr Wiggles, cheers.

[Chriselle 158]

Ah....but alas. We've decided to stick it out here this summer. Maybe I should have posted that in the old and grumpy thread.

[grungy-gonads 54]

As pie-eater might say, wot no truckin'?

[Alexander L 80]

Here's a geek review on the volume/weight issue

 

With rolling bags we had almost forgotten about the burdens of heavy luggage. That lasted just about until the weigh restrictions hit us. Why carry a heavy bag if all that tare weight is just subtracted from your actual packing capacity?

 

What one would want is a bag that is light but still packs a lot of stuff. Therefore I advocate the introduction of an important criterion in luggage selection: the volume to weight ratio. How much volume does the bag pack per pound or kg of bag weight. The higher the number, the better.

 

No wheels usually are better than wheels. The more wheels the worse.

 

Duffels usually fare better than suitcases because they have less framing material.

 

In the same sense soft materials are better than hard materials.

 

Nylon is better than leather.

 

Basically, this puts a soft, unstructured nylon duffel without wheels at the top of the list and a four-wheeler (spinner) hardcase on the bottom.

 

Here are some numbers as a reference:

 

is maximum size of luggage enforced?

 

NB: You have to keep in mind the use of the particular bag. Some bags get so big that you cannot fill them with an ordinary mix of stuff (mostly clothes). The weight will have reached 50lbs before the bag is even full. This means that you are carrying literally "empty weight" around. My experience indicates that the balance point for the standard 50lb load can be reached best with a 24-26" suitcase. If you get much bigger e.g. 28-31 inch suitcase the bag will not be full when 50lb are reached. If you go below 24" you cannot fill it to 50lb unless you pack books or heavy things in it.

 

For duffels this has to be calibrated accordingly.

 

This means that you can play with the v/w ratio. In principle a high number is better because it allows you to pack more weight and it means that even if you don't pack it fully, you carry less dead weight. So ideally you'd have to determine what your typical load looks like and then find the smallest and lightest case where it will fit well.

 

As another reference point let's look at a fairly standard 22" rollerboard with the standard 22x14x9 measures adding up to 45 linear inches. The packing volume of such a bag is around 2700 cubic inches or 45 liters. This is unfortunately not a linear relation. A 62 linear inch bag will have a volume of more than 100 liters. Said rollerboard usually weighs between 9 and 10lb.

 

Let's say 10lb for the sake of simplicity. 2700:10=270 or in metric 45:4.5=10. Somehow, once again, metric turns out to be the easier system.

 

The very lightest rollerboard (Travelite) has a volume of around 42 liters and a weight of 1.9kg for a v/w factor of about 22.

 

Something on the really heavy side like the Valoroso 22SAX model has a v/w of 7.6.

 

Now, if we use the famous A. Saks 21" expandable carry-on, it has a volume of 43l in normal mode and about 62l expanded. It weighs 545 gram. This gives us a v/w of 78.8 in normal mode and 113 expanded. That's what I call light weight luggage.

 

Check for list of lightest luggage here:

Lightest carry-on bag

 

EDIT: In general, as brunotattaglia says below, you can figure that if you want to fully load a bag with a standard assortment of items that you can fill a 25-26" bag with the check-in limit of 50lbs (23kg). If the bag is bigger there will be empty space. Your belongings will shift, unless you use some voluminous but lightweight "stuffing". If the bag is smaller, you won't be able to put 50lbs worth of stuff in there, unless you transport bricks or books.

[scouser 4]

I just booked my flight back to England in summer.

KLM to Manchester, I upgraded to Economy Not As Uncomfortable, but noticed that I can check in 2 pieces of luggage 23kg each.

Bonus.

 

Cost was about 170000 yen for the flights, 35000 yen for the upgraded seat.

[Alexander L 80]

Is that correct? 46kg of baggage allowance?

 

Or is it upto 2 pieces of baggage neither of which can weigh more than 23kg which is the permissible weight a baggage handler is allowed to handle.

[scouser 4]

2 pieces in the hold, each up to 23kg.

 

[pie-eater 207]

Sounds good that scouser.

I'm sure it was just one last time I did that, wonder if that has changed.....

[NoFakie 45]

This is what my missus just found on the KLM site

 

Information of new baggage policy in Economy Class

 

Information for new baggage policy in Economy Class　

As from April 18th, KLM will upgrade baggage policy from Japan :

2 pieces (23kg) instead of 1 piece (23kg) between Japanese destinations (Narita, Kansai and Fukuoka) and worldwide destinations in Economy Class on KLM operating flights.

This change will be applied under following conditions :

1. Travel on and after April 18th, 2013

2. Ticket sold in Japan and a first flight departing from Japan to worldwide destinations.

For a ticket issued before April 18th, 2013 with 1 piece baggage allowance, KLM will accept re-issuing the ticket with this new baggage allowance without re-issuing charge, if travel is not started. This modification of a ticket needs to be taken place at ticket agent of issuance.

For re-issuing ticket, please contact your travel agent where you purchased your ticket.

If you purchased your ticket online, please contact our call center

(Tokyo 03-5767-4149, Osaka 06-6345-6691).

For other cabin classes, the rule remains unchanged. The calculation methodology in excess baggage chargebeyond the new allowance remains unchanged.

 

So you don't need premium economy to check in two bags at up to 23kg.

If you look at the KLM international site, it hasn't been updated to reflect the above.

If it makes anybody feel better, I did contradict my missus at first when she said it.

Fwiw, the small print says for flights starting in Japan (i.e., mugs we rip off with the fuel surcharge), so maybe we can think of it as a small consolation for being fleeced more than KLM's other passengers. We're paying for more "fuel" than them after all.

 

PS. here's the link

http://www.klm.com/travel/jp_ja/2013_new_check_in_baggage_policy.htm

[pie-eater 207]

That's good. 2x23 makes such a big difference. More beans, picallily and HP Sauce!

[Saitaman 1]

Anyone know is this something other airlines are doing as well?

[rach 1]

I got my flight booked as well.

 

It was between BA and KLM. KLM seemed cheaper - once I actually worked out the full price for BA. They don't tell you until a few pages down the line where KLM do.

Apart from BA being BA, that really puts me off.

 

The 2 baggage thing is an extra, that's great news.

[seemore 66]

Quantas 23 Cathay 20

If you can get a suitcase under 2Kg's that is considered light some weigh around 6Kg's

[TheOriginalMyoko 0]

I used to have a suitcase that was so heavy that it was close to the limit even when it was empty!

[Alexander L 80]

That must be an LV trunk.

[frannyo 2]

I used to have a suitcase that was so heavy that it was close to the limit even when it was empty!

 

 

I had one like that.

[brit-gob 9]

I remember one of my old ones being crazy heavy too.

Coming to think of it, my g/fs is pretty heavy even empty. She should really get that changed.

[JellyBelly 1]

Let us know DiGriz, get down there.

 

JellyBelly, it's a Delsey bag, the biggest size in their Helium model.

51 x 76 x 35 cm

136 L - 3,9 kg

Doesn't seem to weight that much, but maybe I'm just getting stronger with age

 

A belated thanks!

[Alexander L 80]

so did you go with the reccomendation?

[HelperElfMissy 42]

How frustrating.

Just checked out the A.Saks bags and thought they looked good - none of the online stores send them Internationally.

Means using a parcel forwarder...GROAN.

[Alexander L 80]

erm... excuse me ma'am, but they look a bit sucks.

[HelperElfMissy 42]

erm...that's OK WV.

I was thinking for the cubs.

Lightweight stuff - stuff it all in - expand if necessary.

They are always searching for the 'right size' duffle for Water Polo trips and school trips.

Not to mention #2 cub will be heading J-bound for a few months at the end of the year - he will want to take max weight of stuff over, but be able to fold the bags up to nothing until heading home.