Philippine air help

Hello all,

We are off to the Philippine's this week.

I had been told by the Agent (that is now away on a trip) that the baggage restrictions would be based on the original carriers restrictions. In this case it's American.

I usually take the camera rig and lenses in two carry ons. I take one carry on around 25lbs and my wife takes the other (15lbs). American says we can take 2 checked bags each, to 50lbs.

We go from USA to PEK (Beijing). From there to manila.

Today I was told that regardless of the originating carrier philippine airlines will only allow 15lbs per carry on and checked bags to 30lbs. To top it off the website is down.

Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks,

Erik

If you obtain boarding passes for both flights at the point of origin in the US, and remain in international transit in Beijing (i.e. do not have to claim your luggage and re-check in for the PAL flight separately) then you should be fine. Airlines do not typically re-weigh baggage in transit, at least, it has never happened to me (and I fly in/out of Manila a LOT). You would not believe the volume of stuff that comes off the conveyor belt in Manila from US flights! I would say not to worry

If you obtain boarding passes for both flights at the point of origin in the US, and remain in international transit in Beijing (i.e. do not have to claim your luggage and re-check in for the PAL flight separately) then you should be fine. Airlines do not typically re-weigh baggage in transit, at least, it has never happened to me (and I fly in/out of Manila a LOT). You would not believe the volume of stuff that comes off the conveyor belt in Manila from US flights! I would say not to worry

It might be the case that in Beijing you would have to clear immigration, pick up your bags, go through customs, and check in for your Manila flight (no need for a visa if your connecting flight is in less than 24 hours). This happened to me transiting in Shanghai, and looking at Flyertalk, it looks like this is also the case in Beijing. The weight issue especially regarding the carry-on will depend on the person that works at the check-in counter. It might or might not be a problem, depending on how strict that person is.

For the Philippines I would definitely bring my own portable scale. I found that the scales in Manila were so far off as to be laughable if it weren't so expensive.

Steve

I checked in at Manila on Cathay Pacific for a flight back to LAX via HK a couple weeks ago. I weighed everything beforehand with my portable scale and their weights were right on with mine. Both checked bags were just over 23 kg and there was no problem and no additional charge. I had two carry-ons, both weighing about 10 kg, no questions were asked. The gate agents were hassling some folks with large carry-ons or more than two. As long as one stayed within the normal carry on size limits, no issues.

Cathay Pacific weighted all checked luggage before they allowed you to get in line for check-in and get your boarding pass.

I flew American from IAD to LAX, then Cathay Pacific to MNL. Since I was ticketed by Cathay Pacific, American gave me two 50# checked bags free on the way to MNL.

For the Philippines I would definitely bring my own portable scale. I found that the scales in Manila were so far off as to be laughable if it weren't so expensive.

Steve

Interesting, but not my experience. I have been flying in/out of MNL several times a month for the past 8 years and have never had an issue, whether on a business trip with one 20 kg suitcase or with the family with way too much luggage. Maybe it depends on the airline, but so far travelling with CX, QF, PR, SQ, CI, KE, and PX never a problem with luggage. Other issues with airlines in Philippines are another matter!

I just flew from PHL to LAX to MNL and back on OZ. In LAX our carry-ons were weighed and I had to check in my roll-on since it was over their 22 lb limit. I could not persuade the agent or her superior to let me carry it on board. I took out my housing and carried it on board. On the way back in MNL our carry-ons were weighed and were of course over their 22 lb limit. I showed the agent that they contained camera equipment, told with the agent that the equipment would be damaged as a check-in and was allowed to take them on as carry-ons. An interesting point, our laptop bags were not weighed since you are allowed to carry your computer on board. They weighed over 30 lbs since the bag also contained my body and extra lens.

Here's my experience of 1 month ago, and not a satifactory one. We booked flights with Philippine Airlines from Dumaguete to Manila, Manila to Busuanga and Busuanga to Manila. We knew about weight restrictions, and were advised by our tour operator to buy a 'sports card' which allows 20Kg extra per person (so added to the normal allowance of 15Kg, 35Kg total). This was supposed to cover all three flights.

This worked fine on the first leg, but when we arrived at Manila to check in for the next flight, we found we were no longer flying with Philippine Airways, but instead a codeshare budget operator, Airphil Express. They wouldn't accept the sports card, and charged excess baggage - we had about 60Kg of excess between four of us, so this wasn't inconsequential. Same situation on our last leg, except at Busuanga they wanted cash, not a credit card.

As you can imagine, there were considerable arguments about this, and I had the impression that the disagreements over the hold baggage, may have diverted attention from our hand baggage.

I'm not sure what we could have done as an alternative, as we needed to get to Busuanga from Dumguete, and the only airlines that get you there are smaller, budget ones. I suspect the real culprits here are Philippine Airlines, who I presume charged more for the ticketed flights they arranged, than we could had we arranged them direct with Airphil express....plus we wouldn't have wasted money on a sports card.

If you are flying with Philippine Airlines, make absolutely sure they haven't offloaded you onto some other airline with different baggage arrangements!