Baggage handlers are not allowed to lift luggage weighing more than 32kg. Premium Economy passengers with an allowance of 35kg should split the load across two bags.
Hear, hear!
I could not agree more with the sentiments expressed in the letter from M. Allan of Hillcrest [August 13].
I am nearly 82 and have two hearing aids but when I fly, I cannot understand many words of the fast gabble broadcast from the check-in desk, waiting in the lounge at the gate or from the crew and manager when seated in the plane.
Hopefully Air New Zealand (and all airlines) will give more attention to this aspect of their staff training so we “aged” travellers will know what is going on.
I know they probably repeat the same messages many times a day but we are only with them once!
Enjoy your weekly publication very much. Keep up the high standard. Cheers, Les Howe, Windsor Park The Travel Editor replies: Modern airports are incredibly brisk places and the fast pace often seems to keep up once you’re on board the plane — particularly for short-haul hops. It’s first-time fliers, and travellers who don’t speak the language for whom I feel most sorry.
Part of the problem, I suspect, is the sheer blizzard of announcements. Interestingly, Virgin Australia has just announced they’re cutting back on the number of announcements inflight — which makes me wonder how much of the babble was ever really necessary.
Following on from the correspondence about inaudible announcements on aircraft, can anyone explain why cabin crew are trained to speak a different English from the rest of us? They consistently emphasise the wrong word, such as in “the captain has illuminated the seatbelt sign” (I never tried to argue that she hadn’t) or “we have commenced our descent”. Another bugbear of mine is the unnecessary and persistent use of the definite article, as in “today we have the fish or the chicken” or “would you like the pinot noir or the shiraz?” This seems to happen on all airlines but nowhere else, so there must be a reason for it. Any ideas?
David Baker
The Travel Editor replies: I always wonder if they imagine it’s the only shiraz in the world. The last round! In which case, yes thanks! I’ll have a drop!
Too heavy to handle
A warning to other travellers. I recently went to Europe in Premier Economy on Singapore Airlines and had a baggage allowance of 35kg. However, on checking in at Heathrow I was told my 34.6kg case was too heavy. Apparently, baggage handlers are only allowed to lift 32kg. I could check in two bags totalling 35kg but one of those must not exceed 32kg.
(I do not usually have this much luggage but I was bringing home some of my son’s things.)
This was not told to me by my agent or on any of the documentation I had. The problem was solved by removing a laptop and taking it on as hand luggage — or I could have bought another bag, which I didn’t want to do. L Hughes
Greenlane
The Travel Editor replies: I’d be having a word with your travel agent if I were you. When booking through an agent this is exactly the sort of thing you should reasonably expect them to take into account. Travel agents that I know pride themselves on smoothing such things over.