I am currently looking into options on how to bring some luggage to Taiwan from Europe.
According to my information, China Airlines allows a maximum of 35kg of luggage in the most expensive economy booking class.
Is there a cheap alternative if I want to bring another suitcase or package?
Looked at DHL prices, they charge almost €200 to ship a single package with up to 20kg which seems rather excessive
Also, additional luggage on China Airlines seems to be priced by kg at over €100 per additional kg
Any cheaper alternative or tricks to ship packages cheaper? Or maybe get additional luggage with China Airlines through some rewards program without needing to fulfill any preconditions?
Not looking to bring much - so hiring a moving company or renting a container would be an overkill and much to expensive.
If I understand the table at https://www.china-airlines.com/de/en/fly/prepare-for-the-fly/baggage/excess-baggage correctly, for connections between Europe and Taiwan the „weight system“ applies where checked bags are priced according to weight and not according to their number. Each additional kg costs USD 60 (so not €100 as I mentioned earlier) - but still - $1,200 for an additional bag seems kinda „steep“
What’s the bag allowance? Are you allowed one or two bags?
I know when I used to fly with KLM to Europe they only allowed 1 piece, but for an additional 35 euros you get another bag. I don’t know about China airlines…
Airline costs are so complicated that there are full time jobs whose job is to determine how much things should cost… They basically make zero profit on operating an airline so saving an additional dollar per passenger (or upselling an additional dollar) makes a huge difference.
Unfortunately, no such credit card seems to be available here in Germany…
Yeah, that’s basically the last resort if I don’t find any solution and have booked the ticket already. Last time I called an airline before booking (KLM), they couldn’t even tell me how much a single bag would cost - they just gave out the information that it „should be less than €120, but could also be €150“. So I really don’t feel comfortable trusting some information by an airline callcenter before booking…
Mhh, not a frequent flyer unfortunately. I do have some Delta miles which I could try (don’t know how much they‘re worth and basically stuck with them as there doesn’t seem a good way to redeem them outside the US).
I think allowance should be between 20kg and 35kg depending on the booking class under a „weight system“ (so number of pieces shouldn’t matter - only their combined weight).
Yeah, flew KLM the last time I visited Taiwan, but now with the current situation would prefer a direct flight which only China Airlines offers without having to drive for hours…
I get that - and in that case I would be more than willing to pay maybe €50 to €100 for bringing an additional bag. But seems like the airline doesn’t really want my money…
Is this their normal pricing or is it pricing as a result of COVID?
Remember how I said airlines make basically zero profit? This is pre COVID.
Now they are losing billions a day. Airlines are such a razor thin operation that any disaster and they’re basically dead in the water. And this is not just one airline, this is ALL airlines. Expect a lot of airlines to go out of business.
That and I think passenger aircraft also carries airmail, and with much less flights you can bet the cargo space is real expensive.
Looks like normal pricing from their website. But not sure - looks like they really want to discourage people from bringing additional luggage.
What kind of miles would I need?
The miles from China Airlines, right?
Just looked up if I might be able to use the miles on the flight: Delta would charge 50,000 miles + $100 for the flight - I have 20,000 miles with them. So doesn’t seem possible in that way.
And didn’t find a way to transfer Delta miles to anything else. So probably not a feasible way either unfortunately…
