SwissVan Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Hello hello, last I checked all airlines are registered businesses entitled to make a profit so that they can amongst other things continue operating and provide income for their employees whilst providing a service to persons who want to get somewhere quicker than by car or boat. To do this in an efficient manner they have no option but to charge £ZAR$ for extra services required. Fly on a US airline and you will pay +/- $7.00 for one of those little dinkythumbsized bottles of whiskey / wine, or $5.00 for some oreo’s….. Nothing is free in life, you pay for it somewhere along the line. Airlines are under tremendous pressure to remain profitable enough to remain in business. Just look and see how many airlines there in the Fortune 500 list of profitable companies, I’ll be surprised if there is more than a handful. Low cost airlines like Kulula have all the same costs ( fuel, salaries, maintenance costs, landing fee’s, crew training etc….) as any other airline but try to offer low cost tickets, so if you try and push the envelope with them i.e. bring more than yourself and standard luggage you could PAY for it. While weight (how much luggage / freight / fuel) and balance (where its located in the aircraft) have to be considered so as not to put the aircraft’s C of G out of limits, I believe that with passengers and their luggage space (volume) is the main criteria and that the actual weight of a passenger and his luggage is not relevant. Airlines assume an average weight for each passenger and all his luggage. I’m not sure what the luggage weight assumption is but for passengers its in the 75 – 90 kg range. In other words if you can fit in the seat you’re ok, if you can’t fit in the seat with the armrests down don’t be surprised to have to pay for 2 seats….or maybe be asked to move and in the worst case get off if your neighbor complains LOL. I also suspect that the weight of luggage might be governed to some extent by the baggage handlers who have to handle it to and from the aircraft, hence why they put red heavy labels on luggage that is overweight. What I don’t understand is why some airlines don’t charge for golf clubs and ski’s when it comes to extra luggage??
kosmonooit Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Good point there Van. Golf Cubs get free cartage with 1Time that I know when I asked about sporting allowances. Just ain't fair! Reason I think is they assume passengers with golf clubs are important business people / decision makers / Execs/ CEO's etc. Someone should tell them Cycling is the new Golf. Re Cheapies: SAA is certainly not cheap but I avoid them because my experience (both locally and International Economy class) is that their service is terrible, and they been way petty when I have flown with a bike with them. Staff generally really have little idea of customer service. Van are you a pilot or something to do with the business?
SwissVan Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Van are you a pilot or something to do with the business? In the business of flying machines - aircraft mechanic
29pgc10 Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 in December we bought a MTB tandem in EU and brought it to SA in it's original box (2000x900x250mm) weighing shade under 32kg. We pre-arranged with lufthansa for Sport-equipment allowance. Been quoted about R750 and ended paying half of that. Word of advice: prearrange and smile!
Guest Omega Man Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 (edited) Funny thing is there is a similar debate happening on another biking related forum referring to Easy Jet in Europe. While I do sympathize with everyone complaining about the cost of transporting a bike you do have to bear in mind that Kulula is a low cost airline. You pay less for tickets but they do need to make a profit, hence you pay extra for bikes and have to pay for your sandwiches. I'm willing to place a fair wager that you'd still have to pay for your bike on SAA and the ticket would be significantly more expensive. Something I've learned over years of air travel is this. Be nice to the lady checking you in. Flash her a smile and she JUST might look the other way regarding your bike. She Might even throw a business class upgrade in there if the flight is full too. Oh and about them damaging bikes. As far as I know ACSA handles baggage handling (and theft) in all of SA's airports apart from Lanseria. Edited March 21, 2012 by Omega Man
DJR Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 .........Flash her a smile and she JUST might look the other way regarding your bike. She Might even throw a business class upgrade in ........ Man, if I had a smile as powerful as yours, I would put it to way more devious use than flying myself and my bike around........ roodtr, (Deon) and Caerus 3
scotty Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 What irks me is the fact that there are FAT people... yea I said it... it is relevant... FAT people who weight more that me my bike and my luggage and my tools and my girlfriend put together and they pay for one seat... with carry-on luggage and with 20KG of checked-in luggage!! Don't listen to Prof Noakes, you need them carbs.
duringd Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 We just did the Sani2C bookings, forget about free travelling for your steed. Bike = R 200 extra, EVEN if you have NO other luggage. And if you don't do it online but on the day its R 300! They are a bunch of a..holes......
GrumpyOldGuy Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Hello hello, last I checked all airlines are registered businesses entitled to make a profit so that they can amongst other things continue operating and provide income for their employees whilst providing a service to persons who want to get somewhere quicker than by car or boat. To do this in an efficient manner they have no option but to charge £ZAR$ for extra services required. Fly on a US airline and you will pay +/- $7.00 for one of those little dinkythumbsized bottles of whiskey / wine, or $5.00 for some oreo’s….. Nothing is free in life, you pay for it somewhere along the line. Airlines are under tremendous pressure to remain profitable enough to remain in business. Just look and see how many airlines there in the Fortune 500 list of profitable companies, I’ll be surprised if there is more than a handful. Low cost airlines like Kulula have all the same costs ( fuel, salaries, maintenance costs, landing fee’s, crew training etc….) as any other airline but try to offer low cost tickets, so if you try and push the envelope with them i.e. bring more than yourself and standard luggage you could PAY for it. While weight (how much luggage / freight / fuel) and balance (where its located in the aircraft) have to be considered so as not to put the aircraft’s C of G out of limits, I believe that with passengers and their luggage space (volume) is the main criteria and that the actual weight of a passenger and his luggage is not relevant. Airlines assume an average weight for each passenger and all his luggage. I’m not sure what the luggage weight assumption is but for passengers its in the 75 – 90 kg range.In other words if you can fit in the seat you’re ok, if you can’t fit in the seat with the armrests down don’t be surprised to have to pay for 2 seats….or maybe be asked to move and in the worst case get off if your neighbor complains LOL. I also suspect that the weight of luggage might be governed to some extent by the baggage handlers who have to handle it to and from the aircraft, hence why they put red heavy labels on luggage that is overweight. What I don’t understand is why some airlines don’t charge for golf clubs and ski’s when it comes to extra luggage?? It didnt appear to me the issue was paying for the luggage so the airline can make a profit and continue flying, it looked to me like there are "inconsistencies" with the procedure and management of the cost thereof, charging a client for something is one thing, it didnt appear to me he had an issue with that, however inconsistently managing the cost thereof is something quite different.
Minion Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 It didnt appear to me the issue was paying for the luggage so the airline can make a profit and continue flying, it looked to me like there are "inconsistencies" with the procedure and management of the cost thereof, charging a client for something is one thing, it didnt appear to me he had an issue with that, however inconsistently managing the cost thereof is something quite different.The inconsistency seemed to be between what Mango was charging to carry a bike and what Kulula was charging. I guess you need to charge more if you can't rely on taxpayer sponsored bail-outs whenever you get into trouble. SwissVan 1
Kranswurm Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Don't listen to Prof Noakes, you need them carbs. Yeah I am pretty pissed off with his no carbs crap.Esp potatoes.I love my potatoes.Baked,mashed,roasted,stewed whateverThen he goes and say they are out.......idiot!
Minion Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 (edited) I’m not sure what the luggage weight assumption is but for passengers its in the 75 – 90 kg range.Before I saw the light, I attended some aero engineering lectures and I recall the design figure being 70kg/passenger and 20kg for luggage (including hand luggage). Obesity is becoming a problem, especially in the States and they've now raised the average standard passenger weight to 86kg. I also suspect that the weight of luggage might be governed to some extent by the baggage handlers who have to handle it to and from the aircraft, hence why they put red heavy labels on luggage that is overweight.This is, indeed, a factor. There is, however, no exact maximum figure, since it depends on the specific working and lifting conditions e.g. where the lifting points are, what shape the item is, where it needs to be moved from and to etc.. When we were designing heavy machinery, we used a rule-of-thumb of about 25-40kg per person. Anything above that required allowance for lifting shackles or an additional person. Edited March 21, 2012 by Edman
GrumpyOldGuy Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 The inconsistency seemed to be between what Mango was charging to carry a bike and what Kulula was charging. I guess you need to charge more if you can't rely on taxpayer sponsored bail-outs whenever you get into trouble. - Sheesh, you are right, I reread it and its my mistake, I somehow missed the Mango bit and understood it as 400 bucks outward and 600 bucks inward on Kulula. Sorry Swiss, I took my meds a bit late this morning so I am still a bit fuzzy.! .....yeah quite right Edman, taxpayers it seems sponsored the 200 bucks.!
SwissVan Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Eish no worries GOG, I wuz just going to type a reply without going to the end of the thread, luckily i saw edmans and your post, saved me much finger stress Something else i noticed in OP's post:1. Traveling with 2 bikes and only notified them at check in time (assumption on my behalf).2. Some evidence of bitterness towards Kulula due to past experience. travelling with my two companions [edit BIKES] my R3SL and my P3, ........so before checking in on monday I stroll over to Mango ........now on the sceond leg we are no travelling to DBN from JHB and I go to check in, with kulula ......o yes I know remeber 2 years ago you guys f#cked my bike up ......
Big H* Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Before I saw the light, I attended some aero engineering lectures and I recall the design figure being 70kg/passenger and 20kg for luggage (including hand luggage). Obesity is becoming a problem, especially in the States and they've now raised the average standard passenger weight to 86kg. This is, indeed, a factor. There is, however, no exact maximum figure, since it depends on the specific working and lifting conditions e.g. where the lifting points are, what shape the item is, where it needs to be moved from and to etc.. When we were designing heavy machinery, we used a rule-of-thumb of about 25-40kg per person. Anything above that required allowance for lifting shackles or an additional person. Most airlines state in their regulations that no single piece of luggage my have a mass of more thn 32kg. If over that it must be checked in as cargo.
TheV Posted March 22, 2012 Posted March 22, 2012 (edited) I agree with you.........WAIT A MINUTE........I weigh 85 kilos, and you are calling me FAT?! I'm a 100% rippling muscle bike power and cage fighting machine! Now I DISAGREE with you! Pay extra for your bikes! < your girlfriends tank top says WHAT? cage fighting nogal? then you prob strut around with pum'kins under your arms. You might fit in your seat, but I bet your elbows extend into both nextdoor seats because your'e so big n strong? .... your "kind" is almost as irritating as the real fat people.. (i clock in at 88kg's / 1.83m tall - but i dont walk around with a muscle complex, but i am damn sexy because i work out, im also extra sexy because i own a 29er and a 26er 150mm all mountain bike < I had to say this because it's almost as irrelevant to this discussion as your "cage fighting machine comment").... Edited March 22, 2012 by TheV
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