Need advice on a way to get personal effects to US from Colombia...

[Joe McGillicuddy 0]

The visa is approved and has been received. We are now planning for the transit to the US, and have noticed wildly varying baggage policies for the airlines.

Is there a company that we can use to ship the majority of my fiancee's (and her daughter's) clothes to the US? They are just outside of Cali, fwiw. AS I started looking at airline baggage policies, it seemed that it might be cheaper to just pay to have two large boxes of clothes shipped.

Are there any UPS/FedEx/DHL type companies that we can call?

Thanks in advance.

Joe

Edited May 18, 2009 by Joe McGillicuddy

[Bobby+Umit 161]

airline baggage will probably be the cheapest route to go.

Ups.com

Fedex.com

Dhl.com

[Mononoke28 135]

The visa is approved and has been received. We are now planning for the transit to the US, and have noticed wildly varying baggage policies for the airlines.

Is there a company that we can use to ship the majority of my fiancee's (and her daughter's) clothes to the US? They are just outside of Cali, fwiw. AS I started looking at airline baggage policies, it seemed that it might be cheaper to just pay to have two large boxes of clothes shipped.

Are there any UPS/FedEx/DHL type companies that we can call?

Thanks in advance.

Joe

Try Deprisa which is from Avianca to find out how much it would be. That's the company we always use when sending stuff from Colombia to the US. It arrives in Miami via Deprisa and then DHL delivers it to your home. Takes about a week or so.

Diana

[Jessica Carl 1]

Hi Joe

What is your timeline?

[HAL 9000 96]

Not to budge the idea of shipping huge quantities of stuff... but you may be surprised by the prices for freight of boxes. You may save by paying excess baggage fees to the airlines but of course you'll be dragging a bunch of stuff back with you.

What I did was (I returned from the embassy phase alone) check in two suitcases with my wife's things on my way back. I originally took my 50L backpack carry-on on the way down. She brought another two with her. Plenty of room. No excess baggage fees, only $15 for the second piece of luggage at that time. Total cost = $30. Now I am sure its what, like $25 per checked bag or something like that?

Suerte and congratulations.

[Joe McGillicuddy 0]

Hi Joe

What is your timeline?

Sorry...was away from the computer for a while.

They will be arriving in the US on June 5 with the allowed airline bags. Anything after that will be excess clothing, photos, etc.--no furniture or anything like that.

[Joe McGillicuddy 0]

Not to budge the idea of shipping huge quantities of stuff... but you may be surprised by the prices for freight of boxes. You may save by paying excess baggage fees to the airlines but of course you'll be dragging a bunch of stuff back with you.

What I did was (I returned from the embassy phase alone) check in two suitcases with my wife's things on my way back. I originally took my 50L backpack carry-on on the way down. She brought another two with her. Plenty of room. No excess baggage fees, only $15 for the second piece of luggage at that time. Total cost = $30. Now I am sure its what, like $25 per checked bag or something like that?

Suerte and congratulations.

Not huge quantities--just excess clothes, shoes, photos, etc. The issue is we have to take two airlines--and one of them has a 1 bag + carry-on limit...and that just isn't a lot. We can pay an excess fee, but it will be about outrageous.

[HAL 9000 96]

Seems like this could be a job for a few of those Space Saver Bags.

[Bill y Bella 0]

We ship items to Servientrega in Miami via UPS and then they take them to Colombia. I assume the process would work in reverse. I recently shipped 32 lbs from NJ to Cucuta. Freight cost was $108.11 for both carriers. It is kind of expensive but they seem to be reliable. Servientrega is based in Colombia.

You would want to ship the items as unaccompanied baggage.