I’d like to bounce some thoughts around

[StraightShooter 62]

And as I said, I was talking about the domestic leg in the Philippines, not the states. Specifically, Cebu Pacific airlines.

[Hank_ 9,174]

LOL!! Sorry.... I wasn't thinking of domestic as in the Philippines.

Aren't those separate flight bookings and not part of the airline ticket from the states? Just curious.

[StraightShooter 62]

LOL!! Sorry.... I wasn't thinking of domestic as in the Philippines.

Aren't those separate flight bookings and not part of the airline ticket from the states? Just curious.

Yes, those RP domestic flights are separate bookings and very reasonably priced, but that's based on light carryon luggage. The Cebu Pacific checked baggage rate can be very high and at one point it looked like she'd be bringing almost 300 pounds of luggage! But that figure has since been pared down quite a bit.

[Kathy and Jesse 16]

Hello, I don't know how quickly you need to access the Items that you plan on checking

on a flight, So my suggestion may not be applicable. I have heard that Forex shipping

can be a good alternative to shipping large heavy items. The Items travel by Sea Cargo and

take generally about 30 days to arrive at your destination. A Large "Balikbayan" box is around

$120 dollars. You can fit quite a bit of things inside the large box. You could ship your carry

on items from the Phils to the states a few weeks before you fly back to the states and the box

or boxes would arrive a week or two after you arrive back in the states. From what I have read

it is reliable and inexpensive way to ship things. Hope that helps.

Regards

[StraightShooter 62]

Hello, I don't know how quickly you need to access the Items that you plan on checking

on a flight, So my suggestion may not be applicable. I have heard that Forex shipping

can be a good alternative to shipping large heavy items. The Items travel by Sea Cargo and

take generally about 30 days to arrive at your destination. A Large "Balikbayan" box is around

$120 dollars. You can fit quite a bit of things inside the large box. You could ship your carry

on items from the Phils to the states a few weeks before you fly back to the states and the box

or boxes would arrive a week or two after you arrive back in the states. From what I have read

it is reliable and inexpensive way to ship things. Hope that helps.

Regards

We have plenty of time. Still waiting on our NOA2 here. My fiancee looked into shipping and it was outrageously expensive; many hundreds of dollars. We researched the Balikbayan boxes too, but the only info we found showed them as being shipped to the RP, not from there.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

2. Another thing that I realized yesterday is the exorbitant domestic baggage fees which we may run into when she leaves for the US.

As an example, on Korean Air for the international leg, each of them could have 2 checked bags up to 50 pounds each, plus 2 carryon bags, one of each could be up to 25 pounds. Plus each of them could have a lighter carryon, about the size of a laptop. So… 4 checked bags totaling 200 pounds, 2 carryon bags totaling 50 pounds plus 2 smaller, lighter carryon bags. The total of all 8 bags could be nearly 300 pounds of luggage. Great! Room for everything.

But when I was checking Cebu Pacific Air on their website, I couldn’t find details about their checked baggage policy. So, my fiancée called them and learned that the two of them can each check only 1 bag weighing 15kg each at a cost of 158PHP PLUS 158PHP per kilo after that!. They could also each have one small carryon. Not good!

Anyone know of other airline policies and costs for domestic baggage? Other options? Recommendations?

I will go with number 2 and leave number 1 for others.

Check your airline but what we found in booking flights to Donetsk from JFK is that they allow the larger overseas baggage limit even on the Donetsk-Moscow or Donetsk-Kiev leg of the trip IF you are ticketed all the way through to JFK or DOK (whichever applies). The same applies in the USA IF we book from Burlington to Donetsk BUT when we tried that the air fare was $700 more, EACH! Sorry, no thanks. So now we will either buy a ticket from Burlington ourselves ($98 round trip to JFK) and pay the extra baggage fees, probably about $100, OR we may just drive to NYC and park at a friend's house in Queens, we will see.

The baggage situation is one you have to deal with and allow for when traveling internationally and then continuing domestically. Sucks, but it is part of the deal now.

[gretchen_darren 67]

I don't know if you have checked Philippine airlines. But they are somewhat lenient on baggage. (just don't push it too much) plus just be careful of total weight. Cebu may be cheaper for domestic. but then again, up to what you find. you can call Philippine airlines, you may be able to get them to allow more baggage if you book versus her.

It is good to hear no signs on TB. but remember it is up to St. Lukes. She needs to take all medical records with her for both her and her son. If you have time, it is good to start prep on shots (if you can get the 3 month regimen done there it helps in AOS). Such as Hep A, Hep B, BCG (if you wish), MMR, chickenpox, tetanus, Td, Tdap.

I wish you the best, hope she is staying near an LRT terminal. Also keep in mind the CFO at good shepherd convert is a one-stop shop. All can be done there with visa in hand. (or you can complete all with visa pending and get visa sticker at the airport when leaving)

May you enjoy this time... and hope you will soon be together.