Shipping companies - any recommendations?

[Brooklyn23 0]

This has probably been asked a million times on here but I am now ready to book a shipping company to get my stuff over to the US from the UK, does anyone have any rants or raves on companies they used?

Also -has anyone flown Silverjet (Luton to Newark I think)? They may let me take my wedding dress as hand luggage and are only slightly more pricey than virgin economy but I haven't spoken to anyone with first hand experience of them just yet...

Thanks in advance!

Lauren

[JaEnglishGirl 34]

This has probably been asked a million times on here but I am now ready to book a shipping company to get my stuff over to the US from the UK, does anyone have any rants or raves on companies they used?

Also -has anyone flown Silverjet (Luton to Newark I think)? They may let me take my wedding dress as hand luggage and are only slightly more pricey than virgin economy but I haven't spoken to anyone with first hand experience of them just yet...

Thanks in advance!

Lauren

Can't help you with shipping companies, but I am flying with Maxjet from Stanstead which also go to New York. They allow you to take unlimited suitcases for £30 for each 70lb case!!

They did say though that the extra cases would be on a standby basis, ie might come on another flight.

But WELL worth it if you don't need to ship stuff that won't fit in a suitcase.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

This has probably been asked a million times on here but I am now ready to book a shipping company to get my stuff over to the US from the UK, does anyone have any rants or raves on companies they used?

Also -has anyone flown Silverjet (Luton to Newark I think)? They may let me take my wedding dress as hand luggage and are only slightly more pricey than virgin economy but I haven't spoken to anyone with first hand experience of them just yet...

Thanks in advance!

Lauren

Can't help you with shipping companies, but I am flying with Maxjet from Stanstead which also go to New York. They allow you to take unlimited suitcases for £30 for each 70lb case!!

They did say though that the extra cases would be on a standby basis, ie might come on another flight.

But WELL worth it if you don't need to ship stuff that won't fit in a suitcase.

I've flown both Maxjet and Silverjet and they are a complete world apart.

I'll start with Silverjet. One word: awesome. I travelled with them in March, and it was unlike any airline experience I have ever had in my life. You are treated as a privileged guest, from the moment they transport you in free black cabs from Luton Airport Parkway rail station to the private terminal. They take your bags from you when you get to the terminal, and your check in is more like that at a hotel -- no queueing, really pleasant staff. They take your passport from you and you're invited to go and help yourself to a really quite nice continental breakfast while they do the security checks, then they bring your passport and boarding pass to you when they're done. You can wander in and out of the terminal at will -- no push to rush you through security at all. There's also champagne (for buck's fizz!) and other booze if you feel like it. You can start to board when you feel like it, and the guys doing the x-ray machine are utterly charming (when was the last time you could say that?).

Onboard, you have a great, almost flat bed (I think it's 170 degrees, not 180, but for short-arses like me it's not an issue!) and they serve you warm mixed nuts and a pre-flight champagne or juice. Once you take off, you have your own personal video device with really up to date movies (I saw Little Miss Sunshine while it was still on general release in the UK) and actually pretty tasty food. Service was outstanding -- thr flight attendants know their stuff. It was more like being at a posh but not overly stuffy hotel in the air, with your whims catered to as best as possible. No whinging or goofing around (hello, Virgin airline staff!) but overall just perfect. I never felt like a piece of meat to be stuffed in a tin can and flown to America, but as an individual. I've flown all the major airlines to and from the States, in economy and business, and these guys really are the best right now.

Maxjet...ugh. Shall I start by saying that in my eleven years of shuttling back and forth from the East Coast to Britain I have never had worse service? I had to fly to DC for a two-day conference -- out on Wednesday afternoon, back on Friday night. I got to Stansted, only to be told our flight was cancelled due to one of the emergency chutes being out of service. No other flights go from Stansted to America, so we had no choice. We were then told we would be put on a Virgin flight to DC from Heathrow, so after waiting 40 minutes for a shuttle bus, we went hurtling down the M11 and onto the M25 towards Heathrow. Then some interesting info started being passed around by fellow passengers. On the coach was a young woman who had flown out from DC to London a week before and her flight had been cancelled at the DC end, supposedly due to faulty equipment. However, one of the Maxjet staff had told her confidentially that they regularly have to cancel flights, more than any other airline the flight attendant had ever flown with, mostly due to Maxjet cancelling flights when they hadn't filled enough seats. As there were only about 50 of us on our flight, we could only assume the broken chute was an excuse.

When we got to Heathrow, the last DC flight had already gone and we were told we were going to JFK, and then we'd fly on JetBlue to DC. Only some of us were able to get business class seats even though Maxjet had promised us we all would get them. I was lucky and got one, but there were people who had to go economy on that flight, despite paying £800 for a return. When we arrived at Heathrow, the Virgin staff didn't even know we were coming and it was all a farce. Anyway, we eventually got to JFK, only to find that Maxjet hadn't told JetBlue about us coming, so we weren't able to take a flight to DC that night, and had to wait until 7am the next morning. By that point I had missed a meeting and a business dinner and I was livid. So out we went to DC at 7am on JetBlue, and I ended up an hour late to the first full day of the conference.

So...on the Friday morning I called Maxjet to confirm that the flight was going as planned, no cancellations. Yes, they said, no problems, everything fine. So I showed up at Dulles, checked in (none of the fancy Silverjet service here! ) and waited to get on board. We duly filed on, they served us champagne and some (semi-frozen) hors d'oeuvres, went through the safety demo, and then were told that they could not close the plane doors properly and we would all need to get off the plane. We waited 5 hours until they could bring us another plane -- nearly 2am. And during that time they only served us a few sandwiches and crisps -- we had to BEG for water. It wasn't the flight crew's fault, they were really up against it and tried really hard, but there was nothing they could do. By the time we got off the plane the lounge had closed, no restaurants were open or anything. When we were finally let onto the new plane, they said they had no hot food for us or personal video machines and they would be turning out the lights to go to sleep immediately. When it was time for breakfast, they told us there was not enough to go around so if people would be willing to pass up breakfast...I had a yogurt which I had to eat with a plastic fork as they had no more spoons.

When I got back, I sent them a steaming letter asking for compensation but nothing was forthcoming. I did a bit of research on the net after I got back to London and found that my experience was not uncommon. AlienUKGirl, I truly hope your experience was better than mine!!!

[kins 0]

This has probably been asked a million times on here but I am now ready to book a shipping company to get my stuff over to the US from the UK, does anyone have any rants or raves on companies they used?

Also -has anyone flown Silverjet (Luton to Newark I think)? They may let me take my wedding dress as hand luggage and are only slightly more pricey than virgin economy but I haven't spoken to anyone with first hand experience of them just yet...

Thanks in advance!

Lauren

I have yet to move, but I've had quotes from various companies. All the quotes are for a 20 foot container (just over 1000 cu ft of belongings) including full packing service this end, getting everything through customs, and unpacking the other end. They are...

Aspin £3665 (and maybe a bit more for dismantling furniture)

Simpsons £4460

Euro-USA £4475

Excess International £4476

Atlantic £4860

I have a 4-bed house and a fair amount of belongings but not too much furniture if that's any help. We did declutter a lot before I got quotes.

When I booked flights I went for maximum convenience. I am flying with my three small children and no other adults, so I just went for a flight from my local airport with no changes. Cost me £2000 for four of us though..

[Leney 0]

With the conversion rate for pound gb v. us dollar, I'd sell everything off and buy new things for half the price with twice as much money Probably be cheaper in the long run ;D

[Mags 112]

excessbaggage.com

I had 14 boxes and they charged me 600 quid. Took 4 weeks to get to the USA. Excellent service, polite and helpful.

[Brooklyn23 0]

Cheers everyone, I will definitely check out excess baggage and silverjet - had heard similarly bad reports of maxjet unfortunately so will steer well clear!

[broma25 2]

I used Whittle's movers. Everything arrived in once piece, took about 6 weeks to arrive and I think I paid about 1500 GBP.