Is 23kg + 15kg enough luggage allowance for a family of 4?

[Elsalvador]

It's been so long since we travelled and the kids are now older so we won't be travelling with boosters.

We used to travel with 23kg for four. Usually touch and go but we manage it. We are buying extra luggage this time but not sure if 15kg is enough or pay for 23kg. The suitcase is medium sized and weighs 4.9kg. So 15kg is only 10kg in reality.

We are off to Spain to see family so can wash clothes out there. We're heading over for Xmas and it's likely they will give the kids some gifts, which is extra weight coming back.

We can take bags that fit under the seat only as it's Easyjet. No weight limit but we just have normal day sacks (around 15-17 litres).

Do you think 15kg will be enough? We need to take the Xmas stockings but they aren't too heavy and the heavy stuff (e.g. books and sweets), I'll put in my day pack.

Thanks for any advice! We are rusty travellers but seeing elderly grandparents for the first time since the pandemic arrived!

To clarify, we've already paid for 23kg. This is whether we buy an extra 15kg or an extra 23kg! Thanks.

For the extra £10 or so I know it’s each way personally I’d go for 23kg. Until last month EasyJet had the hands free service which let you put a cabin size bag without weight limit in the hold for £7 each way it was a bargain. They quietly withdrew it and introduced a much more expensive cabin bag option for taking the bag on board.
Hubby and I therefore opted for the 15kg hold between us recently as I begrudged paying them more money and we struggled with only that between us.
I wish you a wonderful Xmas with your family.

Thanks @loadypoady. We've already paid £73 to put one 23kg bag in hold. I'm wondering if 23kg will be enough as EJ only allow bags that fit under the seat to brought on board for free.

To add an additional 15kg luggage in hold, it will be another £52 (on top of the £73 we already paid). Or we can pay £24 to change the existing 23kg to 26kg. Or we pay another £73 so we can bring 2 x 26kg suitcases.

It's been SO long since we travelled, I have no concept anymore! If you were able to pack with 15kg allowance between two adults, it makes me think we might be fine with 26kg so perhaps I'll pack tonight and weigh the suitcase. Then buy the extra 3kg if needed. Definitely don't want to stress over luggage allowance. Equally, it's so expensive, I don't want to buy more luggage allowance than we need as we've now blown the budget on Covid tests for the family!

Thanks for the best wishes. I hope you have a wonderful Xmas too!

Do you have an unlimited weight (but not size) allowance for carry on luggage?

I would book the x2 23kg.

We recently did a trip back to uk to visit family. Three of us, one baby so all his random extras. We took x2 cases out both weighing 12-15 kg only. Returned with x3 bags, all at 20-22kg. ( luckily we had ba full 23kg each allowance)

Visiting family after so long means you no doubt will be returning with more.

@CrimbleCrumble1 carry on is limited to size not weight as EJ have now changed this. It must fit under the seat so this means a medium backpack max (and the only back packs we have are only 17L capacity).

@Caspianberg this is a very good point! I usually pack really light knowing this in the past! We always make a point of telling family that we don't want/need gifts over Xmas so we, the adults, don't get any but it's hard as we have kids!

I bought one of these for a recent EasyJet trip:

cabinmax.com/collections/45x36x20-suitcases-and-bags/products/venice-water-resistant-laptop-cabin-bacpack-45x36x20cm

Meets the under seat luggage requirements and it’s huge - I packed for a week away quite easily. It holds 30 litres and it’s very lightweight. I squished an empty day sack in there too.

My reasoning was I’d rather pay for a bag that I can reuse than for putting luggage in the hold. The only downside is that it opens from the top, but they do a more expensive version that allows for easier packing with the same dimensions:

cabinmax.com/collections/45x36x20-suitcases-and-bags/products/metz-30-litre-cabin-backpack

DH has the smaller version of this one (fits the Ryan Air hand luggage requirements).

It's an extra £200 for us to get one item of checked luggage each way.

4 of us but not doing presents. 9-10 days, we can manage with just 1x23kg bag.

@Ekofisk thanks. These bags look great. They are currently sold out but may not arrive on time for our flight anyway. Will look to buying one of these for our next EJ flight whenever that might be.

@lljkk £200! Wow. I thought £76 was expensive for Spain. Kudos to you for managing. I have definitely managed 23kg for four before but not without some stress and sweat and, on our last trip, we were 3 kg over coming back and we had to redistributed the weight in our carry on (which we can't do now as EJ have removed the cabin bag allowance).

@Elsalvador

Shouldn’t all be sold out? You might have to switch colour options, the light blue version of the Venice shows as available. You can also order via Amazon and get it by Wednesday if you have Prime.

www.amazon.co.uk/Aquabourne-Waterproof-backpack-daypack-guarantee/dp/B00GR21TNW/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=4PFCH7VGJWN5&keywords=Venice+Water+Resistant+Laptop+Cabin+Backpack&sprefix=venice+water+resistant+laptop+cabin+backpack+%2Caps%2C142&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1639331220&sr=8-3

Thanks @Ekofisk. Don't have Prime but have saved for future trips. Seems like a really handy bag to have even for UK trips at home!