Gormless luggage question

[whimsicalname]

So we're emigrating. There's 5 of us (me, DH and 3 boys who by then will be 8,6 and 2).

Most of our stuff will, i guess, get freighted. But a fair amount, clothes etc, will fly with us. The internet tells me all the children get a luggage allowance too. Do I just go and buy lots of big suitcases? and then keep them forever? We only own 2 suitcases. That's always been enough (just!) before.

If you are paying for tickets for all the children, then they should get the standard luggage allowance - depends on the airline, but it's usually 20kg per person. Watch out if you get really big suitcases though - you might find that once full they will be too heavy to check in.

In the past I have taken two big and one small suitcase for me & 2 DCs, adding up to our joint 60kg limit (eg 25kg x2 plus 10kg x1) but the last few years airlines have started getting much stricter with weight limits for each suitcase - a lot of them won't accept anything over 23kg, so you get people in the check-in queue going through luggage and transferring stuff to other cases or even having to throw things away. I have a couple of large suitcases I can never use any more because once they are full they weigh nearly 30kg.

Now my DCs are old enough to pull their own suitcases, we have one medium-sized wheeled suitcase each, usually weighing 18-20kg. Your older two DCs are probably big enough to pull along their own suitcase by now - mine have been doing it since they were 8 and 4.

If you're not going to use them a lot, then large, strong dufflebags might be better than conventional suitcases - they flatten out for storage, and you can get some with built-in wheels these days.

Agree with exexpt re airlines being stricter - assume 23Kg for maximum weight of one case.
When we moved to China we flew business and had an allowance of 120Kg, but actually used about 80 which included paperwork, clothes, limited toys and books for the kids, medical info and some high value items. We managed with this until our air freight turned up (2 months later - don't ask!).
We had a combination of cases and large holdalls with wheels which are easier to store and great for transporting oddly shaped stuff.

When we moved abroad last summer (USA to UK) we brought a couple suitcases, but also packed a few large plastic containers with some items we wanted on hand right away (toys, towels). We were able to check them as baggage on the plane--just paid the extra weight/baggage fees when needed (much cheaper than shipping anyway)
The containers were great because they double as storage here in our house...instead of luggage taking up space that may or may not be used.

When we moved from the UK to Oz we had something like 20kg each (including the DC) in premium economy class. I had one really big suitcase that had to be freighted because it weighed just under 10kg empty!! I went to TK Maxx and got 4 huge suitcase sized holdalls with wheels, much lighter and the same size as a case.

Good luck with the move!

Who are you flying with and what class? Some have higher limits - Emirates is 30kg even for economy. Infants (under 2 if you are not paying for them) also get a 10kg allowance. Quite a few airlines have now introduced a per piece additional charge for excess baggage rather than by weight. The weight allowance should be stated on your tickets though (e-tickets included).