Thanks to Tref for the lift and for his patience over my last minute panic due to the bike-box being 11kg over the prescribed British Airways quote of 23kg. My fault for not weighing it earlier. Those items I could hopefully get in VN were discarded (chain-oil etc); carry-on suitcase (BA: small but can be up to 25kg) & Easyjet carry-on bag (BA: fit under your seat size and up to 25kg) both discarded in favour of my two indestructible Ortlieb panniers formerly in the box.
We set off some 90 sweaty minutes later than planned & got to Man T2 six hours before takeoff to DOHA. Being well victualled with Aldi sarnies & two cans of high-octane beer I was ready to sit and wait. T2 has recently been nicely revamped and each airline allotted specific, well designated check-in areas – so no need to guess where to checkin.
FYI BA delegate the Hanoi flight to Qatar Airlines. QA have different weight and size of luggage rules to those of BA. This would obviously have been explained to me at time of booking. Sorry guys but it wasn’t. Why am I saying sorry? I will be writing to the toe-rags at BA in due course.
After putting most of the pannier bags’ contents into the box and retaping it shut (QA: its a special item so it can be 32kg not 23kg), overdressed & with pockets crammed plus my 7kg checkin (QA) pannier, laptop, bag of sarnies and fruit plus the resilient re-taped & by now rather bloated 37 kg bike box were allowed to board. The kind lady at the adjacent oversize drop-off counter had witnessed the hassle I’d been put though and waved it on despite the global 32kg max luggage limit. How the f will I get home?