In Reply to: Someone recently told me posted by Colleen on Saturday, 11. February 2006 at 12:21 Bali Time:
I buy my suitcases for taking donated goods at our local second-hand shop, and have never been challenged on any of our six previous trips. (Then I can just leave surplus cases behind in Bali, and refill our own with accumulated Bali bargains to take home again). Last time we took three large suitcases for the two of us, after getting 30kg extra allowance, and we did not get stopped, even though one of the cases contained about 10 bottles of vitamins for the birthing clinic. (I was fully expecting them to show up on the x-ray machine and had rehearsed my detailed explanation in Bahasa Indonesian just in case!).
Maybe it is a sign of how tight things are over there financially, even for the airport workers who have always been able to cream a bit off the top with 'negotiations' over excess alcohol coming in, and excess baggage going out.
Someone not so long ago advocated actually using the porters at the airport on arrival, saying that they had experienced no problems with customs with the porters taking their bags through for them. Might be worth considering; it is not such a big fee if it saves a lot of hassle.