Baggage Service Charges of United Airlines

Carry-on baggage allowed

Each traveler can bring on board one carry-on bag plus one personal item free of charge.

• Maximum dimensions for a carry-on bag are 9 inches x 14 inches x 22 inches (22 cm x 35 cm x 56 cm), including handles and wheels
• Maximum dimensions for your personal item, such as a shoulder bag, backpack, laptop bag or other small item, are 9 inches x 10 inches x 17 inches (22 cm x 25 cm x 43 cm)

Please see our Carry-on Baggage page for more information.

Checked baggage

To determine first and second checked baggage service charges for your itinerary, use the baggage calculator below. Please note that as required by U.S. Department of Transportation regulations, baggage service charges for your entire itinerary are determined by the marketing carrier for the first segment of your itinerary. Your originating marketing carrier is the airline whose flight number is assigned to the first segment of your itinerary. If this carrier is not United or United Express, different charges may apply. Baggage service charges are based on the date of ticketing.

Checked baggage service charges apply at any point where bags are checked. For a trip that includes one or more connections, bags will be checked to your final destination, and the charge for checking a bag from your origin to your destination will apply. For a trip that includes a voluntary stopover, your bags will be checked to your stopover point, where you will collect your bags. When you resume travel, subject to applicable charges, you may check your bags again from the new point of check-in to the destination.

Temporary or permanent baggage embargoes, based on size, weight or number of bags, may be in place at certain airports. See our Excess Baggage Embargo page for details.

Service charge exemptions

Some customers are exempt from certain checked baggage service charges for bags within specified size and weight limits. For specific exemption details relating to your itinerary, select the appropriate status or membership from the dropdown list in the baggage calculator above. Note that exemptions cannot be combined to provide waived charges for additional bags. In the case of multiple exemptions, the greater of the allowances will apply. These benefits apply only on United- and United Express-operated flights when baggage check-in occurs with United.

U.S. military exemptions

• Active U.S. military personnel and their accompanying dependents, not traveling on official business, receive waived service charges for up to three checked bags.
• Active U.S. military personnel and their dependents traveling in United Economy on official business receive waived service charges for up to four checked bags
• Active U.S. military personnel and their dependents traveling in United Global First^SM, United BusinessFirst®, United First® or United Business® on official business receive waived service charges for up to five checked bags.
• Dependents traveling with active U.S. military personnel are also exempt as long as they are traveling in the same reservation. This exemption will not apply to group reservations including ten or more customers.

Other baggage service charges

Excess baggage

Bags checked in addition to the traveler's baggage allowance.
Checked baggage allowance may vary depending on cabin, status level, military status, itinerary and date of purchase.
From $125 to $200 per bag
Learn more

Oversized baggage

Checked bags in excess of 62 linear inches* (158 linear cm) to 115 linear inches (292 linear cm)
Maximum size allowed may vary depending on cabin, status level, military status, itinerary and date of purchase.
*linear measurement = length + width + height
$200 per bag
Learn more

Overweight baggage

Checked bags weighing more than 50 pounds (23 kg) to 70 pounds (32 kg)
Maximum weight allowed may vary depending on cabin, status level, military status, itinerary and date of purchase.
From $100 to $200 per bag

Checked bags weighing more than 70 pounds (32 kg) to 99.9 pounds (45 kg)
Maximum weight allowed may vary depending on cabin, status level, military status, itinerary and date of purchase.
Up to $400 per bag
Learn more

See if an excess baggage embargo applies to your travel

Items with extra handling charges

The following items are subject to a special handling service charge based on itinerary.  All service charges are listed are per item.

Antlers
Worldwide from $100 to $200
Learn more

Bicycles
Worldwide from $100 to $200
Learn more

Dry ice
Worldwide from $35 to $200
Learn more

Kiteboards
Worldwide from $100 to $200
Learn more

Surfboards
Worldwide from $100 to $200
Learn more

Vaulting poles
Worldwide from $100 to $200
Learn more
Source(http://www.united.com/)

Nigeria Travel Tourism

With the rise of foreign economic interest in Africa, it’s no surprise that Africa’s most populous country has received plenty of attention lately. Monetary matters aside, Nigeria’s main cities have been becoming more and more cosmopolitan over the years, and that has directly contributed to an increase in tourism and popularity among foreigners.

After decades of dictatorship, Nigeria declared independence in 1960, and has since been seen as an energetic reformer. The government’s ups and downs haven’t stopped Nigerians from living joyful lives, though: in 2003 a study that included more than 65 countries worldwide showed that Nigeria has the happiest people on Earth. So, if you were doubting your travel plans before, these findings should eliminate any uncertainty.

(source:africa.com)

Ghana Tourism- The Backbone Of Ghana's Economy

Tourism is a strong pillar of the Ghanaian economy. In 2012, it recorded 993,600 international tourist arrivals with corresponding receipts of 1.7 billion USD. The industry provided employment for 359,000 people in the country. Seen as a strong contributor to the economy, the government is strengthening the industry to enable it [tourism industry] play its role in the overall development of the country.

It was for this reason that the government increased the GH¢ 2million budget to GH¢ 3 million allocation to the Creative industry, underscoring government's recognition of the potentials of the Industry in accelerating Ghana's economic growth.

In 2013, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Seth Terkper indicated that government would facilitate the development of cultural villages and enclaves as a critical appendage to tourism which is fast gaining economic relevance as a source of revenue generation and employment creation.

This year, the industry is focusing on revamping all the tourist and natural resource centres to help raise funds to support the country's economic development. As parts of efforts to strengthen the industry and put much value on the Ghanaian creative industry, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts launched a Domestic Tourism Promotion Project dubbed: "Explore Ghana," in Accra. The project seeks to encourage Ghanaians to visit the country's attractive tourism sites through vigorous promotion and showcasing of aspects of the cultural heritage and creative arts products and services. In a key note address, the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare said the project was aimed at inculcating travel habit while mainstreaming tourism as a major activity among Ghanaians.
 According to her, the project, which is a joint collaboration with the Graphic Communications Group, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and Voltic mineral water, and other stakeholders, was geared towards promoting Ghana's cultural heritage and its creative arts products and services. "Statistics on domestic tourism indicates that interregional movements are currently taking place within the country as educational and social clubs continues to organise group tours from their institutions to other parts of the country," she stated. Adjare disclosed that the Ministry with collaborations from the other ministries, municipal and district assemblies as well as other stakeholders were making tourist sites very accessible to all, citing the reconstruction of the Fulfuso-Damongo road in the Northern Region into a first class asphaltic surface road to make the travel to Mole National Park an enjoyable one.

To enhance domestic tourism, the Minister noted that the Ghana Tourism Authority was currently reviving the public Holidays Recreational Programmes in all the ten regions in the country, emphasizing that this year was declared by her ministry as a tourism year with emphasis on domestic tourism. Adjare expressed the hope that travel within the country would aid in the creation of income earning opportunities for residents of rural communities and alleviate poverty through the sale of arts and craft material, provision of hospitality services and tour guiding services among others. Roland Affail-Monney, Director of Radio, GBC, noted that the tourism industry demonstrated its role as a vital tool in the advancement of economies through direct domestic and foreign exchange earnings and through the employment and investment opportunities it generates. He pledged GBC's support to the industry to find innovative ways of stimulating domestic tourism.

A former Chief of Staff, Henry Martey Newman said the industry should be redesigned to make it more attractive and valuable to Ghanaians as it was the hub of the country's economic development. Newman said ideas must not just be left unattended to rather, there must be operationalized so as to contribute to the growth of the industry and the economic development as whole. To demonstrate the relevance of domestic tourism, the Ministry took participants around various sites in the Capital city. This was aimed at paving way for domestic tourism to begin and for Ghanaians to appreciate and value what they have as a country. source{http://www.travelafricanews.com/}

Why Nigeria must boost gas utilisation

THE Executive Vice Chairman, Techno Oil Limited, Mrs. Nkechi Obi has stressed the need for the Federal Government to further encourage robust utilisation of gas for domestic consumption in the country.

  Obi, in an exclusive interview with the Guardian recently, berated the huge quantity of gas flared in the country, which could be converted for economic benefits.

   The Techno Oil boss, however advocate for mass conversion from kerosene to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), as more economic and environmental-friendly fuel for domestic usage.

   “In terms of gas utilization, I don’t think they have met the industry expectations, because Nigeria is still unable to fully utilize gas, and we flare quite a very high quantity of the resources. We are not there yet, because countries like Ghana and Morrocco are doing fine. We have a good number of gas reserves, but as at today our gas consumption is still very low. So, government must wake up to this challenge,” she said.

  She said LPG is one of the many ways whereby the gas resources could be beneficial to the local economy, although there are  some challenges in the adoption of LPG as a means of generating energy in Nigerian homes today, which she identifies as; the high cost of the cylinders and shortage of filling plants.

   “We must find a way standardizing our filling stations to be able to accommodate LPG refilling capability. A situation whereby Nigerians would travel for over 14 kilometres before they can access a refilling facility works against the adoption of this product.

    “That is why, we at Techno Oil are using our Going Green Campaign to reach out to the masses on gas utilization, we have expended so much money in this advocacy, because we see it as a Corporate Social Responsibility. As at today, we have distributed well over 20,000 units of our cylinders. We have also gone into partnership with indigent mothers and market women as a way of empowering them to use LPG. We give out our cylinders at highly discounted prices in other to encourage Nigerians switch from kerosene to gas, and we believe that the federal government would soon join us on the campaign to be able to capture the entire populace,” she said.

Obi noted that there had been a slight increase in LPG consumption from 120,000 metric tonnes to about 240,000 metric tonnes in 2012.

 She said the Federal Government should support the efforts of the few investors in this industry by granting them duty waivers or reduction on cylinders and stove accessories which are mostly imported.

   “It would also be more rewarding for government to redirect the current subsidy on Kerosene to the procurement of cylinders. Studies have confirmed that high cost cylinder procurement is one of the barriers to the switch from kerosene to LPG,” she said.

Omu Resort: Building Of A Disney World In Lagos Jungle

RECREATION in Nigeria, especially Lagos state has for long been limited to people gathering together, eating and drinking. And most Lagosians do this at the beach. This ritual may soon change as the owner of Omu Resort is coming up with a new tourism experience for Lagosians.

   Omu Resort, a 22.4 hectares of land situated in a serene environment at the foot of  Omu river at Bogije town, Lekki Epe expressway, Lagos features zoo with variety of animals ranging from lion, giraffes, zebras, baboons, monkeys, hyenas, jackals, crocodiles, ostriches, peacocks, snakes and others. There is also amusement park, Koi pond, outdoor park, go karting, miniature golf and horse riding. A Section of the facility, SeaWorld showcases different aquatic animals, archery, wax museum, quad biking and so on.

According to a spokesperson of the resort, Olabisi Falase, he said the idea is directed towardso giving Lagos state a signature project; educate the tourists while offering them recreational activities. He said project such as Omu resort aims to change people’s attitude and perception and solves the dilemma faced by most parents of where to take their children during holiday.

   Olabisi revealed that the project started in Surulere simply as a SeaWorld where schools and families come for excursions to learn about aquatic life. According to him, the vision got larger as a result of influx of people, which made the location too small to accommodate the many visitors that visit on daily basis, hence, the establishment of Omu Resort.   

  “The Omu Resort was conceived as a complete destination point for schools, families and corporate organizations. We thought of establishing a vacation spot where parents can come with their children; spend three or more hours without being bored. Our floor plan aims at providing our visitors with a rewarding experience that will broaden their educational spectrum in a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere. We have many facilities for all ages and the fun is endless yet educating.

   “Our mission is to provide an entertainment and educational environment in which to display and propagate animals (both aquatic and wild) in a safe manner that gives a unique viewing opportunity to all of our visitors as well as ensure that other activities compliment our exhibits. Our strategy is to enhance the quality of the time spent by our visitors by developing a blend of education, entertainment and other environmental aspects, to improve respect for the land and the life it supports.”

   Olabisi said that Nigeria is richly blessed with a variety of resources apart from oil and other stuffs and needed to make the most out of them. He disclosed that Nigeria has the world’s largest diversity of butterfly which is located in areas surrounding Calabar, has 81 different types of snakes that are unique to us and 357 different types of fishes particular to our water.

“That’s what we should be exhibiting in this country; it is our heritage. If you can showcase over 1000 different butterflies in one place, that’s a tourist attraction; people will come from different parts of the world to come and see it.

   “Every major city in the world has a signature project. In London, there is the London Eye, the Buckingham Palace; if you talk of Dubai, you talk of the Burj Al Arab Tower, the Underwater World; the Sand Safari; in Singapore, you talk of the Formula One; the Statue of Liberty in New York, America; same with other major cities. For us in Lagos, you can never truly build a mega-city without a signature project-something you can identify the city with. And this is what we are trying to achieve with this resort; where you can proudly take your foreign visitor to and they come back satisfied with what they experienced.”

   Olabisi is very optimistic that they have the best package in Lagos with what they have on ground. He believes that the resort would soon become a beacon.

   He said: “If you read the story of how Disney in Florida started, it was just one huge piece of land and they were building year after year and that is the same thing we want to do and continue to improve on them. What you see today is not what you will see there next week, what you see there next week is not what you will see there next month. We will keep investing because I think what I want to do is to leave a legacy and what our children will see tomorrow and say: ‘thank God our fathers did these.’”

Flights to Laogs From USA

Source:(http://www.ngrguardiannews.com)

Nigeria To Check Outbound Medical Tourism

THE NIGERIAN government and the national medical association have joined forces in a direct attack against outbound medical tourism.

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has applauded the new National Health Act, as it will help to substantially reverse the trend of frequent and sometimes unnecessary foreign medical trips, and could even make Nigeria a destination for medical tourism.

The new law has provisions that directly tackle outbound medical tourism and the resultant negative impact for Nigeria with substantial sums flowing out of the country. It seeks to stop the use of tax payers’ money where politicians, government officials and their families go free on foreign medical trips, for medical conditions that can effectively be treated in Nigeria.

Dr Osahon Enabulele of NMA explains, “Lots of Nigerians, including top political office holders travel frequently to other countries in search of medical care even for medical conditions that can be satisfactorily managed in Nigeria. Available evidence suggests that over 5,000 Nigerians visit India and other countries every month for medical tourism with lots of these Nigerians faced with various risks and challenges including misdiagnosis, legal and ethical issues, exposure to infectious diseases, as well as other complications, particularly post-surgical complications. On average, over $800 million dollars is lost annually by Nigeria on account of foreign medical trips.”

The new law provides a minimum package of basic healthcare services (including the provision of free medical care for children under 5 years of age, pregnant mothers, the elderly and people with disabilities), as well as improved funding for primary health care through the setting up of a National Primary Healthcare Development Fund to be mostly funded by national taxes. The aim is to offer Nigerians greatly improved access to quality healthcare services, so that deaths amongst Nigerians, particularly the rural poor, as a result of inability to pay for healthcare services (including medical care for emergencies) are drastically reduced.

Minister of State for Health, Dr Khaliru Alhassan is an opponent of medical tourism and seeks to get the Federal Ministry of Health to improve healthcare in the country: “There has been a lot of accusing fingers towards us that federal politicians are responsible for medical tourism. The Federal Government of Nigeria is losing billions of dollars because of us; a lot of people are looking at us that we are responsible for people going out of the country. I have a lot of work to do to change this perception.”

Although politicians have attacked medical tourism in recent years, many were at the same time benefiting from free state paid medical care outside of Nigeria. The difference now is that those wanting change have a new law and renewed vigour to tackle the problem, which will be good news for many Nigerians but bad news for a struggling Indian medical tourism sector.

The federal government now has a clear mandate to ensure that Nigerians are healthy by working with the states, local government and the private sector to deliver the promise of transforming Nigeria’s healthcare as laid down by the National Health Development Strategic Plan; and the cabinet has warned national and local politicians that it will come down heavily on anybody causing problems by setting one ministry against another, or otherwise allowing local politics to delay the national plan.

Cheap Flights Ticket  To Nigeria

(source:http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/)

The Gambia Raises Bar On Tourism, Eyes Nigerian Market

Sustainability is key in the world of Tourism but some countries battle with sustainability, simply because of their weather, flight access and other reasons.   As a Country willing to boost her GDP through tourism, The Gambia   is making effort at increasing the population of tourists that visit the country globally round the year.  With its second best eco-tourism sites in Africa, The Gambia through its representative in Nigeria recently invited some journalists from Nigeria for a media tour of the country. LAOLU ADEYEMI who was there reports. 

THE Gambia, the smiling coast of Africa is now one of the most preferred tourist destinations in Africa. What an irony? A former hunting ground for slaves has eventually become a tourist haven besieged by fun seekers from Europe, Americas and other continents. Starting from November to May of the following year, Gambia, blessed with beautiful beaches, sands and sun, is a beehive of activity. 

Though small in population, arguably Gambia is the most peaceful nation in the West Africa. It is also about the second most preferred ecotourism destination in Africa. 

The Country is not just blessed with good tourism sites; they are also blessed with good friendly people who have over the years explored farming and fishing as major occupation. In Gambia, cassava, cashew, groundnuts and other cash crops thrive better and this has contributed significantly to the nation’s export revenue. This explains why her currency (Dalasis) keeps gaining strength against Naira -the Nigerian currency. (Presently, seven Naira exchanges for one Dalasis).

Yet the country is prepared to diversify her economy through tourism. Government through Gambia Tourism Board (GTB) and Ministry of Tourism and Culture is working towards given greater attention to tourism, especially to Nigerians.

 According to the Director General of GTB, Benjamin Roberts, Gambia government is fast making effort to attract tourists from Nigeria and every other part of the world. Towards this ends, deliberate efforts have been made by government to improve flight access by bringing Gambia Birds to ply Nigeria route directly. This initiative, he said, would augment services of the Arik airline- the only airline that plies Nigeria- Gambia at the moment, and bring down airline fares. 

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tourism. Mr. Momodu Joof confirmed to the Guardian that the Gambian Birds would from this month start flying to Nigeria and bring passengers from Nigeria. Joof described the effort as deliberate in boosting population of tourist round the year. “The gesture will not only help Nigerians to fly freely to Gambia but also attracts investor,” saying air access has been a major challenge to Gambia tourism.  Joof disclosed that her government wants the nation’s tourism business to cease from being seasonal. “We want to make Gambia a tourist destination throughout the year as against having November to April as our peak season”. “Seasonal Tourism is not good for our investors and our Economy”. 

Joof however disclosed that Gambia government is also aware of the challenges that tourism brings to a nation, and that the government has put in place some measures to check any ugly development.

When asked to specifically mention those measures put in place, Joof said there are policies to check incidents of peadophilia associated with visitors coming to the country.  It has also restricts minors from entering the tourist sites during school hours. Joof stated emphatically that any minor found around any tourist sites within school hour would be punished. 

When told that some minors were reportedly seen on the beaches during school hour, Joof  admitted that some security officers in charge of the beach security compromised and the President had recently fired some of them. “But we are working harder on our tourism security to check that,” he added.

 DG Gambian Tourism Board, noted that the country is blessed with different tourist destinations that are majorly eco-friendly. ‘Parts of these tourist destinations are Makasutu camp base, Kinta-Kunte Island which is formerly known as Forth James Island, River Gambia, Albreda Juffereh town which are located on the north bank of the River Gambia; beach resort hotels among others’.

All these tourism sites are always a haven for many tourists from Sweden, Europe and people from other part of the world from November to April of any year. The number of tourists that visit Gambia yearly keep increasing year in year out during this peak period and it help boost the nation’s economy. 

On the other hand, the economy growth slides during off –peak season leading to mass unemployment, “this is not good for the nation economy,” the DG said. 

According to him, this does not just affect the country’s economy but it also scale up the crimes rate, which could threaten the peace of the country. “Gambia is known for being peaceful in the whole of Africa and this is a unique selling point to tourists globally and we don’t want anything to negate it. 

“This is why the government through GTB is trying to repackage the Gambian tourism to attract more tourists during off-peak period for any event, social functions or any other program. When this is actualized, economy of the country will boom and this in turn will impact positively on job creation within the industry”.

source:(http://www.ngrguardiannews.com)