You have 50 passengers, so you book a coach with enough seats for 50 people.
Simple?
Not always.
For travel agents and tour operators, passenger capacity is only one part of choosing the right vehicle. The other question is often just as important:
Where will all the luggage go?
A coach may have enough seats for your group and still not be the right vehicle for the journey if passengers are travelling with large suitcases, sports equipment or other bulky items.
This is particularly important for Helsinki Airport group transfers and multi-day tours.
Passenger Capacity and Luggage Capacity Are Two Different Things
When requesting a coach quotation, it is natural to start with the number of passengers.
“We have 48 passengers.”
That tells us how many seats are required. It does not tell us how much luggage the group is bringing.
Consider two groups with exactly the same number of passengers.
The first is travelling from a hotel to a conference venue for the day. Most passengers have only a handbag or backpack.
The second has just arrived at Helsinki Airport for a ten-day tour of Finland. Every passenger has a large suitcase and hand luggage.
Both groups have 48 passengers.
Their transportation requirements are very different.
Tell Us About the Luggage When Requesting a Quote
For an airport transfer or touring programme, include information about the expected luggage in your transportation request.
You do not normally need to provide the exact dimensions of every suitcase.
What we need is a realistic picture of what the group will be carrying.
For example:
- 45 passengers with one large suitcase and one piece of hand luggage each;
- 30 passengers travelling with normal holiday luggage;
- sports team with 25 suitcases and additional equipment bags;
- ski group travelling with skis and luggage;
- school group travelling only with backpacks.
This allows us to consider the luggage requirement together with the passenger number.
Large International Groups Can Bring a Lot of Luggage
For incoming tour groups, luggage can become substantial very quickly.
One suitcase per passenger sounds simple.
Multiply that by 50 passengers and there are already 50 suitcases to load before considering hand luggage or any additional equipment.
This becomes even more important on longer tours, where passengers may travel with larger bags than they would for a short city break.
Tell us that the group is travelling with luggage from the beginning. Do not assume that the passenger number tells the whole story.
Sports Teams Need Special Attention
Sports teams travelling in Finland are a particularly good example of why seat capacity alone is not enough.
A team may travel with:
- personal suitcases;
- team bags;
- hockey equipment;
- skis;
- training equipment;
- medical or maintenance equipment;
- other bulky items required for competition or training.
A coach that would be perfectly suitable for the same number of ordinary passengers may require a different transport plan when the group is a sports team.
When requesting transportation for a team, tell us which sport the group is travelling for and what equipment is coming with them.
This gives us much more useful information than passenger numbers alone.
Ski Groups Are Another Example
A ski group travelling in Finland may have relatively few passengers compared with the seating capacity of a coach, yet require considerable space for equipment.
Skis, snowboards, boots, suitcases and other winter equipment all need to be considered.
If RR Charter knows about the equipment when the journey is being planned, we can take it into account when considering the transportation solution.
Finding out about it when the group is already standing at the airport is much more difficult.
Hand Luggage Still Takes Space
Passengers sometimes describe a group as having “one suitcase each” but arrive with considerably more.
A large suitcase may be accompanied by a cabin bag, backpack, shopping bag or other personal items.
For one passenger, this makes little difference.
Across a group of 50, it can become a significant amount of additional luggage.
You do not need to count every small handbag. However, if the group is expected to travel heavily, tell us.
Shopping Can Change the Situation During the Tour
There is another detail travel organisers sometimes overlook.
The amount of luggage at the end of a tour may not be the same as at the beginning.
International visitors may buy souvenirs, gifts or other items during their stay.
A coach that begins a multi-day programme with a large amount of luggage may therefore have even more to carry by the final airport transfer.
This is another reason not to plan luggage capacity too tightly.
Hotel Changes Mean Loading Everything Again
Luggage is particularly important when planning multi-day coach travel in Finland involving several hotels.
If the group stays at one hotel throughout the trip, luggage may only travel during the airport transfers.
If the itinerary includes Helsinki → Tampere → Jyväskylä → another destination, the situation is different.
Every hotel change means the group’s luggage travels with the passengers.
The transportation therefore needs to be suitable for the luggage throughout the tour, not only for the first airport pickup.
Tell Us About Wheelchairs and Other Large Items
If passengers are travelling with mobility equipment or other unusually large items, this should also be communicated in advance.
The same applies to musical instruments, exhibition materials, presentation equipment or other items that are not normal passenger luggage.
The earlier we know about special requirements, the easier it is to consider them as part of the transportation plan.
“We Have 52 Passengers” Is Not Enough Information
For a simple local transfer without luggage, passenger numbers may tell us most of what we need.
For an international group arriving for a multi-day tour, they do not.
A useful transportation request might instead say:
52 passengers arriving at Helsinki Airport, one large suitcase and hand luggage per passenger, travelling for a seven-day tour with three hotel changes.
Or:
28-person ice hockey team with personal luggage, hockey bags and team equipment.
Those descriptions immediately provide much more information about the actual transportation requirement.
Do Not Choose the Vehicle Based Only on the Number of Seats
When comparing coach quotations, check that the proposed transportation is suitable for the complete group requirement.
A vehicle should not simply have enough passenger seats.
It also needs to make sense for the journey the passengers are actually taking.
For travel agents, this is especially important when comparing coach hire quotations, because two offers for the same passenger number may not necessarily include equivalent transportation solutions. Two quotations may appear to cover the same number of passengers, yet the proposed transportation solutions may not be equivalent.
Ask Before You Promise the Client
If you are unsure whether a particular amount of luggage or equipment can be accommodated, ask us before confirming the arrangement with your customer.
It is much easier to solve the question during planning than on the day of travel.
Send us the passenger number and describe what the group is bringing.
We can then consider the transportation requirement before the booking is confirmed.
Passengers Are Only Half the Story
The number of seats is easy to count.
What the passengers bring with them requires a little more thought.
For a successful group journey, both need to be considered.
When requesting coach transportation from RR Charter, tell us:
- number of passengers;
- expected amount of luggage;
- whether the group has sports or other equipment;
- whether skis or other bulky items are included;
- whether the journey involves hotel changes;
- any unusual transportation requirements.
Planning transportation for a group travelling with luggage or equipment? Send RR Charter your passenger numbers, itinerary and luggage information at sales@rrcharter.fi. We’ll use the complete group requirement when planning your transportation.