Contact   Imprint   Advertising   Guidelines

Airline Baggage Weight Experience - pls add yours

Forum for kitesurfers
User avatar
Toby
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 50281
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2001 1:00 am
Kiting since: 2000
Weight: 95 kg
Local Beach: Cumbuco, Brazil
Barra do Cauipe, Brazil
Favorite Beaches: same
Style: Airstyle
Gear: Rebel 2015 18
Brand Affiliation: None.
Location: World (KF Admin)
Has thanked: 826 times
Been thanked: 2354 times
Contact:

Airline Baggage Weight Experience - pls add yours

Postby Toby » Thu Mar 22, 2012 5:40 am

Almost all of us travel and make their (bad) experience with our sports luggage.

Let us post it all here, so we can help fellow kiters to learn tricks and get useful info!
The search will also help to find good info quickly.

Air Asia
- lots of weight options to book extra, fair priced

Swiss
- they allow economy 1x32 kg...they don't have size limits! So it can be sports bag size!

Airport Hamburg, Germany and Bangkok, Thailand
- the oversize counter is separate...a ghost could add more weight on the way to it, since you have to bring it personally

User avatar
Kamikuza
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 7057
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 4:49 am
Local Beach: Sabae Beach
Favorite Beaches: Ol' Stinky
Gear: This, that, the other
Has thanked: 220 times
Been thanked: 193 times

Re: Airline Baggage Weight Experience - pls add yours

Postby Kamikuza » Thu Mar 22, 2012 6:49 am

Air Korea
US$100 each way, up to 32kg "sports gear" and under 277cm linear... the "Large/surfboard" option.
http://www.koreanair.com/local/na/gd/en ... g_0201.jsp

However, convincing the pea-brain mini-Hitlers that staff the Air NZ check-in counters that you actually got that bag into the country and down from Auckland is another matter :roll:

User avatar
Toby
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 50281
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2001 1:00 am
Kiting since: 2000
Weight: 95 kg
Local Beach: Cumbuco, Brazil
Barra do Cauipe, Brazil
Favorite Beaches: same
Style: Airstyle
Gear: Rebel 2015 18
Brand Affiliation: None.
Location: World (KF Admin)
Has thanked: 826 times
Been thanked: 2354 times
Contact:

Re: Airline Baggage Weight Experience - pls add yours

Postby Toby » Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:08 am

Ho Chi Min (Saigon) Vietnam airport
- luggage belt is not too high and is lower in front...place a smaller bag in front, put sportsbag on top of belt and leave the end sticking out and with weight on your other bag....

Maybe works on all airports, didn't try though, but in Ho Chi Min

fdvj
Frequent Poster
Posts: 428
Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:57 pm
Local Beach: lancing
Style: freeride
Gear: naish nobile
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Airline Baggage Weight Experience - pls add yours

Postby fdvj » Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:37 am

Emirates- 32 kgs per person- no limit on number of bags or dimensions of bags.

User avatar
pmaggie
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 861
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2011 9:54 am
Kiting since: 2010
Local Beach: Gera Lario, Como Lake, Italy
Favorite Beaches: Lo Stagnone (Marsala, Sicily - Italy) - Soma Bay (Egipt) - Cabarete (Dom Rep.) - Kite beach (Maui)
Style: Freeride
Gear: Core XR4 11, Core Riot XR 7, Core Riot XR2 15, Flysurfer Speed 5 21, Flysurfer Sonic 3 13
Shinn Bronq 136x42, Shinn Bronq XL
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Como Lake - Italy
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 31 times

Re: Airline Baggage Weight Experience - pls add yours

Postby pmaggie » Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:52 am

Alitalia 20 kgs. each passenger. You pay both for oversize/overweight. There are sport fees but they're not cheap (about 100 euros each flight for intercontinental flights). The belt system does not completely work: if you're more than one passenger (family for example), you can fool the check in clerk putting first a light bag and then an heavy one, they simply add the weight (e.g. you're three passengers, total weight must be under 60 kgs.) but then they double check when loading the airplane and, if they find an overload luggage, sometimes they ask for the money when you're fetching your bags at the arrival. Oversize bags of course are easy to spot, so you must go to the oversize belt (and pay). Also, if you want the sport fee, you MUST declare exactly what you're going to carry when you're booking your flight (surf, bicycle etc). Elsewhere, you don't pay the lower sport bag fee, you pay the size and weight difference (that means really a lot!!!).

chris1974
Rare Poster
Posts: 40
Joined: Wed Sep 15, 2010 9:19 am
Style: freeride
Gear: Flexifoil ION3 8.5+10.5
Flexifoil Delta Board
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Greece
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0
Contact:

Re: Airline Baggage Weight Experience - pls add yours

Postby chris1974 » Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:20 am

Qatar Airways gives +15kg for golf/sport bag. Didn’t have any problem as total (20kg for luggage +15kg for golf bag) didn’t exceed the limit…

Swiss/Tap flying from Greece to Cape Verde…paid something close to €30 for excess…

Golf bag contains 2 kites, 1 twintip, winter suit, harness, poncho & shorts….aprox 20kg!!!

Don’t forget to be charming at the airline desk….wear your best smile and you might avoid paying!!!!

Chris
www.albatross.gr
Paros Hotel, Greece

User avatar
Saami
Frequent Poster
Posts: 248
Joined: Fri Aug 08, 2008 1:22 am
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Airline Baggage Weight Experience - pls add yours

Postby Saami » Thu Mar 22, 2012 4:17 pm

Singapore Airlines - no extra charges for surfboards or boardbags. In theory they allow only 20 kg for economy class passengers, but in practice they tend to be very relaxed. I've never had to pay for overweight when flying Singapore Airlines. Last time I checked in 38 kg of bags and a surfboard and the check-in staff didn't bat an eye, just wished me a good surfing trip. I've also checked in bicycles without having to pay extra.

arete
Rare Poster
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 2:29 am
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Airline Baggage Weight Experience - pls add yours

Postby arete » Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:50 pm

I use AA for flights from the continental US to the Caribbean. Most of those flights limit checked bags to 50 lbs and 62 total inches. Bags over 50 lbs but under 70 lbs are charged $100 each. Bags over 62 inches are supposed to be charged $200 each - I've never seen this fee enforced but that might be because I was a serious frequent flyer at the time.

Sporting equipment policies are worth reading closely:
* surfboards/kiteboards/wakeboards/wave-ski go as a regular checked bag if below 50 lbs and 62 dimensional inches (no chance!). If larger but still below 70 lbs and 126 dimensional inches then they cost $150.
* windsurf/kitesurf equipment (yes, this is a separate section from above) costs $150 - but can be two pieces, 70 lbs, and up to 126 dimensional inches.
* A golf bag goes as a checked bag with no extra fee and has the advantage of allowing up to 70 lbs without charge. It doesn't have a quantitative size limitation but says it "it limited to the size of a hard sided golf case".
* boogie/skim/speed board goes as a checked bag with no extra fee - but can't exceed the 50 lb 62 inch limitation. That won't work for your twin tip.
* skis/snowboards go as a checked bag with no extra fee and may be up to 126 dimensional inches. I have travelled to the Caribbean with kites in a duffel as a regular checked bag and taken my twin tip as a "snowboard" in a twin tip bag. Surprisingly, I didn't get many questions. They asked "What's this?" I said, "My snowboard." They said, "OK."

AA policy varies with origin/destination. For details on your location check http://www.aa.com/i18n/travelInformatio ... owance.jsp. If you want the details on sporting equipment, make sure to check the appropriate checkboxes.

experienced1
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 930
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2003 5:32 pm
Gear: Cabrinha
Brand Affiliation: Cabrinha
Location: Cabrinha Old Guy
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Airline Baggage Weight Experience - pls add yours

Postby experienced1 » Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:22 pm

Cabrinha 140 wheeled Golf Bag (stealth)
136 Custom with syncs
3 kites, harness, wetsuit, vest, towel

American, United, Southwest, Continental, Alaska, Jet Blue, Hawaiian:
all domestic except for Baja
As long as it's under 50Lbs...never been charged

steve

User avatar
irwe
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 683
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:13 am
Local Beach: Keswick
Favorite Beaches: Choche
South Padre Island
Silver Rock
Bahia Salinas
Style: Allaround
Gear: Ocean Rodeo
Slingshot
Spleen
Axis
Best
Shinn
TKF
ConceptAir
Zeeko
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 78 times
Been thanked: 56 times

Re: Airline Baggage Weight Experience - pls add yours

Postby irwe » Thu Mar 22, 2012 10:02 pm

West Jet (Canada/USA) best policy for gear. Surfboard/Kiteboard under 3 meters and 50 lbs just charged as extra bag :thumb:


Return to “Kitesurfing”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: arjas, Bing [Bot], bshmng, DanielorDani, i_love_storm, jannik, jyka, marinjo77, mati, mede, Nak, SolarSet, The line smith and 129 guests