even if the two boards are in one bag its a hundred for BOTH. I remeber in 2002 when it was like 75$ per bag both ways. That blows.
yep. i just canceled a CR trip because the board fees were more than the airfare and i refuse to rent. there are a few airlines that charge per bag so you have to do your homework.
be nice!! i have traveled with my boards quite a bit, and i find that if you are extra nice to the ticket lady (or man), you stand a pretty decent chance of a reduced fee, or even a freebie here and there. remember those people deal with jerks all day long, so if you can make them smile, they'll really appreciate it and generally go out of their way to hook you up. as for the "two boards in one bag", a little white lie never hurt anybody. if they ask (and they're not a d-bag), they probably already see that you've got more than one and are hoping you say it's just one so they can claim ignorance if the manager questions them. of course, sometimes you just take it up the tailpipe with airlines like United (they've screwed me countless times). If traveling in the US, go Southwest all the way. I've traveled with 3 boards through them and never paid more than 60 bucks, and it was free about 25% of the time. at the very least, print out the fees from the website in case they try to over-charge.
dang... if your getting charged much more than a hundred one way your doing something wrong. Just got back from san diego. I had two shortboards in my 6'6 bag and my friend had one in his huge 9 foot longboard coffin. I just threw my board bag inside of his and we got charged on continental for 35 one way. Thats $17.50 for each of us, a pretty good deal. Just gotta mingle with the airport people. Then on the way back to norfolk, one of the guys said itd be 100 dollars for each bag with 2 or less boards but 200dollars if you had 3 boards and 400 if you had 4+ boards. Well, he saw we had three boards so we just went to the kiosk next to him 5 minutes later and that guy only charged us the $100 for 2 boards. He said good thing we didnt have three because it'd be 200 dollars instead. hahah that made me WEAK. especially cause he saw me put my board bag inside of my friends... So yeah round trip two boards i payed $67.50, thats a good deal. flew continental and us air
continental! yea continental! forgot to mention them. i met up with friends in san diego and flew down to costa rica with this massive coffin. i think we stuffed 3 boards and spear-fishing gear in it, and the cute indian chick was like "just one board right?" and gave us a "wink". turns out it should have been like 200 bucks, but she made it happen for 60 or 70. good people. i need to emphasize again though....avoid United!!! it wasn't just one bad experience with them either, but at least 4 or 5 times before i swore to myself i would never by a ticket from those kooks ever again.
agreed that it can vary with the counter person but i'd prefer not to chance it and get there and get the one guy who's wife wouldn't give it up the night before.
I traveled to florida with 2 boards in my bag and it cost 75 bucks......this was spirit airlines though and it was only like a month ago
i took a trip to PR in dec on continental and it costed 100 dollars each way for 1 board bag.... im going to CR in june and called to double check since its a connecting flight and continental said 100 there and 100 back which i think isnt that bad at all could be better but cant complain.
I HAD to comment on this thread. DO NOT I repeat, DO NOT fly continential with boards. I had quite possibly the worst board/flight experence with them. This was on a trip back home from Costa. A friend had to leave due to being sick but contiential was the only flight. The raped him with the board charges somewhere in the area of 200+. I only brought 1 board so I lucked out. After a 15 HOUR trip home, costa is 4-6 hours max, we waited for our board bags at 5am at this point. One hour passed no boards, we ask and, THEY ****ING LOST OUR BOARDS!!!! The worst part about it was the answers of "idk where it is". We payed them and OUR boards are gone. Being frustrated we left and no contact from them about the status of our boards, hours on hold with customer service. A WEEK later they show up beat to **** and continential refused to pay a dime for repairs. Total cost of bringing one board 200+ repairs (and ruining a great board). Long story short AVOID AVOID AVOID traveling with boards at all costs. I now go to the local shops and buy a good used one for the week then trading it back in at the end of the trip. Sounds crazy but nowadays it actually saves money.
Sucks for sure. I'd get a lawyer. I'm going to disagree on the not traveling with boards thing. There as so many scams with rentals and shop boards in CR you can really get burned badly. I know of one shop in Jaco that gets very thinly glassed boards that they sell and rent. The problem is that typically they break after a session or tow and you are left holding the bag. You are out your money if you bought it and have to pay them for the board if you break it.
in april of 08 we were not charged by delta...from jfk to liberia. no issues at all boards great shape. On the way home we were charged 150 for four boards still not a big deal, even though it was my first time ever paying i was not going to argue. On our arrival into jfk our bag came down the elevator much smaller then when we packed it. All four boards were snapped and smashed. We left them there (jfk) placed a claim and went on our way. YOU NEED TO STAY ON TOP OF THOSE PEOPLE OR THEY WILL FORGET ABOUT YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! finally three months later i got a check for 1600 we claimed 2400 so they gave us back our boards and then i still *****ed and they sent a hundred dollar voucher for delta....trip to utah thanks delta. went in the summer of 08 i was charged 300 per board **** delta fly taca or continental you always run a risk flying with boards but i am not renting
Just finished a trip to Costa on Continental. They charge $100 each way for a board bag with two boards. With three boards it goes to $400.00. I hid one board in the bottom of my bag, covered it in clothes, and then put the two boards on top. The lady did search the bag, but never found the third board. My brother wasn't so lucky, he had to pay the $400 (he did the same thing as me). On the way back, the people in costa rica don't even care, and don't search your bag. I've also heard that slipping them some money makes them not charge you at all, but i didn't want to try bribing someone at an airport with today's traveling laws. My buddy flew from florida to costa on spirit, and it was 70 bucks per boardbag, each way. # of boards did not change cost. have a good trip.
I just flew back from florida on Southwest with one board in a sock in a daybag. Their website claims $50 charge for boards but i smiled a lot and reminded the clerk that Suthwest's ad says "your baggage travels for free" and she didnt charge me anything and the board was fine.
