I'm sure most of you know this by now, but I figured I'd post for those of you that don't. I just got back from Tamarindo, and Delta charged us $300 each way for each of our board bags. Ended up being $600 per bag x 3 bags for a grand total of $1800. I had no other checked luggage. They continue to handle golf clubs, snow skis, javelins, vaulting poles, rifles, etc. free of charge. I think an out and out boycott of Delta by the surfing community is in order. There was a 14 year old kid with his mom at the delta check-in desk in front of us in Liberia who flew a different airline from boston to CR. When the delta rep told her what the board fee was, the poor kid had to go sell his board to some ticos in the Liberia airport parking lot for 20 bucks because they couldn't afford the fee. We took a similar trip around the same time last year, and were forced to fly delta on the return due to a flight cancellation and were charged $175 per bag. Pretty stiff increase in a years time. My brother flew all the way to New Zealand for a trip last year and was not charged a dime by Quantas or New Zealand Air for his boards. I hope this prevents someone else from having their budget wrecked at the outset of their trip. The surfline link breaks down fees for each airline. The second link contains an online petition. http://www.surfline.com/travel/boardbag_charges.cfm?id=15425 http://www.surfers-against-airline-fees.com/
I feel ya. The missus and I are flying Delta to C R this weekend and I will be renting when I get to Langosta. Luckily there is an Iguana Surf on campus where we are staying. It majorly sucks that 50 pounds of golfclubs is a free checked bag, but 10 pounds of shortboard is not. Heck, you can even check firearms! A small upcharge is understandable, but 300 bucks per board each way is ridiculous. Heck, I'd be happy to load and unload my gear myself just to keep the baggage handlers from dinging my stuff. We flew US air last year and they charged about $100 each way and limited the size of board to 7-6. That was a little bit more palatable. It was nice to have a board in hand when we hit the hotel. Hope there are some nice boards in the rental fleet. . . .
Always fly Taca if you go to Costa, the only thing is you have to fly out of Dulles or New York. Best prices and service.
Leaving for San Jose del Cabo on the 11th with my sons. Bought a 4 board coffin bag for the boards and THEN read US Air's policy on surfboards. Have spoke with them about it telling them that I've alway been charged one board charge regardless of how many boards were in the bag that I brought to the counter. They said that I had been lucky up to this point and it's up to the counterperson who checks you in. We're taking cookies and I've got a good story for 'em. Wish me luck..........
you might get lucky leaving cabo with multiple-board bags and not get charged multiple-board fees. the mexican tsa's are slack at best when searchng your boardbags. get to the airport waaaaay in advance to your flight because the line is miles long and slow. there is also the possiblilty of bribing a security guard to get moved up in line. zippers is a blast and a half. watch out for the rocks if you blow a takeoff. acapulquito (old man's) is super fun, too. watch out for the bfr (big freaken rock) in the middle of the cove there. definitely go on a zipline tour in the desert, too. and there are tons of places to snorkel, too.
