Airline SUP charges

[Caribsurf]

I notice a lot of posters here mention or question about flying with a paddle, but not too many mention flying with a board.  I am assuming those flying with a paddle want the familiarity of their own paddle, and can sacrifice using a foreign board.  Is this because it costs too much to fly with a board or are you afraid of damaging the board?  I'd hate to go on a surf trip and discover the boards for rent are terrible.

I am lucky to have boards in place at my homes, but was thinking of taking a trip and would likely fly with an 8 ft board with good travel bag.  I used to pay around $150 flying with surfboard or windsurfer,what are the general airline rules and charges for SUPs?  Do airlines charge more for SUPs than surfboards?

Kind of a generic question as I am not sure where the trip would be at this point..

Thanks for any info

[VonR]

I pay $150 in the U.S. just for them to toss my board around. In Brazil my boards fly free and get hand carried to and from the plane.

[supdiscobay]

Hawaiin Air charges $100 per container (bag) with up to 2 boards per container.  No more than 50 lbs.  11' max length. Thats each way.

[WinslowPaddler]

Would I be able to travel with a 14' board to Hawaii from the mainland?

In SE asia i took my 10' c4 Isup and wrapped it in clothes inside a lacrosse suit case.  with the c4 3 piece carbon paddle it never cost me extra and was always under the weight limit. Best of all, I was able to paddle in places i don't think anyone has ever paddle boarded before.  all else aside, the isups are good for that!

[endlessfight]

Ive flown with a few different airlines and from my experiences as long as the board is within their surfboard size limits (they seem to vary between 8-12 ft) then you are good to go; you’ll have to pay the 100 or 150 or whatever it is.
I made the thread about the paddle because I have a board that I leave in Nicaragua to avoid the fees and my old paddle crapped out pretty bad last nov so I was brining a new one this trip.
With more and more people getting in to SUP it should be no surprise for airlines to bring large boards like this. However that probably means they will soon create ‘sup specific’ pricing for travel

[jdmotes]

 Hey Don... Jet-Blu charges just $50 (each way) for SUP- if your lucky enough to have them fly where you want to go. AA charges $150 each way - but you have to make sure ALL of your flights are on their larger jets. United is $200 with the same restrictions on jets as AA...      Paddle on brother,       JD

[Tom]

Best deal is flying Volaris out of Tijuana, $25 round trip. Flown 5 times and no problems.

[surf4food]

Would I be able to travel with a 14' board to Hawaii from the mainland?

In SE asia i took my 10' c4 Isup and wrapped it in clothes inside a lacrosse suit case.  with the c4 3 piece carbon paddle it never cost me extra and was always under the weight limit. Best of all, I was able to paddle in places i don't think anyone has ever paddle boarded before.  all else aside, the isups are good for that!

+1 on that.  ISUPs are the way to go as far as plane travel, along with a paddle that comes apart.  It’s really the only way to go without the excessive charges (on top of already excessive charges).  Plus you can take them to areas where SUPs are not even available.  They are also great for train travel though Europe (according to people I know who’ve done that).

[Caribsurf]

Hey JD thanks for that Jet Blue info, One option was maybe quick trip to PR and they fly West Palm to San Juan direct.  $100 to have my own board with me sounds great, it'd cost at least that much to rent something

thanks all

[suppr]

We are taking advantage of the $180.00 round trip from Ft laud to San Juan on Jet Blue. Leaving March 14 and with only a $50.00 per bag each way. You just cant beat that.

[supdiscobay]

If you have a KeNalu paddle just take of the blade and put the shaft in a fishing pole case.  The cost if any is minimal for fishing equipment.

[oceansider]

I just flew to New Zealand for a surfing trip with 2 SUPs. One was 9.0 and the other 8.6 .  Air New Zealand charged me $35 for each one going down and the 2 paddles traveled free of charge.  Their policy says that surfboards/SUPs should be no more than 8ft but no one really checked the overall length when I checked in.  I left the boards down there so I've no idea what they would charge coming back.  They have recently changed their policy to charge $150 per SUP so I think I was lucky to get the price I did.  The handling was great.  No damage to anything. 

[littleray]

We flew Hawaiian  from Maui to Seattle in January,$50 one way,one board. Size and weight restrictions but ours with bag were 9'2" and under 50 lbs.