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Airline surfboard fee petition
September 10th, 2008, 7:23 pm · 9 Comments · posted by Jeff Malanca, contributing writer
If you’re a surfer who has traveled on a plane lately, you’ll notice the hike in the price to bring your board.
Many of the big airlines began charging much higher fees for surfboards with some as much as $300. Because of this, many surfers who like to jump on a jet to those remote surf spots have been unable to.
A petition was launched recently to fight the outrageous airline costs. Some carriers have banned surfboards altogether, including British Airways and Bahamas Air. Delta has imposed the single largest fee.
Here’s what part of the petition reads:
“Surfers are some of the most travelled people in the world. Pioneering and exploring remote parts of the world to find that beautiful gem of a wave.
Surfers also travel for business, family and a variety of other leisure pursuits where we might also bring a board with us.
What is shameful & discriminatory is that most airlines have imposed fees for the handling of a surfboard. Some airlines have banned surfboards altogether!”
If you’re planning a surf excursion anytime soon and you’re ready to book a flight, check out www.surfers-against-airline-fees.com.
9 Comments
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Oh Lord. This is just funny and lame. You feel ‘discriminated’ against because you carry a board with you? Call Gloria Alread, I loan you my cell phone for it or one of those civil rights organizations.
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Airlines charging for surfboards is ludicrous! If you have three boards in one bag and no other checked baggage they will charge you a fee per board. And yet they let golf bags, clubs and skis go with no charge. I say be fair. If you are gonna charge per surfboard then you gotta charge per golf club. Golf clubs weigh so much more than surfboards and are awkward as well. All I am sayin is this practice is a tad one sided. If you charge one sport you should charge them all.
What’s also ridiculous is that the airlines we’ve used charge different rates on each leg of your trip! As in, going there may be more than coming back on the same route. Talk about arbitrary. The price can also vary if you check curbside vs. inside.
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Well, lets see…I go nowhere on this planet without my stick. The fee’s will not stop me, but my wife questions my addiction and need for my travel stick to go even if i may not surf. I’m willing to pay for my board but not over 75 dollars each way. more than that is crazy.
when airlines see the surfboard there actually just charging the surfer for their ego, not the actual board, its the mellow superiority that every surfer has
Are you guys insane? Charge the same as golf clubs, ski’s ect.
I guess none of you fedex anything anywhere. Not only is it based on weight, but its also dimensions.
Hello, a surfboard takes up way more space than anything else does and guess what, there’s only so much space in the belly of an aircraft.
Oh I almost forgot, the average surfer never finished high school so perhaps I’m expecting way to much here, (and yes I did finish high school and surf all the time).
“the average surfer never finished high school ” - says San Clemente Local … where in the world do you get your stats? And WOW!! You finished High School?!! What an incredible accomplishment!!
You sound like a damn fool… stop posting, you make the rest of look bad, Particularly those of us with post -grad degrees.
Well, surfboards are generally big and take a lot of room. I can understand why they’d want to charge extra for this item. It’s a tough situation with no fine line.
Robin, not sure where you have been. I’m charged $75 each way for my golf clubs. Even if that’s the only thing I’m checking. I’m being charged $125 each way to take my snowboard, They are trying to increase revenue anyway they can. Four bags of golf clubs round trip= $600. We rented a nice SUV and drove to Scottsdale, Az. We saved $200. This year were not flying to go snowboarding. Driving to Mammoth. Avoid the airlines as much as possible…wait..They will be knocking on Washington’s door for billions to bail them out.