Air travel with surf baggage

Air travel with surfing luggage is not easy to organize. In this blog, we assist you with an airline comparison regarding transportation costs, maximum weight, maximum length, and airline ratings.

Airline surf baggage fees

The topic of bringing surfboards on flights, surf equipment fees, and transportation damages is as relevant as ever. Every now and then, you might find a list of the cheapest airlines online, but there’s no comprehensive table with all the important information summarized.” In addition, Covid turbulence has led to changes in the aviation landscape and fees.
It was time to address this issue.

Preparation - Packing the equipment / board bags

Before you set off on your trip, you need to pack your surfing luggage. And you shouldn’t be careless here. On our surf trips we have had often the opportunity to observe from the plane how surf luggage is handled. Furthermore, we have had to receive damaged boards ourselves, and we are not alone in this experience. We do not want to accuse all airlines or employees on the apron of carelessness when loading or unloading the aircraft, but we cannot neglect it either.

If you frequently travel by plane, you should also choose a high-quality and thickly padded board bag that matches the size of your board. As some airlines explicitly prohibit storing anything else in the board bag, such as a wetsuit, you should adhere to this if you want to avoid check-in issues.

At your destination, you should open the bags and check the equipment after collecting it and before leaving the reception area. In the event of damage, you should take photos of the damage on the spot. Then go to the appropriate counter to report and document the damage.

For your packing list, take a look at our blog”Surfing equipment – what do I need for surfing?“

Damages and compensation claims

Unfortunately, experience shows that it can be a lengthy and stressful process until you receive compensation. The problem is that an airline cannot rule out the possibility that the damage was already present before the flight, black sheep do occur. Secondly, the owner must prove that the damage was not present before the flight. We recommend photographing the equipment before packingto ensure traceability. Fotos are linked to a date and can serve as proof.

If you want to reduce the expense of a legal dispute, we recommend contacting a company that specializes in this area, e.g. Flightright GmbH.

Table - Airline comparison

Notes on the table:

Rating here refers to a statistic from Trifibre regarding the frequency of transport damage (1=bad/8=good). As the table is unfortunately too large and only embedded here in the blog as an image, we offer to send it to those interested. Simply sign up for our newsletter below with the keyword “surf luggage”.

Prices are valid for online bookings. In principle, you should register your surf equipment well in advance of your departure. This way you avoid higher costs and ensure that the surfboard is added to the loading list.

Many airlines offer the option of registering excess baggage. If there is no information on this in the table, excess lengths and/or excess weight are treated as freight. Guidelines for business class were not taken into account.

No guarantee for actuality. Information may vary as airlines may change information at any time.

Here you can request the table on air travel with surf baggage with the keyword “surf baggage”: