Have a look here at the website. Good luck

www.qantas.com/travel/airlines/sporting-equipment/global/en

I can’t comment regarding Qantas and Jetstar, but my kite bag is about 165 cms in length including the handle, I travel with it frequently in Asia and have never been questioned regarding the size. (Mystic ‘Golf’ bag)

oh and dressing like that at 7 in the morning still completely drunk and hung over at the same time is not cool

If you can always fly Virgin. I have never had to pay extra for my kit. I usually travel with my a twin tip, 2 kites, bars, harness, pump, and wettie ect all shoved into a snowboard bag.

Hi Skimnur
The length of your bag will not be a problem on any jet aircraft you are likely to fly on, but if you want to take you kit for free the only way to do that is to include it in your baggage allowance. So if your baggage allowance is 23KG and your cabin baggage allowance is 10Kg you have 33Kg total for your clothes kite camera and board. Some airlines will allow you to go over this slightly but it will depend on a number of factors these being, The airline, whether a contractor is doing the check in, what the loads are and how nice you are to the check in staff.
You will have to sign a limited liability for the kite and board and most likely have to take your kite bag to the over sized check in counter.
We are lucky that on most airlines in Australia we can still get away with including sports equipment in our baggage allowance, in the US and Europe as soon as they see any sports equipment they charge extra for it, but then they do not include it in your baggage allowance.
So to travel for free you have to pack very little else other than your kite gear, wear all your heavy clothes, put small heavy items in your hand luggage and carry it like it is really light(this does not always work cos some airlines will also weight hand luggage) turn up with plenty of time at check in, smile and be polite to the check in staff. If you are over you allowance don't act like those idiots on that TV show, if you have to pay extra suck it up then ask if you can reduce the weight of one of your bags by taking some heavy clothes out and wearing them, if you do this with a bit of humour they are more than likely let you make a half hearted effort at it then let you off.
Good luck and have a good holiday

loco4olas said...

if the choice is available-going with Garuda to Indo this year

You are very brave

Its funny how people don't like Qantas... I have flown to London and back with them, checking in a Dakine Golf Bag weighing close to 29kgs both times and there has never been a hassle. The check in guy even put it through on business class for me when I flew back from London to Melbourne in January!

I think the trick is to only have the one bag to check in, and be prepared with your eticket, passport etc in your hand when you get to the desk. Be the guy that takes 30 seconds to check in and they will love you.

goofy foot said...

What annoys me is when some airport nazi argues over a few kgs like it makes a huge difference to thier fuel costs and then you see some fat person at the next counter that weighs 30kg more than you do.

"Rules are rules they parrot, I dont make them I just follow them".

Makes me feel like telling them a BOMB joke to get them really excited

What a lot of LCC are doing at out-ports is using contractors for there check in. When the contractors supply the loading data to the airline and there is a percentage over the baggage allowance, they also have to supply and account for the extra payed.
If you are going to be over your baggage allowance it is far cheaper to pay for when you book your ticket. If the check in staff let you off a couple of KG, then be grateful for that and thank them. You have then got something free from the airline.
Yes the weight does make a difference to the fuel burn on an aircraft, but what also makes a difference, especially on international flights is that the airline will have a bigger profit margin on freight and cargo than on passengers, so if the flight is weight limited or the cargo holds bulked out, they are loosing money by not charging for passengers excess bags if they have to offload freight.
So getting away with a few extra Kg of allowance all depend on the airline, the destination, the airport, the weather , passenger and freight load, and if the check in staff feel they like you. By the way arguing with them will not make them like you, and telling bomb jokes will get you arrested, but I suppose you wont have to worry about your baggage allowance then.

If you try all the sugestions here and end up having to pay some exorbitant excess charge, you may be better off ditching anything of low value, eg you may find you have old clothes towels toiletries that are not worth $10 / kilo.


sometimes when I stand in check in queue, if airline load calculations factor in the increasing waistlines of passengers + majority of passengers have now have computer with them.