Hi All,
I am flying from Sydney over to Perth with Qantas for 3 weeks of windsurfing in Geraldton. I’ve wanted to go over there since starting windsurfing 18 years ago. Now I finally going!!!
Looking on the Qantas website under the Sporting goods section, they say they will not allow windsurfers due to the size of the mast. Anyone know if this is a rule created back in the day when masts were one piece?
My board is only 265 long and in a padded bag so it could technically be allowed on as a surfboard (which is allowed), the weight is under 10kg. The quiver bag with 4.5 and 5.0 sail, 430cm mast (230cm for the two sections), boom, fins etc, is 230cm in length and around 20kg. They will be checked in separately but the quiver bag may be the problem. I have found out that I will be flying over on a 737 and back on a 747.
Any one had experience in flying domestically with windsurfing gear?
After many calls to Qantas, they have conflicting views. Some say yes, others defiantly not and needs to be freighted across. Friends I have talked to say it’s a bit of a lucky dip and it depends how the check in person is feeling on the day.
The kite guys have a similar post, but their gear may be a bit more compact that ours.

Or I could forget the idea and just bite the bullet and hire the gear.

Any advice appreciated. Sorry for the long post.
Cheers,
Russ

I have done a few trips with gear – and am NO expert! There have been quite a few topics on these forums also. Have a search...

Anyway, whether you can or can't (specifically on Qantas) depends on lots of things like the plane, how full it is, the time of day, the width of your polite smile, the side of the bed the check-in person got out of etc etc. Some Qantas flights use those big aluminium luggage crates, that are pre-packed and loaded on to the plane. Your gear will not fit in one of these. On one flight, I have been told my masts and sails wouldn't fit because of the angle at which they needed to go through the door They let them on in the end when the tears welled and I sniffled a little I have been asked by Qantas to take my gear to Australian Air Express (twice) - who wanted about as much money as my ticket cost and couldn't guarantee which flight it would go on…

With Virgin, I have never had a problem, turn up, say "this is sporting equipment". Away you go... Virgin have only one type of plane (737 - 700s and 800s) and they are all hand loaded.

Worst case scenario - freight your kit to someone in WA, then pick it up from them when you get here...

If I can't get the refund from Qantas, might just be easier to hire the gear over there.
One of those things where the planets need to be aligned and hold your tounge the right way and you might get through.
I cant see a check in person being to cheery on Boxing day at 6am in the morning.

You know how it is with call centres You call and get one person and they're not sure, so they ask another and they don't know, so for saftey sake they say no. I've spoke to them 4 times and each time got a different answer from them.

I think there are a lot of "unsaid rules" which may be optional depending how you present yourself at the counter.

But your right it would spoil the holiday to be turned away at the gate!

table top
A few of us just came back from nearly 4 weeks in WA including a stint in Gnaraloo (just had to drop that in !)
2 of us flew Qantas the other guy went Virgin
I checked in:

1 double board bag with my wave board + a surfboard + a boom and an extension or 2

1 quiver bag with 2 masts, 4 sails

1 backpack with a few clothes but mainly fins, mast foot (x2) harness

Normally the board bag rides for free as its considered 'sporting equipment'
For some reason it was counted as luggage which meant I had 3 bits of luggage which means i had to pay excess.
The excess was charged on additional piece of luggage and not weight so it only cost $22 which in my opinion is bugger all
It was super busy at the airport and the lines were very very long.

My advice to you is, take you gear (you will be fine)
Be happy and friendly at check in and get there early
Be prepared to pay for additional luggage ($22) and if it goes on for free you'll be stoked
Also if the check in person starts making noises about excess luggage just tell them no probs, 'That'll be a charge for an additional piece of luggage is it ? no probs where do i pay it'

The other guy i was traveling with only had one board so stuffed all his clothes and fins in with it and there was no issue

For sailing trips I normally fly virgin as they are super cool with gear as long as no individual piece weighs more than 32 kilos. This is the same for all airlines as its standard OH&S policy that the bag snatchers (baggage handlers) wont lift anything over 32 kg

On the way over to Perth ex Sydney I had 4 pieces of luggage (I took 4 masts across with me and had to pull 3 of them out and put in a separate mast bag coz the quiver bag was over 32 kilos) I was only charged $22 for an additional piece of luggage

You will be fine.. take your own gear and enjoy all WA has to offer

Kev

WindWarrior Australia

I have flown Qantas a number of times with up to 2 boards in a double borad bag and 4 to 5 sails plus gear and not had any major dramas.

Each time I have had the gear allowed on the flight, sometimes for no extra cost, sometime for a few $$$ extra (most I have had to pay domestic is $15).

Tip, put all your clothes and stuff in your quiver bag, you then effectively have only two bags. The other one, be very nice when you get to check in and check in super early. None of this 30 mins before the flight stuff, give yourself 1.5 hours at least and enjoy some qantas club time. That way you will get in before the flight is totally full and the check in is super busy.

I have had one person tell me to take the gear to air freight once, that was on the return leg and I had been dropped off. Pretty simple, I asked where air freight was and they said about 2k's down the road, so I asked how they expect me to get there and back with all this stuff and maybe this should have been sorted on the way and not on the way home when I have no options.

You will find it difficult to get an answer from the call centres, for this reason, when flying with gear I try to book through a travel agent. It isn't much more expensive (they get better deals than we do) and they can ask the right people the right questions for you.

You might want to keep calling the Qantas number till you get one person to say yes...then make sure you get every detail you can about that person and take all that info with you when you front up for the flight.

Table Top,
I have done the trip 3 times , all with QANTAS and havn't had a problem. As long as your gear is less than 2.7 long and under 32kgs.
Once when running late I had to pay $50 excess, all other times I got there early when the flight opened and had no problems.
Good luck!

grumplestiltskin said...

One obvious thing to mention, that everyone else forgot (or just assumed)
MAKE SURE ITS WELL PADDED.
The baggage snatchers wont give a tinkers toss what they throw on it.

That's a whole new topic, the baggage tossers! I was on a flight Melb to Hobart which was 2 hours late, it was midnight, piszing rain, and from the terminal I could see the baggage tosser actually tossing bags onto the loading conveyer which was right next to him. I thought bugger, wish I'd kept my duty free bottles in my hand luggage. Sure enough, got my bag in Hobart, and it was reeking of 1L of Contrieu. Clothes never smelt so good.

hi guys...

I am the "other guy" Kevin mentioned... I checked in three bags plus a very heavy camera bag with Virgin. In both cases (to/ from Sydney) I was asked to reload the bags but the sports bags where still only counted as 5 kgs each.

As Kev mentioned Virgin loads all gear manually. Generally all surfboards, windsurf boards and other big bulky bags will go in last.

The nice thing about Virgin is that they a) have a decicated checkin counter for oversized luggage here in Sydney and b) they have published rates for excess luggage. The 5 kg per sports bag in my oppinion is in typical Branson fashion to stick it to the man. (the man being Quantas).

... also, in my opion Virgins inflight staff is better to look at and are generally more friendly. I also found that some of the inflight meals with Virgin are actually edible. I guess that's because you have to pay for it. While some of the food served on Qantas (while free) should be considered as dog food. (And no Stef just in case you are reading this, I am not talking about business class.)

RE the question for international regulations check here: www.oceansource.net/