Has anyone here flown from Maui (to sydney) on JetStar with kit? They're the cheapest by a bit it looks like, but windsurfers don't get a specific mention on their site so the last thing I want is to turn up and get told I can't take it!

deathstar will take your gear but will charge you, around $100 from memory.

The best thing to do when you leave Maui is to "pay off" a porter at the airport and ask them to check the gear all the way through to Australia. Using this method you can pay to porter around $50 and incur no other expenses. If you check your gear at the counter you'll be up for $60 - $100 Maui / HNL and then $100 HNL / SYD.

Having said all that it also depends greatly on who checks you in, sometimes it cost nothing other times you're crying at the counter.

In Maui make sure you elect to pay for a surfboard as excess baggage, it's US$25, you can even do this on line before you leave. Then ensure they check the baggage through to your Aus flight, this is normal practice, so there shouldn't be an issue.

Load your board bag with gear but not over 30kg. Last time there I bought a board bag (which I needed anyway) then stuffed it full of sails, booms and other bits I bought while in Maui. I packed it carefully so it resembled a board in the bag, even though there wasn't one in the bag. Good luck

I know that you are talking Maui, and I am talking NZ, but I am writing this as a word of warning to all who want to carry kit on Deathstar.

In August 08 Deathstar robbed me of $400 when taking my snowboard gear (Board, boots and jacket/pants in padded bag) and wifes skiing gear (set of skis, boots and her ski jacket and pants in a padded bag) across to NZ from Syd....was somthing like $20 per kg in excess of normal suitcase baggage (so the $20 per kg cost was levied specifically on the snowboard bag and ski bag.....probably not a disimilar weight to what a board, couple of masts and booms and 4 or so sails would weigh).......maybe the baggage amounts are more generous for longer flights....check it out well before ordering tickets

Previous flights with Qantas across the Tasman have never charged me extra....will never fly deathstar again.....pricks, they are a budget airline and cut the corners wherever they can. If travelling without any kit, the cheap Deathstar tickets are good......with kit...BEWARE, do your homework before comitting to an airline!!!!

Be very careful on Jetstar... based on the type of planes they fly (airbus) all luggage is packed into steel canisters so it can be loaded and locked in place below the floor of the cabin.
The problem with this method is anything over 2 metres long simply WILL NOT FIT.

Sails, booms no problem.
Masts and boards are a no go !

Had a mate of ours turn up at the airport on a jetsrat flight only to be told at check in he could not take his windsurfing kit.
This was not a question of excess baggage charges required... but the fact the gear could not go on the flight because it could not fit !

I did a trip around the world with Air New-Zealand 5 yr ago...they were the best airline carrier I still used. No charge for windsurfing equipement(I had, 1 surf, 1 board, 3 sails). Usually when you arrived at the airport with all your extra luggage..they just don't want to deal with you. Air N-Z, le me pass in front of all and they said, you have too much baggage to walk with...poor you, let us pack that righ away.

Highly recommand for windsurfing trip.
nord_roi

thewindmap said...

Has anyone here flown from Maui (to sydney) on JetStar with kit? They're the cheapest by a bit it looks like, but windsurfers don't get a specific mention on their site so the last thing I want is to turn up and get told I can't take it!

Has anyone actually travelled on Jetstar with a board? I haven't heard of anyone ever using them to take kit on? I'm pretty sure they have a bag size limit as I remeber.

I would recomend going with Hawaiian Air, I've flown with them to maui heaps of times and have never encountered any problems with excess baggage. I have only ever had to pay $100 and thats because I was taking my mates kit back as he had flown to vegas before hand. So I had 6 sails 4 masts 2 booms and 2 boards and only got charged $100 for the lot! Although Jetstar is cheep it's not worth the risk of getting stung with excess kilos.

NordRoi said...

I did a trip around the world with Air New-Zealand 5 yr ago...they were the best airline carrier that I ever used. No charge for windsurfing equipement(I had, 1 surf, 1 board, 3 sails). Usually when you arrived at the airport with all your extra luggage..they just don't want to deal with you. Air N-Z, let me pass in front of all and they said, you have too much baggage to walk with...poor you, let us pack that righ away.

Highly recommand for windsurfing trip.
nord_roi

Its not to Maui - but this is my experience exactly with Air New Zealand when travelling o/s with kit. Only limit was max. length of 2.5m, they actually spell it out on there web site so you know where you stand.

We flew back from Maui last year with two boards (in a group of 5) we got charged $25 US in Maui when checking into our flight to Honolulu, which was acceptable. When we checked in at Honolulu with Jetstar, we were under weight with the 5 of us so paid nothing for the priviledge.

One thing we did though, we did buy two new boards, used them for two weeks and brought them back, we declared them as purchased, and were prepared to pay the tax, but they appreciated our honesty and lets us through without any additional cost!

Wifes 75 ltr Quatro was slighly damaged, small compression dent in rail, looked like it had been dropped

:(