I've heard many horror stories about a high percentage of boards being broken by airlines in transit. Is it really as bad as I've heard? Is it worth trying to bring a new board home from somewhere? I'm looking for a little feedback from all of the experienced people on this site.

Great write up on packing boards to protect them on the other forum, by the way.

I've never had a board break on me. My boards have been on 20+ flights and they always come back in good shape. I've had a few dings here and there but nothing too serious. I'd say take a new board if its easy to travel w/. its always fun to travel w/ a new board, and its a good way to become acquainted w/ your new equipment. the main pain are the excess baggage fees and embargoes that seem to get worse by the day.

I used to wrap the rails w/ pvc insulation, tape it up and put it into a day bag, which protected them quite well. the downside was that I'd spend forever peeling off all the tape when I was finally at the destination and ready to surf. then I had to do it all over again before I left, and then undo it again when I got home. royal pain in the ***. before my last trip I bought a $179 balin boardbag that fits up to 3 boards. it has removable hardwalls that seem to do the trick. I combined it w/ a pair of board protectors that slip on the nose and the tail that you can get on wetsand for $18. my board came out perfect after 3 connections! the bag wasnt cheap and its heavier to carry, but its a whole lot less hassle than tape and pvc! have fun on your trip

Thanks for the info... some good ideas. I wonder if I could slip in some do it yourself hardwalls into a soft bag and have it work.

yeah you could make up your own walls, I used to use two layers of cardboard on the rails on a triple travel bag, last trip took the boards on 14 flights, with daylite bags in one triple bag, can fit four even, and no dings or hassles, just some excess fees on some airlines.
You might get lucky without a fee if you just your board bag and a carry on, qantas doesn't usually charge. Have fun, Mike

When I had to travel with my board I sandwhiched my day bag between two pieces of a large cardboard box, trimmed 2" larger than the bag/board and then taped the two pieces of cardboard together. I left a hole for the handles to come through to make lifting it easier for the handlers. You can write whatever you want on the cardboard like "top load only" or "fragile" or "this side up" or whatever. That worked well but it was a bit of a pain.

I always have found that "fragile" on a bag really meant "please smash me"

I made a protective system out of 1/8" panelling and it worked great until it was pulled apart by inspectors and not reassmbled correctly, resulting in a crunched tail.

hey everyone,

on the topic of air travel, has anyone flown a mid-size board with air canada lately? It seems last Nov they put new restrictions on sizes but i wonder how "strict" are their restrictions? my board is 7'8 and i'd like to take it to costa rica with me.

thanks

kam

Atleast a couple times I've had boards mishandled during loading/unloading on/off the plane, just plain old negligence. I've had a cart backover my friend's boardbag in Atlanta, another boardbag blownoff the top of the cargohold on the tarmac area, and then clueless handlers just throw your bag into the pickup area in Newark like Johnny Utah throwing a touchdown pass for Ohio State. Video as much as possible for reassurance; It makes you feel like you're an investigator for a newschannel, until something happens to your boardbag....then it becomes personal. I've packed boards with tons of bubblewrap and padding and gotten dings, while other times I've thrown them into a boardbag with no padding and glass-on fins (the fin protector deflated) years back and have been fine. A lot of it comes down to plain old luck. If the airlines don't screw you over with handling techniques, they will with fees depending on the counter agent you get

I'm not sure about air canada, but a 7 ft bag seems to be the threshold where the excess baggage fees go from rediculous to insane. check the surfline and wetsand charts