Excess Baggage is driving me mad

Whilst planing a trip to WA to compete in the Youth tittles at Mandurah and possibly the Ledge to Lancelin and i have come across a big problem. EXCESS BAGGAGE from what most of the airline sites say, 23 kg's is the max. I can't ship the gear over there from Brissy cause i wont have time, so the only option is to put through baggage when i fly over.

If anyone has had any experience with this problem of EXCESS BAGGAGE, any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

PS. What's Lucky Caravan Park in Mandurah like

Yeah i going with virgin as its heaps cheaper and hasn't had dilemmas like Qantas has had over the last few months.

Apparently all of the baggage rules changes as of the first of september this year. So i'm a bit unsure.

Get a kiteboard - problem solved!

Windsurfer's suffer from a bit a excess baggage - especially those that travel with them .....

One of the things that has worked for me is checking in super early, i.e. when the airport has just opened. That way there are no people in the oversize luggage lines and if you get a decent check in person they can often give you a break as they aren't exactly short of luggage space for that flight when its 6 hours later... It also means I can drive the stuff in the car to the airport and then drive home and catch the train to the airport hours later.

We have travelled Qantas from Sydney to Perth and they could charge us $22 per item, but on the way there they charged us less, and on the way back charged us only for 2 extra items instead of 3. I was pretty happy with that at the time, but even if they charged for 3 I would have still been okay with it.

Or in my case, 60kgs of windsurfing gear and a beer gut! I'm not quite sure if its 40kgs though. How do I weigh it?

I guess the simple answer is 'because they can make money from excessive baggage charges'.

Qantas have info on their website that talks about windsurfing gear as not being able to be taken as the masts are too long, which obviously refers to really old equipment when the masts were one piece. I went to the trouble of calling the baggage people at the airport to see if this was going to be a problem. I spoke to the Qantas 'baggage master' who told me it was no problem.

I have travelled with Qantas from Sydney to Perth and back and had no problems.

Recently when trying to get back from Mackay to Sydney I looked at the flights out from Qantas and some were Jetstar and the others Qantas Link. Jetstar have a 2m maximum length limit and from what I have heard charge a fair bit for excess. I called Qantas about Qantas Link flights and they can't carry windsurfing gear (smaller planes!), and I think the limit was also 2m. I ended up going back on VB, who were very nice and didn't charge me anything although they could have.

I have carried a 2.7m board on Qantas and VB with no problem.

I suspect Sean's stories would probably refer to international travel as I think there will be a lot more restrictions and problems with transfers between different carriers.

If you really want to make sure and have the time, call the baggage depart at your airport and see what they say.

It's funny how at check in, when you get someone that doesn't understand what a windsurf board is that you can easily describe it as a large surfboard and they seem to be happy with that answer.

Ive recently made the trip form Brizzy to Melbourne airport via Qantas and Virgin blue on the way back didnt get charged at all though I think Virgin was going to charge us but my mate said we didnt get charged on the way down he didnt say it was with Qantas though. That was with 1 Board, 2 sails, 2 booms, 2 mast and the other crap that goes with it. Oh yer get there a good 1 hr before i recon we cut it abit close

ta Vando

it's all pretty simply really:

Qantas:
Domestic Economy Ticket includes 1 free bag upto 32 kgs. each additional bag will be charged at $22. Qantas does not guarantee the bag will be on the same plane. If you have a Qantas Frequent Flyer account you can actually add one windsurf or surf board bag to your booking prior to departure.

Virgin:
Domestic Economy Ticket includes no luggage. You will need to buy a pre allowance for $8 at the time of booking. This will give you 23 kgs. (32 kgs if you are a Velocity Gold Member). For sports equipment they will give you an additional 5 kgs bringing your allowance to 28kgs (and 37 kgs respectively). Each kg over the 28 kgs will be charged at $8 per kg.

Those are the published excess baggage charges. You might be lucky and not get charged but at the end of the day this is what they can and most likely will charge most of the time.

Sadly there has been a MASSIVE changing of the guard in regards to excess baggage.
Virgin were once the king of the skies with no charge for sporting equipment.
Having regularly traveled interstate with heaps of sailing equipment and camera gear, Virgin were the best option... now it's qantas... but who knows for how long as I suspect once qantas work out Virgin have tightened the screws they will follow suit.

I flew back from Perth on Thursday on Qantas with:
1 x double board bag @ 30 kg
1 x all in one bag @ 30 kg
1 x bag @ 23kg

Normally on qantas this would be charged at $22 per extra piece of luggage.
Due to the ticket I had purchased and Frequent Flyer status I am allowed 2 pieces of luggage.
A big smile and happy demeanor helped with the check in... along with being 1 hour 30 minutes early resulted in all the gear going through with no charge.

The main thing to be aware of is NO airline will now take a bag over 32kg due to OH&S restrictions facing the bag snatches out the back.

Qantas flights are more expensive (in general) but with a flat $22 charge for extra piece/s of luggage it could work out cheaper than Virgin.
Sadly in my experience Virgin Baggage snatchers take better care of gear than Qantas... so if you are traveling with them, pack some epoxy ding repair so you can make a quick fix of your damaged board and get straight out onto the water.

Kev

I flew back VB from Qld recently and got pinged for carrying a 9' Mal. But based on pre paying your $8 baggage charge it's pretty much the 23kg's plus the 5kg's of sporting kit. The only thing I'm not 100% on is if it's 5kg's in total for Sporting kit or 5kgs per bag of sporting kit.
In a couple of weeks we've got a crew of 8 heading from Melb to WA all on the same flight with 2 boards and Sail bag each ....... who do we need to smile nicley at again ??

all I can say is: "Get the check book ready"