queequeg Posted October 25, 2009 Report Share Posted October 25, 2009 Hello All - I am sure this question has been posted in one way or another in the past, but with airline baggage rules and transportation issues changing so rapidly I figured I would go ahead and ask again: What advice do you have for traveling internationally with a snowboard? I travel to Italy every year in december but I have never taken advantage of the alps, mostly due to a lack of planning. This year I aim to change that if I can put all the pieces together. I'm generally wary of sticking my board in the belly of an aircraft, mostly because if the airlines lose or break it you end up with a consolation prize for compensation, and because I don't want to lose a day of riding to lost baggage issues. Usually I fed-ex my board ahead of time but I'm not sure if that will work out in Italy due to import duty issues (as I understand it). I figure I can take the board on the plane with me as long as there are no really close connecting flights and as long as I pack it very very well, and include lots of identification with it so that it can be recovered if lost. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Extra points if you know how to do this back and forth to Italy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike g. Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 Hello, I traveled to France, and sweetezlend. I had no problems. Thats before the extra fees. All I did was add some clothes around the edges,tips. they came out fine. Your bag will get dirty form the convayor belts. Also you will get a custom inspection, on the way home they'll look in the bag. hope that helps ________ NR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
negedeng Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 I took my boards now twice in the airplane from the US to Germany. I bought myself a roller case from Red-Air. It is about 2m long, 25-30cm wide and about 20cm high. Check on the homepage of the airline, what their limit for sporting goods is dimensional wise and weight. With Delta it was in the past a 2m length limit and I think it was a 50 pound weight limit. That might have changed in the meantime. In the bag I had two boards with bindings, boots and some small stuff like gloves, pants,.... just enough to get as close as possible to the weight limit. I took some insulation stuff which is used to insulate water pipes (pre formed 1m long foam tubes) and wrapped with that stuff the nose and tail of each board to give extra protection. The board bag has got some extra straps insight with which I can strap the boards down into the bag plus outside straps.I never had a problem to take something with me on a plane. As long as the baggage tag stays on the bag, the bag will make it. I personally would have a worse feeling shipping my boards with UPS/FedEx etc. There your parcel gets loaded and unloaded so many times and touched by different people till it is at its destination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carvedog Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 ric_hard ??sp. is in Rome. Maybe he has a line of some boards so you could travel with boots and binders. Looks like he knows where teh sick is too. He regularly posts up some of the nicest carve porn around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEJ Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 Sport tube! I think mine is a sport tube 3. It will take 3 long boards without binders. I put them in Bomber bags, slide them in, then pack it with underware to keep them from sliding around. Got my name written all over it with a paint marker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loc Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 I took some insulation stuff which is used to insulate water pipes (pre formed 1m long foam tubes) and wrapped with that stuff the nose and tail of each board to give extra protection. The board bag has got some extra straps insight with which I can strap the boards down into the bag plus outside straps.I never had a problem to take something with me on a plane. As long as the baggage tag stays on the bag, the bag will make it. I personally would have a worse feeling shipping my boards with UPS/FedEx etc. There your parcel gets loaded and unloaded so many times and touched by different people till it is at its destination. I second this advice. I took my board to Whistler and they tossed my ATV around. Part of my topsheet got torn off at the nose. Nothing major but still :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queequeg Posted October 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 I took some insulation stuff which is used to insulate water pipes (pre formed 1m long foam tubes) and wrapped with that stuff the nose and tail of each board to give extra protection. I have been doing this for awhile too and it works well for me so small, smaller insulation against the board, and bigger insulation around the smaller insulation. Then I just shrinkwrap the whole thing with one of those big packing rolls they have at home depot and put it in a board bag. So does anyone have any experience sending boards with a service like FedEx internationally, rather than putting them under the plane?? My guess is that it is not feasible but I'm hoping somebody has contrary experience?? ric_hard ??sp. is in Rome. Maybe he has a line of some boards so you could travel with boots and binders. Looks like he knows where teh sick is too. He regularly posts up some of the nicest carve porn around. Yeah - I posted a question about italy a few years ago (more of a "where to go") question and he had lots of great advice. I'm definitely going to tap that thread for info while planning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philw Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 I live in a flat place with little snow, so I always fly with my boards. My garage is lined with old "wheelie" bags from major manufacturers: those sometimes make it all the way on a single round trip, but they seldom made it through a season and there's nothing worse that picking one up in some airport where they charge for trollies to find that the baggage handlers ripped the handles off the thing. Lots of people use them, but they don't use them much. Sport Tube is the way to go - since buying mine a few years ago my garage has received no further donations of baggage-handler damaged bags. They abuse the hell out of the ST but they can't seem to break it. I used to have to do the "pipe lagging" thing, because if you don't do that the boards rip the edge of those fabric bags. The real solution, as above, is to stop using fabric bags; the ST is immune to this and you don't need the lagging. Don't lock the thing though or the TSA will get upset with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queequeg Posted October 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 Don't lock the thing though or the TSA will get upset with you. I usually zip-tie things that I fly with, and leave a few spare zip-ties threaded through the locked zip tie ... so they can cut the old zip ties and replace them with the new ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Stevens Posted October 27, 2009 Report Share Posted October 27, 2009 Watch the weight and call ahead to find out the extra fees. Take your boots and bindings as carry on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobD Posted October 27, 2009 Report Share Posted October 27, 2009 As far as I know,international flights from the US still have a two bag,50lbs each allowance. Baggage allowances for travel within Europe are not so good. BobD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEJ Posted October 27, 2009 Report Share Posted October 27, 2009 Sport tube sells a TSA lock to go with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pokkis Posted October 27, 2009 Report Share Posted October 27, 2009 Typically hardboot bindings are not allowed to take in as hand luckage, atleast i have bad experience of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seb Posted October 27, 2009 Report Share Posted October 27, 2009 I make 4-6 flights a year with my gear. Over last 4 years, had my board bag delayed 3 times on the RETURN flight, always less than 24 hours... I put tons of wax on the base and I don't scrap it, so if there is rubbing going on due to vibration, wax will save your base structure. Boots = Carry-on, you can always try to find a friend for the board or worse buy a new one, you never want to do that with "personal" boots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pirmin Posted October 28, 2009 Report Share Posted October 28, 2009 Check out the baggage regulations of the airline. United has special items for sports equipment like surf or snow boards. http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6867,52908,00.html#snowboard I will try it from germany to the US when comming to Aspen in Feb. 2010 :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shrederjen Posted October 28, 2009 Report Share Posted October 28, 2009 Like many have said, the sport tube is the most protective way to go. I still use a soft bag with plenty of extra padding on the nose and tail, if I am just taking one or two shorter boards. I have taken my plates as carryon, just take them out of the bag and put them through the scanner seperately, so the TSA can see them. Jeez, I am traveling with most of my equipment tomorrow! Wish me luck!:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dantheman0177 Posted October 30, 2009 Report Share Posted October 30, 2009 Not sure how much this will help, but... Last season when I was living in London I flew to Italy a couple of times and Switzerland with boards. I have a 185 Burton bag which seems to do the job (although it's now done a hell of a lot of air miles and it looking rather tatty) as long as the boards are padded. Each time I flew with British Airways as they had a policy where skis/snowboards flew free. That was a BIG incentive to fly with them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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