Best airline for surfboards?

[will fly for food 06]

hello
strange i know, but im planning on a round the world surfing trip, i know BA are good with boards, any others you have heard of?

[buggingout]

surely Qantas......?? ;)

[will fly for food 06]

cheers. il make sure there wrapped up good and proper.

[hikoushi]

Don't know if it applies to where you are planning to go, but Sydney-Honolulu or West Coast USA-Honolulu (or vice versa), Hawaiian Airlines (B-767) will take good care of your gear. If you plan on going to Hawaii and travelling between the islands to surf, Hawaiian and Aloha (B-717 & B-737) both take great care of boards; for visiting the smaller islands, Island Air (DHC-8) will carry a board up to 8 feet no problem. The other interisland carriers Pacific Wings (Cessna Caravan) and go! Airlines (CRJ-200) did not carry surfboards last time I checked.

[jeff748]

Use a padded board bag. Bubble wrap the board with cardboard around the tip and tail and if you have room stuff some of your clothes in to the bag as well. Usually there is a charge for the board so you can prevent an excess baggage fee this way.
If they don't x-ray the unit at the counter you can say it's just personal effects and no board is there or it's broken so not a useable one...:{ (not technically a board any more so how can they charge you???)
Bring a ding kit and tape anyway and don't say anything about it as it may be considered d.g.'s.
Avoid Skyservice Airlines out of CYYZ. They mashed my board completly. Besides the shoddy baggage service, they occasionally bend their airplanes on landing. Tons of dents on my board and the nose got dinged pretty badly even though it was packed really well.
Paddle proud.

[PAXboy]

It's so difficult to know which Best airlinewill be best for surfboards? Don't forget that everyone has their own taste. One simple example: I prefer mine to be thicker and medium cooked, others prefer them thinner and 'blue' (very rare).

Nowadays, I find the airlines are all trying to get the surfboard pax and making ridiculous claims as to which can serve the best board. But we are just so excited at the idea of having a board at FL390 that we forget how difficult it is to serve one properly at altitude. The last time I tried one, I just found it too irritating to have the hyped up young chef zooming up and down the aisles on his skate board to see if we liked our surfboards. I said to him, why don't you just serve a nice bit of skate, with a subtle sauce?

I know that Airbus keep saying how there will be room on the A380 for a special surfboard lounge but, frankly, we have heard that one before.

Really, is that time?? Well, I will have just one more before I go ...

[skydriller]

I would confirm that BA are good, no damage... though they have managed to lose it on one trip (only one day though!), and lost luggage could not accept "Surf Board" as a type of luggage, insisted it was a "large oversize duffle/sports bag":confused:

Have to say I didnt package mine as jeff suggested, but it can only help, right?

Regards, SD