Kneeboards free on American Airlines ?

[willkirkdrive]

Effective September 1, 2004, American Airlines changed their baggage list and they have removed the kneeboard off the listing of Boogie Board/kneeboard.

What might be good news is that AA did not add kneeboard under the surf board listing which is an $80.00 charge each way, but I guess you will have to sharpen your skills of persuasive conversation to avoid the surfboard charge from now on.

[Jeff Ommen]

Nope, just got back from the Islands and I flew AA. They charged me $80.00 each way. Basically anything over 5'0" is considered a surfboard in their eyes and pays accordingly.....

I tried the whole Kneeboard vs. Surfboard thing and it didn't fly...

[albert]

This is by far my most unfavorite thing about travelling. American Airlines was pretty much the airline of choice when I was going to college in Florida, also its the largest airline in Puerto Rico so its pretty hard to escape it. They have opened up my bag and charged me per board, sometimes they didnt charge me at all.

I even remember only ten years ago they used to charge 45 bucks for board bags.

The problem that I have found is that whoever wrote that policy was an absolute dumbass and did not specify whether AA should charge per board or board bag. Either way, I always tell them there is only one board in the bag and smile when I say it.

Otherwise I try to fly quantas every time... the trick to that one is to tell the person behind the counter you are absolutely certain they dont charge for board bags.

A couple of good friends of mine have made careers out of photography and travel with surfing pros all the time... he tells me those guys get ripped off so much its not even funny. They dont have any special deals with the airlines, and mostly travel with two board bags, if they catch a run of bad luck, they could be paying up to 1000 bucks to travel with boards they didnt pay anything for...

[Rob]

I've used commercial arilines quite a bit for surfaris from the Northeast down to Florida, Barbados and once to Puerto Rico.

One important thing I learned the hard way - NEVER EVER trust ANYTHING the airlines tell you. When you go to check in, the last thing you want to hear is that the local branch of the airline won't honor what you've heard about them elsewhere. They can, and will, make up their own rules on the fly. A hard, three board kneeboard case might go as one, or maybe considered two, pieces of luggage (no extra fees) - and in some cases you'll get tagged for an added $50-$100 no matter what. That's just the way it goes with airlines (my son-in-law is a pilot for American Airlines - you should hear the "war" stories ... )

IMO, you must pack yer board(s) as soldily as possible - expect the worse board treatment you can imagine and pad them well inside a doubled up, triple wall cardboard box at the very least. You guys that stick yer boards in those soft mummy cases and pray they won't get trashed - man, I could never do that!

I wrap two or three of my boards in dense foam and stick'em in a custom hard Santa Monica Surfcase. On one trip, after landing back home and sitting nicely in the aircraft cabin waiting to deplane, I've witnessed ape baggage handlers throw my board case out the cargo hold door down to the baggage haul truck (about an 8 foot drop - they totally didn't bother using the angled cargo ramp). My boards easily survived that beating - would yours?

YMMV.

[Greg Little]

I work as a stewardess at AAL, for 18 years and the only people suffering/paying the price for mismanagement, is the PAYING public and the employees. These agents don't care about anything. Even though its in black and white, they all put there subjective opinion into the mix. If they wave the charge, they have to answer to the operational manager. The airline industry is an A LA CARTE rip off, so a few top dogs can line there pockets.
Its really sad.
Greg ....