Hi,
Busy trying to look at flights from London to Perth but am struggling with finding a carrier who does not want to charge me a fortune for my excess baggage.
Just bee told that Qantas will give me 30kg as part of the ticket, but then want ??50 for each extra kg. Given 2 boards 3 sails / 2 masts and my boom are contained in a 32kg and an 18kg bag I don't see how I can travel with it.
Are there carriers or do people not take windsurfing kit over with them?
Thanks
I don't know if this will help you, but in the past, airlines flying via the US would offer the same luggage system where it was piece based instead of per kilogram. I think its 2 pieces, up to 23kgs, but you can generally buy extra pieces. I suspect it was a requirement when flying into the US.
Can you fly via the US and see if this helps?
Lots of threads here about who is the best carrier so maybe have a search.
Or, buy it when you get here and sell upon leaving, maybe you'll take a 20% hit
Strangely enough, I have some for sale... 
^^^You always have gear for sale Markie but as it is already 20% over priced he would take a 40% hit when he on-sells it 
Try Turkish Airlines from London-Singapore and then Tiger Air from Singapore-Perth. Both airlines charge excess baggage on sporting goods including windsurfers at price per bag.
Thanks John0. I never thought of splitting the trip into two flights with different carriers. I can fly Virgin to Singapore and get to take sports gear for free and pay for an additional bag at a nominal amount. Tiger charge 55 SGD each way for windsurfing gear for the Singapore to Perth leg.
Edit :- Just read that London to Singapore is via Singapore Airlines. There sporting equipment charges are as clear as mud
www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/au/travel-info/baggage/non-standard-baggage/
Why do they make it so difficult. I wish airlines would charge per kilo regardless of whether it is baggage of a human being. Being 70kg it might make my flight cheaper
qatar
cheap flights and 30kg baggage allowance as standard, then I believe an extra 10kg on top with surfboard. I would check this first..
Your gear sounds very heavy too... 2x board =15 kg, 3x sail = 10kg, 2x mast = 3 kg, 1x boom = 2 kg.. not sure how that adds up to 50 kg in total!!!
Unless you are transporting a OneDesign... maybe lighter gear?
Al
I think your weights are on the lean side. You need to have 2 board bags as you cannot fit all of that gear into a single bag as it then puts you over the 32kg limits. So by the time you add in the weight of the double and single air travel bags it then pushes the weight up.
I am not sure of the wind strength, but I might just bring the 77l and 5.3 / 4.7 and 4.2 sails Trouble with that combo is that I end up using 3 different masts.
Select to expand quoteflanagaj said..
I can fly Virgin to Singapore and get to take sports gear for free and pay for an additional bag at a nominal amount.
Be careful about code share, if you fly virgin but its actually Singapore airlines, then your stuck with Singapore airlines allowance which the last time I looked was not good.
The best way, to get windsurf gear from London to Australia, is London to Sydney with Virgin, (via hong kong), but then your a bit far from perth...
But depending on your plans a diversion with a domestic flight might be the cheapest option.
Qantas, are now much better for international, as they no longer seem to code share with BA (who will not take windsurf gear), and baggage policy seems much better now they have teamed up with emirates.
Emirates and Qantas are both good if you can live with 30kg, especially if your traveling with someone else. I managed to get two boards, three sails just on 30kg, in my double bag that I had made for myself.
Given I am travelling alone, I am seriously contemplating leaving the boards behind and buying a used one in Perth for the 4 weeks. I can take my sails, boom and masts with me and still have a small allowance for clothing etc
@flanagaj,
Back in the day when I lived in Germany all you could take was 20kg on the Asia route. I had a friend who spend 6 weeks in WA every Christmas. He would air freight his rigs and take his boards on the plane. You chould get a few quotes for air freight excess baggage.
The reason why he would airfreight his sails was mainly to do with volume weight. When you air freight they will calculate the volume weight against the actual weight. What ever is bigger will be counted as the actual weight. Boards tend to have a higher volume weight compared to say a quiver bag.
All that said, if you fly via the US you will get a 64 kgs on most US airlines and Air NZ. If you fly Air NZ you might even be able to slip in a stop over in Hawaii / US East Coast / Fiji.
