My recent unpleasant experience prompted me to look up Ski & Boot bag
policies of some of the airlines. My situation: on a return trip from
Vail/Eagle, the check-in with UNITED AIRLINES irritated me greatly. The
previous week my outbound flight from Columbus on UNITED was fine. I
checked three bags (paid for two): one suitcase, one ski bag and one boot
bag. As has been my usual practice for 20+ years, I had packed socks,
underwear and gloves in plastic bags, and put the plastic bags around the
skis and boots to cushion the equipment. In Columbus, UNITED accepted one
ski and one boot bag as "one checked bag." The ski and boot bag together
weighed 34 lbs. and they are allowed to weigh up to a standard bag,
typically 50 pounds.

The packing and the weights were the same for the return trip, but when I
tried to check in at Vail/Eagle, the UNITED agent said that ONLY boots or
skis are allowed in the bags, and she pointed to a sign on the counter. She
also said that this was an FAA rule (As far as I can learn on the internet,
this rule appears to apply only to UNITED and CONTINENTAL, and NOT to bags
that you pay a separate bag fee). Since she wouldn't let my boot & ski bags
be checked as I had packed them, I unpacked the underwear & gloves from the
ski and boot bags and tried to stuff them into the suitcase. At this point
the agent actually patted down the ski bag to make sure that I did not leave
anything inside.

Not all the clothes would fit into my suitcase and my only choice was to put
them into the boot bag, and I thought I would have to pay for three bags. IF
I am interpreting baggage fee rules correctly, checking three bags would
cost $185 on UNITED ($25 for first, $35 for second, and $125 for the third
bag; see http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6867,52481,00.html and
http://www.united.com/page/article/0...0.html#excess), and $210 on
CONTINENTAL (25 for first, $35 for second, and $150 for the third bag; see
http://www.continental.com/web/en-US.../checkbag.aspx
and
http://www.continental.com/web/en-US...e/excess.aspx).

If I understood the United Airlines Agent correctly, the ski/boots only
restriction does not apply if the customer pays for each bag separately. I
do wonder how this meshes with the above mentioned FAA rule.

After repacking, when I did the actual check in, a different agent, pointed
out that I could carry the boot bag (now stuffed with underwear) on-board.
That was very nice of her, but at my age of nearly 70 years, I do not relish
dragging bags through airports.

As far as I can tell, UNITED's rule states that ONLY skis, poles and boots
are allowed in bags checked under the one bag allowance.
http://www.united.com/page/article/0...6,00.html#snow states "1 ski
bag, containing 1 pair of skis and poles, plus 1 boot bag, containing boots
and bindings only." CONTINENTAL seems to have a similar rule, "If ski boot
bag contains other items in addition to or in place of boots, it will be
subject to applicable baggage fees or excess baggage fees."
http://www.continental.com/web/en-US...ge/sports.aspx.

Among the other airlines, DELTA, NORTHWEST, FRONTIER, SOUTHWEST, USAIR,
AIRTRAN, , MIDWEST AIRLINE, and AIR CANADA seems to have a more reasonable
approach to checking ski and boot bags. Typical rule seems to be that the
combined weight of ski and boot bags can not exceed 50 lbs.

BOTTOM LINE: check airline baggage fees before you book your next ski trip.
If your ski or boot bags contain any other items than skis/poles or ski
boots, for a Round Trip, on UNITED the checked baggage fee could cost you as
much as $370, and on CONTINENTAL $420. On other airlines, the baggage fees
are likely to be a much more reasonable $120 for Round Trip, and ZERO on
SOUTHWEST.

Tell us your experience with checking ski and boot bags.

NOTE TO AIRLINES - please reply to this newsgroup and correct any
unintentional mistakes that I may have made interpreting your rules