Checking ski and boot bags

On Mon, 5 Apr 2010 20:36:43 -0400, "Ernie"
wrote this crap:

My recent unpleasant experience prompted me to look up Ski & Boot bag
policies of some of the airlines.


Tell us your experience with checking ski and boot bags.


Here's a tip. UPS your boots and skis ahead of time. It's cheaper
and they never get lost.

I do that when I send my golf clubs to Florida. It cost me $30 to
send them each way. my golf buddy carried his and cost him $75 each
way.


And remember to vote for Palin-Brown in 2012. Repeal the nightmare.




A mighty Hungarian warrior
The blood of Attila runs through me

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

Ernie wrote:
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


Since most airlines now charge for checked baggage, I've found it
much more convenient to carry boots on and check a bag with
clothing. I can ski with anything except somebody else's (read
rental) boots. I always rent skis at the destination. In Tahoe
I rent from El Cheapo's or the other place down near the Keys.

If I had to have a pair of my skis with me for an extended trip, I
would ship them ahead via UPS to my destination.

And I'm rapidly approaching (too rapidly) 70 also. I find it
more difficult to schlep skis around during ground transportation
stages than is worthwhile.

On 4/5/10 5:36 PM, Ernie wrote:

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


Conceptual folly -
If these turkeys can't figure out their own rules at the checkin
counter, what makes you think they'll be able to figure out Usenet?

Luckily United damaged my skis years ago punching a hole to core in the
shovel (on the topskin!), and insisted on keeping the skis two weeks
for repair - I told them screw that, stuffed some epoxy in the hole and
carried on. The luck was that I quit going to places I had to fly into;
so I've never dealt with the airline crap since. In driving range from
Tahoe in = a long day: Jackson, Utah, Oregon, Mammoth - that's enough
to keep me happy.

On Mon, 5 Apr 2010 20:36:43 -0400, "Ernie"
wrote:

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
I personally dumped United years ago for poor service, high prices and
for loosing my bags 3 times consecutively. Having said this, the
alternatives have not been the best performers as high costs and bad
economies have forced airlines to hack at services even further. I
usually contact the hill and ask if they have a preferred courier and
also send my equipment in advance.

Ernie wrote:

My recent unpleasant experience prompted me to look up Ski & Boot bag
policies of some of the airlines....
Tell us your experience with checking ski and boot bags.


1) Don't check your boots. That's a beginner's mistake. Carry your
boots on. You don't want to have to ski in rental boots, do you?

2) If you read the fine print of the airline policy, it says that ski
bag and boot bag count as one item, BUT the only thing that can be in
the bag is one pair of skis, one pair of poles, and one pair of boots.
That they have been lax in enforcing this in the past doesn't mean that
they have to keep letting you get away with it. BOTTOM LINE: if you're
trying to play the "two bags counts as one bag" game, make sure you are
following the rules.

3) Don't check your boots, and you won't have this problem.

4) If you're checking luggage, they generally don't care what's in it as
long as it's under the weight restriction and you're not trying to pull
the two-for-one game.

4) Did I mention that you should never check your boots?

//Walt

VtSkier wrote:

If I had to have a pair of my skis with me for an extended trip, I
would ship them ahead via UPS to my destination.

Fed Ex Ground will ship skis in a plain old ski bag. I think UPS
requires that you put them in a box. Anyway, I used Fed Ex Ground to
ship skis back from SLC in January. About $50 for a bag with two pairs
of skis (and other miscelaneous stuff) in it.


And I'm rapidly approaching (too rapidly) 70 also.

You're getting younger? Who knew?

//Walt

On 4/6/10 8:46 AM, Walt wrote:
VtSkier wrote:

If I had to have a pair of my skis with me for an extended trip, I
would ship them ahead via UPS to my destination.

Fed Ex Ground will ship skis in a plain old ski bag. I think UPS
requires that you put them in a box. Anyway, I used Fed Ex Ground to
ship skis back from SLC in January. About $50 for a bag with two pairs
of skis (and other miscelaneous stuff) in it.

What do you ski on while they've got your skis?

Anyway, I was thinking about my pretty much no longer flying anywhere to
ski because of airline abuse. I can't be the only one, so I wonder if
Utah and/or Colorado tourist industries have noticed a falloff in
visits? Used to be a big effort by those states to encourage ski travel,
and they had big influences on the airlines. Maybe they will step up
again to coerce the airlines into better behavior? Like adding a landing
tax on each passenger, waived if the passenger has a double ski bag checked?

Walt wrote:
VtSkier wrote:

If I had to have a pair of my skis with me for an extended trip, I
would ship them ahead via UPS to my destination.

Fed Ex Ground will ship skis in a plain old ski bag. I think UPS
requires that you put them in a box. Anyway, I used Fed Ex Ground to
ship skis back from SLC in January. About $50 for a bag with two pairs
of skis (and other miscelaneous stuff) in it.


And I'm rapidly approaching (too rapidly) 70 also.

You're getting younger? Who knew?

Only in my mind. Can't help getting older, just never grow up.

//Walt

lal_truckee wrote:
On 4/6/10 8:46 AM, Walt wrote:
VtSkier wrote:

If I had to have a pair of my skis with me for an extended trip, I
would ship them ahead via UPS to my destination.

Fed Ex Ground will ship skis in a plain old ski bag. I think UPS
requires that you put them in a box. Anyway, I used Fed Ex Ground to
ship skis back from SLC in January. About $50 for a bag with two pairs
of skis (and other miscelaneous stuff) in it.

What do you ski on while they've got your skis?

You think I only own one pair?


Anyway, I was thinking about my pretty much no longer flying anywhere to
ski because of airline abuse. I can't be the only one, so I wonder if
Utah and/or Colorado tourist industries have noticed a falloff in
visits? Used to be a big effort by those states to encourage ski travel,
and they had big influences on the airlines. Maybe they will step up
again to coerce the airlines into better behavior? Like adding a landing
tax on each passenger, waived if the passenger has a double ski bag
checked?

So I'll be in your (general) neck of the woods
right after Christmas next year. Sun Peaks first
then down to Tahoe. I'll carry my boots on and
I'll rent skis. That foils everybody.