Billy Kemper can celebrate a win over Hawaiian Airlines. Photo: WSL
For the traveling surfer, carting around a coffin full of surfboards is often the worst part of the journey. Exorbitant fees and illogical weight restrictions are common, and navigating which airline is best is a daunting task. But every now and then, a corporation listens when a consumer complains. If that consumer has enough reach, that is. And Billy Kemper has reach. In early November, the big wave legend took to social media to call out Hawaiian Airlines for its board bag policies, and lo and behold, his complaint has brought about change.
“Surfing was born in Hawaii,” he said in a post after his board bag was declined by a gate agent at Honolulu International. “It’s part of our culture. It’s part of our community… the fact that you guys can’t even make some sort of difference — even paying an overweight fee — I cannot physically fly with a board bag that’s a few pounds overweight on a 25-minute flight back to Maui is ridiculous.”
Well, it appears the powers-at-be over at Hawaiian Airlines heard his gripe and instead of laughing in the face of the customer while yanking money out of their wallets, they looking inward and decided that yes, something should be changed.
“Aloha, Billy,” the airline wrote to Kemper in a DM. “The revised policy went live yesterday. In addition to now accepting board bags up to 100 pounds, we also lowered the price to transport boards between Hawaii and the US mainland (from $100 to $75) and internationally (from $150 to $75). There’s still no charge to bring boards between Hawaii and Australia and New Zealand as part of our two-checked bag allowance.”
It’s relatively rare for something as simple as an Instagram post to actually make a difference, but it’s a good example of social media doing something good.
“Go Billy,” wrote Garrett McNamara. “I guess it is very smart to share the experiences and make a change. This is an amazing example of using our platforms for good to do good things.”
A few other big names weighed to applaud Billy’s initial post and Hawaiian’s subsequent change. “God damn… that’s results,” wrote Diplo. “Problem solving is fun,” said Bob Hurley.
With any luck, other airlines might take a page out of Hawaiian Airline’s book and look at their board bag policies… but that’s pretty unlikely unless something with clout calls them out.
