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If you’ve done more than a few surf trips that require lugging your board bag through an airport, you’re aware of just how much it sucks. Not just the actual lugging part, but dealing with the airlines themselves. Ridiculous fees, ridiculous weight allowances, ridiculous treatment of said surfboards… it all just sucks. It’s a gamble every time. It’s not uncommon for surfboards to show up at the fun end of the flight snapped, dented, and battered, seemingly run over by the plane itself before being unceremoniously thrown through a wood chipper. There have been many surfers with social media clout who’ve called out various airlines for the treatment of our fragile pieces of foam. Bob Hurley and Kelly Slater famously took Hawaiian Airlines to task, calling board bag fees a “default profit racket.” Kanoa Igarashi opened his board bag to find every last one snapped in half. American Airlines completely demolished Alex Gray’s surfboards. And now, Billy Kemper has trained his sights on Hawaiian Airlines.
He was flying home to Maui to surf Jaws with two surfboards in his bag. He paid for his ticket and his bag fees. But then, it turned out his bag was a few pounds overweight. According to Kemper, an employee told him it was, “illegal and against their policy to accept them.”
Kemper went on to take the airline to task. “Surfing was born in Hawaii,” he said. “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.”
Many other surfers of note chimed in to agree with Kemper. “SW is the shit!” wrote Shane Dorian. “I love them. It’s ‘illegal; to fly with 100 pound board bag, but they will allow you on the plane if you weigh 500 pounds. What’s that about? Hawaiian has some sketchy policies.”
Nate Florence, a guy who has been on a serious travel bender the last few years, had something to say too. “I’ve had this same experience with @hawaiianairlines,” he said. “They told me leave my boards because I was one pound over, not even an extra charge policy. Just said ‘leave it. We don’t care.'”
Kelly Slater, who called out Hawaiian Airlines a few years back, weighed in as well. “We all gonna have to go on another rant about @hawaiianairlines again?” He asked. “It did help the last time but the European CEO wasn’t too pleased.”
It’s a tale as old as time, really — surfers have been getting the short end of the stick when it comes to traveling with boards, and it’s not likely that much will change in the future. But here’s hoping it does, because as it stands right now, it’s not working for anyone.