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 Travel & Outdoors | July 2006 
Packing for the Adventurous
 Joe Doggett - Houston Chronicle
| | Time, research can save your trip before it starts. |
The skycap pushing the heavy-laden baggage cart directed me with an important flourish through the terminal to the carpeted aisle for first class/business class check-in. I stepped with confidence around the velvet rope as the skycap proceeded to unload the cart and stack the luggage.
A casual glance at my coach ticket to Puerto Vallarta would show that I had no more credibility on the plush carpet than Kuja, the head gorilla at the National Zoological Park. But, after more than 30 years in the trenches and on the tarmac, you learn how to cheat.
A discreet $10 bill in the right hands sometimes can pull big strings amid long lines and oversized carts. Not the least of my awkward items were a 10-foot Pro Lite surfboard bag and a lumpy, faded Orvis duffle stuffed with fly-rod tubes.
As I waited in the elite line, a large and matronly woman plowed into position behind me. She wore an ample floral dress and resembled the British actress Patricia Routledge, who played Hyacinth Bucket in the classic sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.
She clucked and pointed as her entourage of porters stacked matched pieces then affixed an empirical stare at my tawdry chattel. She was plainly affronted by having to share the carpet with the unsavory surfer element.
I offered a contrite smile, then nodded as the uniformed ticket agent motioned. I grabbed the board bag and turned. Regrettably, the swinging tail of the bag gave the woman a stout whack. The padding on either end of the collision was ample, but the impact was staggering. "A thousand pardons, madam," I said, yanking and tugging the long bag over to the counter. A ruinous excess baggage tariff and several additional apologies later, I departed with boarding pass and claim checks.
That incident was a reminder of the obstacles often encountered when attempting to fly with outdoor-oriented luggage. There's no easy way around it. Outdoor pursuits require considerable support gear, and airline terminals can be hostile territory for oversized bags.
Some guidelines
With the summer-vacation season under way, now is a good time to review a few guidelines.
First, check via phone or Web site specific airline policies regarding oversized items. The regulations vary from carrier to carrier, even season to season, and attempting to define anything here is pointless.
But make every effort to know before you go — right before you go. If contradiction seems likely, print out the regulations to support your case (not to mention your gigantic bag) at the check-in counter. But be prepared to pay extra.
For example, surfboard bags usually are charged an excess baggage fee between $50 and $100 each way. This seems to be an inequity since other unorthodox items such as golf bags and fishing-rod tubes often count as normal pieces of check-in baggage. Some carriers permit two boards per bag, allowing the enterprising pair of ne'er-do-wells chasing a "southern hemi swell" to double up.
Most airlines allow two check-in pieces per passenger (which can make it tough if a rod tube counts as one). Prior to this year, the maximum weight for a check-in bag was 50 pounds (domestic) and 70 pounds (international), but many carriers now impose the 50-pound limit on all flights.
Overweight bags are charged extra, and it doesn't take much gear stuffed in a duffle for a serious expedition to exceed 50 pounds. If the bag is several pounds overweight, an agent might let it slide — but the rule is clear and you cannot argue with the digital scales at the counter. A good way to reduce weight in the primary bag is to pack several items of clothing in the excess bag.
Surfers know all about this dodge, stashing wetsuits, board shorts, T-shirts,leashes, rack straps, even hammocks in board bags. The extra padding also helps protect fragile boards from tender mercies beyond the conveyor belt.
Anglers can adopt a modified version of the plan by wrapping several shirts or pairs of socks around the rods in a carry-all tube.
Check those pockets
Another way to shave critical pounds on a marginal bag is to wear the heaviest pair of footwear and carry the foul weather jacket. Just be sure to inspect all pockets for inadvertent no-no's that will get you flagged at security.
Go back and underline that advice. Parkas and tote bags used on rough-and-tumble adventures and carried into airports by well-meaning individuals can hide all sorts of sensitive items. High on the list would be a live .300 Weatherby Magnum cartridge following a mule deer hunt in Colorado. Trust me on that one.
And always allow an extra 30 minutes for check-in. Heightened security measures only emphasize the wisdom of this policy.
Utilizing and tipping a sympathetic porter might expedite the check-in — no guarantees, but worth a try. Much might depend on the ticket agents on duty. If nothing else, the skycap makes the transfer of heavy, bulky bags easier.
Better to kill time in an airport coffee shop than to be stuck in a sweaty panic in a stalled line. Cutting it close is not worth the potential grief when a week of outdoor recreation waits beyond the gate.
joe.doggett@chron.com |
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