Scuba Friendly Airlines - Please add to list and share

[Going Down....]

Hi All,

I have found that some airlines are scuba equipment friendly, whilst others are definately not. As a general rule, budget airlines stick you with a somewhat large excess luggage charge the moment you go over the luggage allowance. Full service airlines tend to be a little more flexible, for the most part. I don't know about you, but I have had my fair share of nasty surprises at check-in counters all over the world, when unexpected excess luggage charges are applied. To help avoid this, below are my tips for airlines to use when travelling, and those to best avoid when carrying Scuba Gear on your dive holidays. Can you please add to this list. Hopefully, we will come up with a comprehensive list that everybody can benefit from.

My tips:

Bangkok Airlines - A boutique arline that flies all over SE Asia. If you sign up to their frequent flyer program, you automatically get an extra 10kg luggage allowance (free of charge to sign up). This will bring you up to 30kg per person (plus hand luggage) before excess luggage becomes an issue. Great if you have dive gear!

Malaysian Airlines - If you go to their website FAQ section (Ask MAS) and type in "Scuba Dive Equipment", you will get an FAQ reply that states that carrying scuba gear entitles you to an extra 10kg baggage allowance. This brings you up to 30kg. NOTE - You need to print this FAQ and bring it along to check-in at the airport, as most check-in staff are UNAWARE of their own company's policy on this issue. I was told to do this recently, and this was in fact the case. When I showed them their own printed FAQ, I had no isses whatsoever with the first 30kg (Domestic and International).

Air France - Be warned. Even if you are under the luggage allowance, the fact that you are carying scuba equipment will incur a 50 Euro special equipment charge. It is airline policy to charge extra for dive equipment - regardless of weight! Somebody please correct me if this has changed recently, but I have been told about this stupid charge by multiple people who have been stung with it on their way to SE Asia from France.

Qantas - No special allowance. Standard 20KG per person applies, with excess luggage charged above and beyond.

Air Asia - Budget airline. Be warned - no special allowance. The moment you go 1kg over, you are charged. If you know that you have excess luggage, pre-purchase their extra luggage allowance on-line. Once again though - if you do this, the cost of your ticket goes up substantially. You would almost be better off going with a full service airline (depending upon the route of course!). Cheap if you have little to no luggage and you buy tickets way in advance. Not so cheap if it is last minute and you are carrying scuba gear!

Please add to this list........

 

[marinediva]

Air Nuigini........Let them know you have scuba gear and they will take make the weight for it 5kg.
But only if you are really nice to them.

Solomon Airlines........scuba gear becomes 5 kg of allowance.

Qantas...........I only once have missed being allowed the 5kg real, most times they will wear the excess.

Cathay Pacific.......twice I have managed to fly with 32kg and never been charged.

Tiger......forget it
Air Asia.....Forget it
Jetstar.....forget it and infact do not mention the word scubadiving to them at all.
they have a 48hour rule for passengers. You have been warned, don't get caught.

Virgin Blue.......depends who you get checking you in, and how much luggage already excess they have, suggest late book in for possible freeby.

Thai Airlines......great friendly and very helpful with no excess charge on 30kg.

PNG airlines......again, arrive late for checkin, if there is room maybe they will not charge you,
really depends on the person in check in.

this is something I got told by a couple of people who work the check in's/
They are able to allow up to 10 to 15kg free. It is at the discretion of the person checking you in.
After that it goes to their supervisor.

I once watched an american couple in Port Morseby international,
standing in line and bagging PNG>
the food, the smell, the service, I felt sorry for them cause I could see the PNG nationals around them were not impressed.
So when they got to the check in, they were charged every ounce of excess weight.
Beside them was myself. I was returning to Australia from working and had 48kg of baggage.
I paid for 5kg, and was grateful to the check in guy who asked another customer with only one small bag if I could share some of his weight allowance. Now the is service.
Lesson, don't bag the country you are leaving when standing in a check out line.

PS
the american couple also took five times longer to get through immigration and customs than the rest of us as well. the bush telegraph works well in some parts of the world.

 

[robint]

Southwest airlines (only within the Continental US).... bags fly free!!! That means no charge for carryons OR 2 big dive bags per person stuffed full of dive gear (as long as they aren't over-weight). No food on planes though, so you need to bring your own, but that is no biggie.

robin

 

[drbill]

When I travel for myself, I am usually backpacking so I don't carry my gear other than my reg, mask and occasionally fins. My destinations are almost always tropical, so add a few Speedos (er, I mean bathing suits) and t-shirts and I'm set. If I'm traveling for a company, it is to dive and they pay my excess baggage charges if I take my own gear.

I wish the airlines would just return to all inclusive fates (albeit higher) fares so we didn't have to deal with all these silly add-on charges.

 

[tstormdiver]

I wish the airlines would just return to all inclusive fates (albeit higher) fares so we didn't have to deal with all these silly add-on charges.

Amen! Getting nickeld & dimed to death gets old very quickly.

It is sad that this thread has so few American carriers, but not wholly unexpected.

 

[iztok]

I have good experience with Star Alliance carriers. (I have Star Alliance Gold status.)

Took my gear on the following carriers and had over 50lb (but under 70lb) of luggage and on occasions more than 2 per person (two traveling with up to 6 check-in bags and electric mobility scooter). That was on the following carriers: US Airways, Asiana, China Air, Thai, Lufthansa, and Continental. Add United domestically. Also Arkia in Israel was good to me with my dive gear carried on in Dive Caddy (despite it was above their limits in weight and size for carry on).

Being *A Gold definitely helps when traveling.

 

[Damselfish]

Amen! Getting nickeld & dimed to death gets old very quickly.

It is sad that this thread has so few American carriers, but not wholly unexpected.

actually, if you're flying international on most US major carriers (excepting discount airlines like Spirit) they're far more "scuba friendly" than most of the airlines mentioned so far. 20kg=44lb, 30kg=66 lb. Most of the US carriers will still check 2-50 lb bags free on international itineraries. While this does you no good if you're flying to say, Florida, it's good for most trips to the Caribbean. And if you can check your bags through often the largest limit will apply - so if you start on say American, then have a leg on some carrier with normally lower limits, you're probably still good.

The other thing is that most major US carriers seem more generous with carryon allowances. I think carryon size and weight are more restricted on average in other areas or the world, and they may actually check. So our usual carryon of mask/reg/camera gear/a few clothes/toiletries/misc (which I think is a pretty common routine among divers) is out of the question on many routes. Forget it if you're one of the folks who is into carrying on all gear!

 

[iztok]

It is sad that this thread has so few American carriers, but not wholly unexpected.

I disagree. CO, US, and UA are really good to *AG fliers. I have no issues with allowances of up to 3 50lb bags.

 

[Damselfish]

actually I started looking at the very latest rules and the US airlines are getting more restrictive, but the rules are all over the freakin' place depending on where you're going, FF status, and type of ticket, and phase of the moon. We've lucked out and hasn't hit us yet - last trip was on Delta to Honduras and 2 bags was (and still is) fine.

But then, I actually don't care about stuff like $25 fees (except for the hassle it causes.) I care more about the stuff getting there reliably.

 

[Louie]

I noticed that the both charter airlines and scheduled carriers that go between major hubs and known diving areas are generally good (good with weight allowances and staff who are flexible about things such as carry-on bags).
So the airlines that do the London - Red Sea route have been a pleasant surprise.
Small regional carriers and island hoppers have yielded mixed results for me - they're either very helpful and generous or they play by the book and are tyranical.

Not a scientifically researched list but anecdotal:

Quantas
Egyptair
Air Niugini
BMI

OP, I second the warning about Air Asia and their VERY strict allowances but then again, they are cheap tickets. It was the festival seating that surprised me though. I thought that had been outlawed in the 1970s.