Flying with a Skateboard

[TastyBurrito]

Wife and I are going to Hawaii. She wants to bring our boards which I'm not against.

But for those who have flown with boards, did you just wrap it up in plastic and check it in with your luggage?

I was thinking of just doing check-in and disassembling the board, putting the trucks/wheels in my carry on and  fastening the deck to my bag with a bungee.

Any and all tips are very much appreciated.

[slapcurbsnotwomen]

I recently flew to Colorado twice from California with my boards, I carried it with me onto the plane as my carry on, who are you guys flying with? Check their carry on rules, safe travels!

[phlap]

For my most recent skate trips to Amsterdam and Barcelona, I just took the trucks off and squeezed everything into my hold luggage. Worked fine.

Just remember to bring your skate tool with you.

[Pushing 4D]

In the past I've checked a big duffel bag and put disassembled deck/wheels/trucks in there.  Sometimes carrying on is fine, but I've also had friends get charged $30-$50 to check their board as an "extra bag." Lately I just bite the bullet and have a fresh board shipped to wherever I'm going and pack trucks & wheels.

[Dwyck]

I recently flew to Colorado twice from California with my boards, I carried it with me onto the plane as my carry on, who are you guys flying with? Check their carry on rules, safe travels!

^^they might say you can't have a skateboard as a personal item, but I've found if they let you bring something big like a fishing rod into the cabin, a setup is no issue at the gate. Even worked for me flying roundtrip from Manchester England to Toulouse a few summers ago

[numagik]

i usually travel with a hiking backpack as luggage and just clip it to the outside with it's straps. havent lost one yet

[TastyBurrito]

you guys flying with? Check their carry on rules, safe travels!

Flying Hawaiian Airlines. Their luggage says skateboards travel as check-in.

But I'm traveling with a large Osprey hiking bag so I might just disassemble the board, strap the deck to my bag so I don't get charged an extra $30 for a setup skateboard.

[numagik]

i keep the trucks on and have tucked an extra deck behind it with no problem. hopscotched around asia on a bunch of different airlines, zero issues. just keep the wheels up on the belts

[BoardintheWorld]

It really depends on the airline and even who happens to be working the gate. We've flown with them as carry on and other times they've been checked. Prefer to carry it on, but again, every airline probably has different rules. If you do carry it on just try your best to make it not noticeable.

[Esmith5488]

Can’t speak for other airlines, but the airline I work for just counts it as a carry on. For probably hundreds of flights in my career here I’ve brought a backpack and a skateboard and no one has said anything. Honestly if you have a board backpack and can strap your board in I would count the whole thing as one but that’s like I said subject to airline and even down to the agent boarding your flight.

[mj23]

I’ve never had a problem bringing it as a carry on, and sometimes the flight staff even put my board in a little closet for the ride so I don’t have to keep it under my seat or overhead. I’ve also had good luck strapping it to a carryon bag and treating the whole thing as one item.

If I’m going on a longer trip however I like to bring two proper carry ons. Or sometimes we travel with our cat, who counts as a piece of luggage in her little carrier under the seat (lol). When this happens I just bring trucks and buy a deck at the destination.

[BoardintheWorld]

It really depends on the airline and even the people working the gate and on the plane. We travel a lot and pretty much always bring our boards. We've put them in our checked bags at times, but most of the time we carry on and have them strapped to our Burton Kilo backpack. Best bet is to try and avoid anyone seeing it as much as possible.

[manysnakes]

I'm sure this issue is long settled, but something that worked for me was buying one of those nylon skateboard bags from eBay and sticking it in there. When it's just a skateboard, they're like "What the hell are you doing with this here?! You need to check this for $50!" When it's in a bag, the same people (who, remember, see literally tens of thousands of bags a day) don't seem to even notice.

[twic3]

I usually fly with just a duffel bag and will strap my board on top of the bag with the hand straps. That way it makes it seems like 1 item rather than 2 and its alot easier to carry through the airport and throw into the overhead bin.

[Shalom Peterson]

I just flew delta no issues with one attached to my backpack and with a duffle bag as well. If it's attached to the bag, it counts as one item. If it's detached, it's two.

[El Nugjar]

I haven’t been on a plane in 6-7 years, but I used to fly a shit ton. I would check my backpack and just take my board with me on the plane. Also skating through airports every time. You’d be amazed at how easy it is and the minimal amount of people telling you to not ride it inside. Gate to gate, terminal to terminal, fuck walking.

[decoi1]

I’ve done it every way. Sometimes carrying it on can be annoying. I’ve bummed others out by it taking up too much room in storage. I recently bought one of those Trasher duffel bags that you can strap it to the bottom. It’s kinda cool cause it turns your bag into a roller bag. Last time I used it I flew from Charlotte to Denver to Vegas and they checked it no problem. But when I flew home out of Albuquerque they made me stick the whole thing in a huge black plastic bag so it looked like I was picking up a dead body at baggage claim. The best way I think in my experience is to disassemble and get it all in a bag. Easier for everyone except you

[Tear Up a Trick]

A suggested solution to avoiding paying the fee for your skateboard:

https://unofficialnetworks.com/2023/09/01/skateboarder-spirit-airlines/

[Sativa Lung]

A suggested solution to avoiding paying the fee for your skateboard:

https://unofficialnetworks.com/2023/09/01/skateboarder-spirit-airlines/

I mean if I skated for silver I'd probably have done that too.

[unregisteredhypercam2]

I use this and I can fit an 8.5 32" inside it with no problem and just check the whole thing.

https://www.patagonia.com/product/black-hole-wheeled-duffel-bag-70-liters/49381.html

[Pbn_jake]

3 decks,fuck ton of clothes, some pads I won’t use and a helmet.

[lazer69]

How is wizz air with brining a deck strapped to your personal item ?

[pedro_mayn]

AFAIK as for a UK resident, it's always been a case of putting it in the hold. I know some people have risked it (without paying for a fairly pricy 'sports equipment' to have it on the plane as a carry on) and they had it bagged up for them, but it's not something I risk getting to the airport and about to board. Probably different abroad or on certain airlines.

Did have some bother off some jobs worth at the airport in Copenhagen when he asked what's in the hold bag as we were dropping them off that anything with boards in it, has to go to oversized baggage. I've never had to do this and neither has a friend who's been going on skate trips abroad for 20+ years and has always put them on a hold amongst clothes etc. Take that with a pinch of salt, but it's bollocks as far as I'm concerned.

Has anyone had that at all or was it just that geezer, that day?

[Frank and Fred]

Just flew back and fore to the UK on BA. Took my trucks and wheels off and placed them in my check in suitcase. Carried my deck and my backpack as carry on. Deck laid flat in the overhead. No problems. Not even questioned.