Fishing and other sporting equipment Advice Please

[GaryBne]

I’ve read the Airline web sites on the topic of sports equipment, but it still leaves a few questions.

My Plan is to go BNE – CNS – WEI (Weipa) - the final leg is on Qantas Link or similar. Plan B is to goto Darwin- and that could be on Virgin or Jetstar.

Does my fishing gear,(including an 8ft plumbing tube full of fishing rods) count in my luggage allowance or is their some “blind eye” for sporting gear ? ( I have seen 20kg surfboards coming back from Bali + luggage.)

Any other hints? All advice welcome.

Any Horror stories or joyful experiences ?

Thanks All!

Gary

PS I’m QF and Virgin - Silver – if that makes a difference.

 

[juddles]

Gary, I can't tell you what the airlines policy is (call them perhaps?) but I have travelled a lot both domestic and international with homemade rod cases made of the PVC tubing and have never had a drama. I cannot recall them ever being weighed, but my biggest one is only 6 foot. My main problem has been forgetting to reclaim it as they invariably end up at an "oversize" collection point separate to the main carousel.

Edit: small tip - be careful with what sort of end cap you use on the pvc tubes - I always drill a small hole at each end to allow smooth pressure changes.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

If you are going BNE-CNS-WEI the QF baggage allowance effective 01 Jun 2011 is one piece up to 32 kilos (QF FF Silver) - anyone who's NB or no status would be one piece up to 23 kilos. Note that on the Dash8 (CNS-WEI vv) uplift of bags between 24 & 32 kilos is not guaranteed due to weight issues so there could be potential dramas there if it was a full flight.

Extra pieces of luggage when paid at the airport cost $30.00 for the first piece then $60.00 per piece thereafter. You can prepay online a maximum of two pieces online for $20.00 each.

Try not to have lots of small individual items eg tackle box, rod, swag etc all packed separately as is will cost you big dollars on QF. It may be helpful to purchase one of those khaki polyeurethane trunks from an army disposal store as you could fit a small bag of clothes, tackle box & maybe a swag inside it but you would have to check in your fishing rod separately.

I don't think JQ can accommodate any items over 2 metres as all their A320's are containerised (which rules out your fishing rod) as all cargo has to fit within the cans so you may have to limit your choice of carrier to DJ or QF. JQ cannot put oversize items anywhere else in the hold including surfboards.

As DJ's baggage allowance is based on the weight system you would need to work the total weight of your things so you can calculate DJ's excess once you exceed the 23 kilos allowance so you can decide whether DJ or QF is a better option if you choose DRW. If you go to WEI your only option is QF.

There is an example of a boys weekend fishing scenario in the thread below on QF's Domestic Baggage Policy effective 01 June 2011.


http://www.australianfrequentflyer....cussion/qfs-new-baggage-policy-who-30664.html