Hi everyone.
Trying to organize a foil trip down to Chicama, Peru.
My foil board is 3’10 and my mast is 72cm.
Does anyone knows if I can show up with all the gear in a trolley and pass that as a checked-in bag? Apparently my board exceeds allowed bag dimensions for about 8 inches… Anyone has experience on this?
I’m not sure but in theory this would all fit in a ‘golf’ travel bag. They generally don’t charge extra for the larger dimensions of golf clubs. I will be trying this in a week when i bring some a foil and some wings to Puerto Rico.
I have had success with the kite “golf” bags…eg a da kine bag with wheels that says GOLF in big letters, trying to trick the counter person that it’s not kite gear. People go so far as including 1 golf club, so they don’t have to lie when asked “is that golf equipment?”. And of course, never ever use the word “surf” as that an automatic $$$. I have travelled maybe a half dozen times this way and not got charged extra. But I hear if you’re going to wind destinations, it’s super obvious, the counter people know the deal, and they may charge you. Kiteboarding is a grey area, not specified in most of the baggage policies, so there’s some room for interpretation/discretion. Foiling may be similar…again never use the S word!
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It varies a lot by airline, so do a deep dive into your airlines policies… I used to fly with gear a lot, and Singapore Air will take two full size SUP boards no charge while Air Canada is a hard no on anything longer than 6 feet.
Take a look at Ski/snowboard policy, a lot of times that will fly free. I used to fly with 50lbs of spearfishing gear and the fishing gear policy would get it on for free on some airlines. Boogie boards fly free a lot, your 3’10" board might qualify as a boogie board.
I’m on a trip in Hawaii right now and the check in person wanted to know what was in my foil bag. I told them it was watersports gear “like a waterski” and they accepted that.
Most of the majors are now allowing a “board” bag as your checked bag for no additional cost so my golf bag hasn’t been getting much of a workout. I don’t see you getting much sympathy at check in claiming golf clubs on a flight to Peru anyway 
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I’ve been flying domestic American Airlines and delta with a 6’6 pro lite 3 board coffin and a dakine bike bag (fits front wing fuselage one piece foils nicely) no fees if under 50 lbs oversized fees 50-70 lbs and more fees over 70.
You all have very different luck than I do. I fly a lot with gear and I wind up paying a fee almost every time, regardless of whether it is over 50lbs or not. Typically they categorize it as kite or surf equipment, which is around $100. I don’t even bother fighting it anymore. The very few times I haven’t gotten charged are almost always on return flights from international destinations where they just don’t seem to care about the rules as much. For what its worth, almost all of my flights are JetBlue, Delta or American.
You need to check because sometimes around holidays, and at certain airports there are embargos that prevent kite or surf equipment.
Always put an AirTag in the bag. These have come in handy tracking down lost bags on several occasions.
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