Surfing Waves

Hi all,
Just want some advice from people who have travelled abroad on a plane with a surfboard. I'm going to Africa, and looked on the airline's website and the maximum length of a surf board they will take without placing a charge is 2m (6.5ft). My actual board is 6ft, but my bag is a tiny bit bigger, by only a couple of inches. Just wondered how tight the airlines are on it? It does say exactly on the website: 'Water skis and surf, kitesurf and bodysurf boards that do not exceed 200 cm in length are treated as normal baggage items' So that applies to the board but it dosent say to the bag. Would it matter?
Any advice and info would be greatly appreciated
Thanks Josh

Duck tape down the ends to be sure

make sure its well padded either way!

A friend of mine had to break his paddle because it was 5 cm too long. That was with BA 3 days ago, I don't know which company you travel with but some are very strict.
A good source of info for travelling with a surfboard on a plane : http://www.surfboardscannotfly.com

Oh ok! Im going with Air France, but thanks for the info

Keep us posted about how it worked for you and nice trip !!!

Hi You should have no trouble with Air France. I live in West Africa and alsways bring my boards air france, they are actually generally quite surfboard friendly. However I have had trouble in Morocco where I caught baggage handlers dumping crates on top of my board.

With Air Franc to Africa as they are used to surfboards it is worth giving them a ring in advance

then I have noticed there are two approaches

If you check in early your board will be on the bottom of the stack .. I usually do not rush to check in and find that my board comes out reasonably quick

Do not know where you are going in africa but you might need "beer money" to get it out of the airport.

Also make sure you have loads of wax on the deck... if it looks new u might get hit for import duty

Nick