more articles like this

Surfboards to Hawaii
updated: Jan 01, 2013, 10:59 AM

By Edhat Subscriber

We want to take a surfboard on our flight to Hawaii with Allegiant Air. Has anyone flown with this airline and taken a board? They have only been flying there about 6 weeks and my questions to them have resulted in ambiguous answers. We might just ship it but would prefer to take it with us if the cost isn't exorbitant. It's a longboard, 9' in length, and we'll be leaving it there with a friend. Mahalo for any tips!

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 359048	2013-01-01 12:02 PM
Sell the board here and purchase one after getting there. A standard used board goes for around $150. No hassle about shipping costs or board damage.
COMMENT 359074P	2013-01-01 01:18 PM
I agree with 048, because I know people who get the "bargain" fares with Allegiant, but they do mention passengers are "nickeled & dimed" to death for every little thing. This is not also mentioning that if you want the truly bargain fares, you have to conform to some pretty insane travel dates, otherwise the fare is essentially the same as a larger airline. By the time you add it all up, one could fly a name brand carrier & endure far less stress & hits to the wallet. Allegiant Air, no thanks!
COMMENT 359076	2013-01-01 01:22 PM
If this is a "special" board I would ship it, insure it and avoid the hassles of getting it to the airport. If you need a board there are great places to rent from, one being Hawaii Islands Surf & Sport. Rental is quite reasonable too. I spend quite a bit of time on Maui and don't see too many people bringing their own surfboards thru the airport. The fact that Allegiant can't be specific would worry me a bit too, you sure wouldn't want to have any surprises at check in. Have a great time on Maui!
SHAGGY	2013-01-01 01:48 PM
Another for rental. Allegiant charged a friend $200.00 for a board and another $150.00 for extra bags (2) They did not survive out of SB because of their nickel and dimeing passengers.
COMMENT 359089	2013-01-01 02:45 PM
I just flew Allegiant to Las Vegas. Any bag even if it fits in the overhead or under the seat has an additional cost of $35 each way. Checked bags cost the same. My purse was no charge.
COMMENT 359096	2013-01-01 03:20 PM
89 you mean they charge $35.00 for checked bags too? The good news with Allegiant to Hawaii is avoiding LAX and the free parking. You probably would need only one checked bag or carry-on to Hawaii. I would gladly pay the extra just to avoid LAX. Hope Allegiant does well and stays in business.
COMMENT 359097P	2013-01-01 03:36 PM
Allegiant has a page on their web site about travelling with sporting goods and even mentions water skis, but nothing about surfboards. http://faq.allegiantair.com/#t33n70 They do detail their baggage fees, which vary from airport to airport. Departing from Santa Maria to Honolulu, checked bags are $35 (paid online) - $75 (paid at airport) for each of the first two checked bags, and a carry on bag is $25 - $75. http://www.allegiantair.com/aaFeesForOurServices.php Sounds to me like a fee system designed to be so complicated as to confuse people, and force them to pay unexpected fees.
COMMENT 359101	2013-01-01 04:17 PM
I did fly from Santa Maria to Honolulu with boards, on the way there it was $100 on the way home it was $125. My daughter's bag was 2 pounds over $100 & they would not even let her move it to her smaller then most carry on $35. Now, don't eat the sandwiches, I got food poisoning and spent 36 hours in stomach hell, no apology or response from the airline. Bring your own food onto the plane, make sure you have something to entertain you for 6 hours since, they have nothing but the carts going up and down the isle to entertain you, not even a magazine. LOVED flying out of Santa Maria, easy drive, free parking right there.... but only has flights on Saturday (and times are not convenient). It was not the cost that attracted me, it was the convenience.....I fly to Hawaii often, but not interested in flying this airline again, at any original price..... I will go back to flying American or Hawaiian Air out of LA
COMMENT 359132P	2013-01-01 06:25 PM
Allegiant reminds me of Allegheny airlines, which back in the day we thought of as, All Agony.
COMMENT 359135	2013-01-01 06:30 PM
We have found that travel to LA works well with Roadrunner. They pick you up at your door. Travel is expensive for a single person but the second passenger is nearly free.
COMMENT 359147	2013-01-01 07:43 PM
Twinnies? No one rides twinnies here, mate.
COMMENT 359157	2013-01-01 08:17 PM
We just took the flight (SMX-HNL) and loved it. Free parking was a pleasant surprise, the 30 second walk to check in also nice. Yes, they nickel and dime you if you let them. But we flew as a family of four over Christmas week, i.e. carried lots of gifts each way, and we spent only $70 on luggage all together (I was happy to learn that the $70 charged on the way over must have been a rt luggage charge). You are allowed free of charge one personal bag that goes under the seat in front of you - most people had decent sized backpacks. One thing to note - the checked bags must weigh under 40 pounds (39.9!) to qualify. We carried masks and snorkels, no fins, and we keep a surfboard, beach towels, and boogie boards over there. What else do you need? We have flown over there often with kids and skipping the LAX hassle is worth a lot in time, money, and parenting energy. We paid less than half of what I had ever seen for xmas week. I hope they keep the route!
COMMENT 359176P	2013-01-01 10:47 PM
We like flying cheaply from Santa Maria for some trips. Las Vegas is a good example. We paid $495 after all taxes/fees for round trip tickets for FIVE people to Vegas! We each filled a backpack with as much clothes as we could and stowed them under our seats on the plane. We asked for as many toiletries as our hotel would supply us and bought the rest. Then we bought extra clothes when we got there and shipped them back (a huge box cost us $55 to ship). Instead of paying hundreds more just to get our stuff there, we had fun buying new stuff and shipped it back separately. It's an adventure, for sure but for that kind of trip is far better than going through LAX. So, consider flying over there, buying or renting a board there. It probably won't be financially worth it to ship one to and fro with Allegiant. PS, did you know that it is cheaper to buy their tickets at the Allegiant counter than on line?
COMMENT 359182P	2013-01-02 12:43 AM
Very interesting and educational for someone who has never been to Hawaii and is considering going thru Allegiant out of Santa Maria.
COMMENT 359209P	2013-01-02 08:38 AM
i booked a ticket with allegient to las vegas, and had to cancel, (hoping to get a credit), there website form to cancel or change a reservation always crashed with an error. The website said the best way to cancel or change was to send a letter via us postal mail. I wonder if they deliberately have broken web pages on the cancel form.
COMMENT 359219P	2013-01-02 09:36 AM
OP here: Thanks for all the comments and tips. We are experienced Hawaii travellers and have 2 boards already over there but Allegiant will be a new one for us. I've flown with Allegiant to Las vegas a few times and loved it. I don't need any "extras" and since we aren't rich, I prefer to choose what to pay for. (Although paying extra for a seat is taking it a bit far.) I appreciate the tips about the food. Six hours is a long time to go without eating. 176P, buying at the counter is cheaper? Even cheaper than $99 one way? That's interesting and I'll check into it when we leave. Another question: how early did you have to get to the airport? They are saying 2 to 2.5 hours, but that seems long for Santa Maria. Thanks again for everyone's help!
COMMENT 359232	2013-01-02 10:18 AM
This practice of charging for carry-ons is the straw that broke the camels back for me. I refuse to fly with any airline that has these charges. Spirit will charge you an incredible $50 if you show up to your flight with a second carry-on.
COMMENT 359265	2013-01-02 10:58 AM
We have no experience with Allegiant. However, to get our son's board to HI., we had to reserve space on the airline for a fee. For the board it was considered an "international fIight" which had its own restrictions. You have to sign the waiver releasing them from responsibility. The handlers "throw" the board bags. The wrapped, protected board in a padded board bag arrived broken and we had to go for a repair. So the advice to rent is good advice.
COMMENT 359376P	2013-01-02 03:03 PM
airlines treat surfboards way differently than normal luggage. you can pay a "per board" fee even if you've got them in the same surf bag, up to $300 per board depending.
COMMENT 359426	2013-01-02 05:47 PM
We printed our boarding passes at home and arrived about 75 minutes early to check in our bag. Another note - I was really irritated that I went a long way through the online purchase process before I was informed that it would cost $15 per ticket to reserve a seat (I think for each direction). I refused to pay, and crossed my fingers that they wouldn't put the four of us in different corners of the plane. To the contrary, we had great seats both ways, grouped together.
COMMENT 359642	2013-01-03 10:23 AM
Be careful with Allegiant because they charge $35 for a carry-on bag now. They cancelled my flight back from Las Vegas and it was the only flight of the day. They made no provisions with other airlines to return us to Santa Maria. We had to stay another night and the re-scheduled flight was also delayed. I will not be flying with them again.

43% of comments on this page were made by Edhat Community Members.