Plane/Luggage Strategy

[Jason Kurth]

Having tip money in hand for curbside is a good idea, will do that next time.

Once in Denver my ski bag was at 55lb and the guy at the curb said to try inside because they watch them closely out there. I didn't have tip money visible though and lucked out inside with a miscalibrated scale there.

 

[skidrew]

The most interesting experience I had with this (many years ago) was the one time all of my luggage was lost for a few days and I had to rent everything. I was too inexperienced to know, but when I bought my ski boots, the shop oversized them and they hurt. I just thought ski boots always hurt, right? Well, the rental fitter was actually really good and they fit great with no pain. It was a blessing in disguise and caused me to finally get boots that fit well.

BTW, the airline paid the whole tab for equipment and some clothing with no argument which was really great.

I got no such love - United lost our bags and was unwilling to provide any meaningful compensation for the delay. Fortunately we had carried on boots, helmet/goggles, gloves, and one set of ski clothes. Long undies a bit funky by the time the luggage arrived on the afternoon of ski day two, but not sure I'll ever not bring (ski) clothes in carryon (of course, I had a fleece and shell that I wore on the plane).

 

[Pequenita]

Has anyone here had their boots as their personal item just thrown over their shoulder with a strap? Then have a carry-on also. I have read that in some online ski travel articles. I'm trying to figure all of this out too, as we will be doing our first airline trip with ski gear this season. Last year we drove to Colorado, long trip!!!

I have. And stuffed socks and my wallet in the boots and carried a backpack for carry on.

I’ve also been asked whether I have put anything else in my bag besides skis.

 

[Bruuuce]

I got no such love - United lost our bags and was unwilling to provide any meaningful compensation for the delay. Fortunately we had carried on boots, helmet/goggles, gloves, and one set of ski clothes. Long undies a bit funky by the time the luggage arrived on the afternoon of ski day two, but not sure I'll ever not bring (ski) clothes in carryon (of course, I had a fleece and shell that I wore on the plane).

Sorry to hear that. I too carry all my have-to-have ski clothes with me now just in case. Our experience actually surprised me, especially since our delays/missed flights were weather related. This happened 11 years ago. I doubt they would react the same way now.

 

[Woodsrider427]

I have. And stuffed socks and my wallet in the boots and carried a backpack for carry on.

I’ve also been asked whether I have put anything else in my bag besides skis.

That's good to hear. I was thinking the same thing with the socks. Then we will try to get our helmets, goggles, jacket, and pants, etc. in our carry-ons so we have all skiing needed items with us. Then we will have two checked bags, one for skis/poles and another shared one for street clothes.

 

[Philpug]

That's good to hear. I was thinking the same thing with the socks. Then we will try to get our helmets, goggles, jacket, and pants, etc. in our carry-ons so we have all skiing needed items with us. Then we will have two checked bags, one for skis/poles and another shared one for street clothes.

Wear your helmet...you are sure to get the whole row to yourself on the plane.

 

[dbostedo]

Wear your helmet...you are sure to get the whole row to yourself on the plane.

Nah... I'm sure the air marshal would be happy to sit in that row

 

[graham418]

After many years of relatively successful flying, ( only had skis gone missing for a day) I started to worry that statistics would prove my number was up . I got a Sportube Overheader backpack. I can fit in my boots, pants , shell , gloves, underlayers, etc. Everything I need to ski , for 1 day ( except for renting skis) . That way, I'm covered. I could ski for 2 days or more if I did some laundry.
I think the odds of misplaced or lost luggage go up exponentially with the number of transfers you make.

 

[dbostedo]

...I started to worry that statistics would prove my number was up...

You may already realize this, but that's not how statistics work, and is a good example of the "Gambler's Fallacy".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambler's_fallacy

Not losing your skis on 1 or 10 or 100 flights doesn't make you more or less likely to lose them on your next flight. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that it might feel like you must be due... which is why the fallacy exists and is common.

...I think the odds of misplaced or lost luggage go up exponentially with the number of transfers you make...

That one I agree with, but I have no data to back it up. According to this article :

https://traveltips.usatoday.com/odds-losing-luggage-109295.html

The odds of losing a bag are about 0.3% as of 2012. Some Googling for reasons, or prevention of lost luggage gets a lot of hits - but after looking at several lists I don't see number of connections as a problem on most of them. One airline (SITA in Spain) is quoted as saying that half of their lost luggage is due to a transfer/connection. And another article said to avoid short layovers that would increase the chances of not having time to transfer your bags.

I know that the only time a bag didn't show up for me was when I literally had to run through the airport to make a connection. My bag showed up at my hotel later that night - luckily there was one more flight coming in that day.

All-in-all, airlines have gotten very good at not losing bags. I had an interesting experience in how good they sometimes are at handling bags. Due to some quirky flights and airlines (SATA out of Portugal is the worst, and Orbitz wasn't helping the problem), I had a situation where my bag did not get checked through to my final destination. Instead, after checking in, I realized that I'd have to pick it up in Boston, and recheck it to the Azores. American Airlines was handling that leg, and the woman at the desk was great - she said they'd track down my bag and get it prioritized to make sure it was in Boston in time.

I then took a flight an hour earlier than mine (the flights were hourly all day between DC and Boston), and my bag was STILL there waiting for me when I got there, with big striped priority tags on it. They found it and retagged it, and then sent it on the flight 2 hours before the one I had originally booked. I rechecked it in plenty of time to make my connection.

 

[Woodsrider427]

Wear your helmet...you are sure to get the whole row to yourself on the plane.

I'm sure we'd get some looks doing that!!

 

[pchewn]

I think the odds of misplaced or lost luggage go up exponentially with the number of transfers you make.

I'm pretty sure the odds go up geometrically, not exponentially. (See graph above. The exponential is the smooth curve which allows non-discreet values such as 2-1/2 connections. The geometric growth is the dots at each discreet # of connections: 1,2,3....15

 

[Doug Briggs]

I'm pretty sure the odds go up geometrically, not exponentially.

Geek

 

[Philpug]

Geek

Pot meet kettle.

 

[Doug Briggs]

Pot meet kettle.

Precisely why I'm ROFL.

 

[Zski]

If you ever are traveling to South America around the time when the teams are training watch out. We flew via connection in Toronto to Chile. The Canadian team was on the plane and they each bring 15 pair of skis so the plane will be over weight limits. The pilot went down and selected only the teams skis to make the flight so all the other skis took several days to get there plus some other luggage. It was crazy at the baggage claim and service center.

Having boots and ski clothes for the first few days paid off big time. Just skied on demos for a couple days at Portillo

If going to Europe the rental cars are super small and taking skis on a train is a serious pain if you have to connect trains so just rent demos. Demo skis are super cheap and usually with companies like intersport you can switch skis as much as you want and they have locations even up at the tram stations all over the place.

 

[Slide of Hans]

Ask me about the time I flew Frontier for a ten day ski trip and took everything including ski boots in just one personal bag (medium back pack, not the one depicted below) or wore on my body

Anyone have Intel on frontier airlines for a ski trip? I can't even find bag prices on their website. It does say ski bag and boot bag is one bag and the boot bag can be a carry on. I'm assuming frontier would be viligant about other gear in the bag, such as underwear. So 2 checked bags are necessary anyway?

I always used SWA so bags were never a concern but frontier seems way cheaper.

 

[KingGrump]

but frontier seems way cheaper.

There are usually good reasons for that.

 

[focker]

I put my boots in a typical roller carry on and my socks, helmet, googles, ski pants and jacket in there as well.

Then I bring a smaller backpack as my carry on with more clothes and whatever else I need in that.

I do have a double padded ski bag I've used but have also just demo'd as well. Will need to bring another bag for my next trip with the kids, or just rent for them again. The cost of renting would pay for another bag though...

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

Anyone have Intel on frontier airlines for a ski trip? I can't even find bag prices on their website. It does say ski bag and boot bag is one bag and the boot bag can be a carry on. I'm assuming frontier would be viligant about other gear in the bag, such as underwear. So 2 checked bags are necessary anyway?

I always used SWA so bags were never a concern but frontier seems way cheaper.

Frontier is iffy from what I have heard- hidden bag fees etc. however, I flew it to SLC a few years back with a “thoroughly” packed double ski bag. I had one pair of skis and ALL my clothing. They did not charge me or bat an eye and there were no extra charges. I carried my boots on.

 

[Coach13]

They will definitely take an over and under type bag like the Dakine boot locker - but of course I put my walking boots in there and bring ski boots as carry on.

Absolutely-We check our skis and a bag that contains street shoes, casual clothes, etc. We carry on a backpack as our personal item that includes our shell jackets and pants and our carryon is our boot-bag with the ski boots and helmets. Has always worked well.