im heading up to Cairns in June and obviously want to take my kite gear.
has anyone flown with Jetstar before and know what there policy is on sporting goods and excess baggage?
Ive flown with Virgin before and they left me off one way (only cause i said it was sporting goods)
Also would it be cheaper just to hire some gear up there instead of bringing my own?
BE WARNED...
QANTAS has just changed it's baggage policy. International and Domestic is the same weight allowance 23kgs. Anything over that on a Domestic or Cross-Tasman flight will be $10-/kg and between $35-/kg and $50-/kg on Internationals. 
Ouch!
i was gonna carry my kite on board as over head luggage and the board should be fine in the cargo hold
what are your tricks then Loco
Have just flown Jetstar and Qantas with gear. Both were fine about my 'golf' bag.
If you book Qantas online you can request a sports gear allowance thru the web site... but they won't confirm anything till you arrive at the airport so I don't really see the point of doing it. It might give you some leverage if they start giving you grief I guess.
We were 7kgs over with Jetstar between two backpacks and the kite bag. and she wanted $70 extra. We took out some stuff from one of the backpacks and she let us off even though we were still over. We then stopped on the way up to the oversize baggage check in and jammed the stuff from the backpack into the (already weighed/checked in) kitebag. Result! 
PS if you book with Tiger you can pay $25 straight up for sports gear and then not stress about it. Could be worthy?
I have flown with Virgin Blue with my kite gear and didnt have any excess and in saying that their excess is only $10.00 for 10Kgs. Where as Jetstar was $10.00 per Kg last time i flew with them.
Golf Clubs are what they are...
I once had a girl at the check out say to me after weighing in at 29kg and 27kg
" what have you got there Golf Clubs ? "
To which I replied
"yeah yeah just the clubs ..oh and my girlfriends clubs as well."
..I even went on to bull5hit about how my girlfriend was now playing better golf than me blah blah blah ......then just as she hands us our boarding passes and tells me to take my Clubs to the excess baggage counter she says " Oh and by the way I hope you get plenty of wind " with a 
It was Jetstar ...
Just remember that in order to complete the 'yeah I am a golfer and that is my golf kit' - you have to look the part as well - I would say that thongs, a surf tee and shorts probably won't cut the mustard, but a shirt tucked into your jeans with belt probably will It all comes down to appearances!
I'm looking at travelline in August & have checked out the JetStar policies online.
20kg allowance checked (includes oversize) & $10/kg over that. According to the rules for oversize items kite gear should be OK as long as it is within your total checked weight allowance.
"Bulky items (maximum 1.9 metres for A320 & A321 aircraft, maximum 2.77 metres for A330 aircraft), including but not limited to bicycles, surfboards, skis, golf clubs, snow boards, may be included within the allowance, subject to space availability"
That is the theory anyway....
I flew to NZ over Xmas with the girlie on Jetstar, paid for an extra 5 kg's each as I knew we were over the 40kg limit for both of us with 4 kites + 2 boards. Girl on check-in desk was straight on the extra kg's and wanted cash before I pointed out that I had already paid, all good.
Tricks to help, place as much as you can in carry-on luggage (7kg), take all fins, pads + straps off the boards. Kite bars + spreader bars (harness if possible). Wetsuits.....etc
Make sure all your gear is really clean + dry, sand + water adds soo much weight. Also, if flying internationally most customs will check + impound any damp water sports equipment.
Just booked VirginBlue/Pacific to Bali 
The basic/cheapest fares include:
International Allowances = 7kg carry on, 20kg baggage and 5 kg sporting goods ( upto 3m ) eg surf/kiteboard, dont even have to pretend its golf, not too bad me thinks 
Domestic Allowance = 7kg carry on, extra charges for rest.
BUT beers cost $6.50/7.00
last time i went on one of those freedom birds they said me missus was excess baggage and told her she'd need to book two seats for her large behind if you know what i mean which is fair enough coz last time i saw her struggling out of the sunken lounge she looked like a willderbeast crawlin up a mud bank with a croc gnoring on her butt
go pacific blue.
you can carry lots of kite gear as 'sporting goods' (up to 9 pieces, max 32kgs per piece) which will, in total, count as only a 5kg deduction from your 23kg hold bag allowance. it's amazing and true. read the airlines bag allowance t's and c's on their website if you find it hard to believe. they've been doing this for 5 years.
I just did the sydney/ nz route with 60kgs fine. did 40kgs sydney/sunshine coast last month.
Not sure what all this golf talk is. The whole golf bag disguise originated in the States where the carriage of golf clubs on flights didn't attract any fees. In Australia it is neither here nor there. It's just sporting equipment and is charged on weight irrespective of what equipment it is that you are carrying. I own a kite golf bag as well but only because it was one of the better travel bags with wheels at the time.
Oh, and yes Jetstar will rape you.
thanks for all the advice guys
already booked my flights with Jetstar so i guess i have to push back while i get raped to minimise the pain
looks like weighing in my board and while carrying it to the bulk area ill have to stuff it with harness and bar/ines etc
staying at yorkies knob so look forward to meeting the local for some awesome winter winds
A man was sitting in the bar at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport and noticed a really beautiful woman sitting next to him. He thought to himself:
'Wow, she's so gorgeous she must be a flight attendant. I wonder which airline she works for.'
'I still call Australia home' he says to her. She pulled away from him & gave an ice cold glare. 'Obviously not with QANTAS'. He thought.
Hoping to pick her up, he leaned towards her and uttered the Delta Airline slogan, 'Love to fly and it shows?' She gave him a blank, confused stare and he immediately thought to himself:' Well, she obviously doesn't work for Delta.'
A moment later, another slogan popped into his head, so he leaned towards her again and said, 'Something special in the air?' She gave him the same confused look, and he mentally kicked himself, while scratching Singapore Airlines off the list.
He thought 'Perhaps she works for Thai Airways...' and said, 'Smooth as Silk?'
This time the woman turned on him and said, 'What the F*** do you want?'
The man smiled, slumped back in his chair, and said 'Ahhhhh, Jetstar!' Enjoy your trip
Ive made a few internal flights recently and must point out jetstar were the worst, not only were they quite a bit more expensive (we didnt book/pay for the flight) but whereas virgin blue were cheaper and allowed more baggage. Baggage allowance for jetstar was 20kg whereas virginblue was 23kg.
I know with jetstar its $10 every KG over but not sure about additional bags. definately check out virginblue before you book your flights, especially between 12pm and 1pm as they have happy hour.
virgin blue is $8 a kilo over.You get 23kilos (some you have to pre pay even for this) if its sporting goods they give you 5 measley extra kilos bringing your allowance to 28kilos.
If you get a nice lady and you talk some smack about allowances an she thinks your a bit of allright, you can book in 50 or more kilos for no charge.
If you get some rookie kid that thinks he is the f@cking weight police punch him in the face for me.
ok, so when i post something or send it by courier or airfreight i pay by the kilo or cubic meter right!
all to do with the cost of sending this weight or volume to it's destination.
soooo, why when i am checking in at 65kg bodyweight with 21kg's of baggage am i being charged $10, when mr 110 kilos, eating the remnants of a burger as he slurps a sodi pop also pays $10 for an extra kilo of baggage only.
it's all about the kilos.....right?
fly combined kilos could be the biggest weight loss program in australia!
fly further cheaper....fitter etc.
Yes - Jetstar will utterly screw you if they can. I had a friend book a flight for me (we were traveling together) and one of the initials came up wrong on the flight ticket, and they checked it against my passport ID and wouldn't let me on the flight - it was a $600 flight. I asked them what I could do to prove it was me (apart from showing up at 5am in the morning and having a weird last name etc etc) and the woman just stared at me and kept repeating "nah, you can't get on the plane". In the end I called home and got someone to fax my birth certificate through to them - don't know why this made a difference but then she grudgingly let me on the flight only after her manager told her to.
Oh yeah - and once, when I was in Cairns (I've got family there so I wasn't kiting) I was in the airport meeting family and Jetsar closed the check in counter because the flight was leaving in 40 minutes and there were still about 20 people in the queue - and they'd gotten there in time too, just the check in staff were slow checking them in. They had to fly the next day.
Jetstar are f**ckers. Even if you stick to their rules you should expect to be screwed. I would never fly on them again because you simply can't be sure you'll get there.
Someone should forward this thread to them. Except they wouldn't read it.
this holiday isnt until June and from the stories you guys are writing here im not looking forward to my experience with Jetstar
On my last trip in Dec I loaded my kite bag with all my kiting gear (3 kites without bags, and 1 board), wetsuit, boardies etc..@ about 23kgs. (this was my only gear that I checked onto the flight)
I had a backpack with my clothes @ 7kgs as carry on. Pack light and wear any heavy clothes.
I also had a small camera bag with my laptop and camera gear. (7kgs)
When I checked in I left my camera bag with a friend who I met up with after I had my boarding pass. Once you have your boarding pass you are likely on your way...good luck.
Also if you have connecting flights fly with partner airlines as you only need to check your gear in once...
