If you're a surfer, you know the risk of transporting your board by plane. Stories abound of people having boards snapped in half by poor handling. Still, if you're travelling to surf, there's little choice - it can be expensive to buy a new board at your destination, if you can even buy them at all.
So, we did what we can. WE taped pool noodles to nose and tail, wrapped them in clothes and bubble wrap and more tape, and put cardboard and bubble wrap around the whole board and the whole lot into a travel bag.
Plus, we were flying Etihad, a middle Eastern airline with a good reputation. Surely, surely nothing could go wrong?
Well.
It's so bad they may we may as well not even packed it in the first place. It's like they've shoved in in somewhere and slammed a door on the nose or tail. I opened it up and said - 'well, it's fucked'. And the stupid thing is that I didn't think to unpack it at the airport. Still, it says to contact them within three weeks if your luggage is damaged regardless, so I've submitted a claim and have to wait - it can take up to 28 days.
To be honest, I don't hold out much hope for compo. We've found a guy down the road that'll fix it - not with carbon fibre, but with foam and fibreglass, but that's okay - as long as it still rides well, which it should, I'll cut my losses and just surf.
It's sooo disappointing and I'm pretty angry about baggage handlers that clearly don't care about surfboards at all (they KNOW they're fragile - don't tell me that this was accidental). A lot of surfers reckon baggage handlers do it on purpose - they've seen some shitty stuff from the plane, watching their board be thrown, have baggage thrown on top of, the works. Airlines should take more responsibility but they don't. Really, they shouldn't say they CAN transport them if they can't guarantee they will be in one piece when they get to the other end.
We're in Somerset, so it was actually lucky we found a shaper only five minutes away that'll repair it for us. I don't want to pay for a new board and in fact I'll probably just leave it here so I've got something to surf when I come back. I'll save up and get a new board when I get back to Australia.
Luckily it's a couple of weeks before I get to surf so plenty of time to get it fixed.
With Love,
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OMG that’s just crazy…
Sorry it didn’t make the trip. 😖
Isn't it crazy??? I couldn't believe it, though I really should have.
It is… 😬
I know all about it.
We moved this week into our empty house… we are camping on a mattress topper hahaha
our belongings are still on the road since 25 January and will arrive hopefully Friday 🤞🏻🤞🏻 all in one piece.
But we had breakages in most of our long moves. The worst was Spain to Scotland. 😖
Awts, that looks 💔.
It's really frustrating when our stuff are mishandled like that. Hope you still get compensated by Etihad.
I hope so too. It's so frustrating.
Ouch! Sorry about your board. This reminds me of my trip from the US>Iceland>UK>Germany. Everything was fine until I left England, however while my body landed in Germany, my luggage didn't.
So I went a full week with just the clothes I was wearing (thankfully I'd packed something extra to wear in my carry-on). Fortunately, my contact who worked for the college was able to pickup some shirts for me, and tried to refuse payment, but I was having none of it. What a kind lady! I so hope your claim will be processed quickly and successfully! :)
Oh that sucks!!! It's worse when they do nothing to help either and insurance should not have to cover it - surely it's the airlines responsibility?
My luggage actually showed up after a week, so I just had to swap between the two pair of pants I had. :) The British accent is my favorite in all the world. I've always wanted to walk the streets of England and was blessed to be able to do so, hearing that wonderful accent wherever I went. Now I have to find an excuse to go back cause I still haven't had fish and chips! :)
Fish and chips is probably one of the best reasons to go there ;^)
Oh. How disappointing. Sounds like you've got a great attitude towards it though. I hope you get your compensation. I can't see why you wouldn't.
Where abouts in the UK are you planning on surfing? Cornwall/Devon?
MORRRRROOOCCCCOOOO woo hoo.
Maybe Devon in the summer.
Ah ha. Morocco. Yes. There's a co-working place there that's been on my radar for a few years now. A lot of surfers hang out there I think. One day . . .
Can't wait!
☹️ that suuuuuuuuucks I'm sorry.
Thanks lovely, I'll get over it. It's only a THING. A most treasured possession but still.
That's so sad!!! I know I'd be furious! But then again, in these cases there's nobody but a poor flak-catcher to unload your fury on, so what's the point? I hope when it gets fixed it still rides as nicely as before.
Hey, weren't you going to ship your board inside of Buttercup? Or is that another board I remember?
I did think 'poor flak catcher', but if they friggin did the job they were hired for, there wouldn't be a problem. Seriously it happens a lot to surfers - it's like they do it on purpose. It's not hard to take care!
Yes, there's a longboard and a SUP for Jamie in Butters, BUT I was surfing my SUP all summer so had to take it on the plane.
Oh no, that's sad. I mean it's great that you got to keep surfing until you left home. But now this... Yeah, let those airline guys catch all your flak! It's what they are getting paid for, after all.
If you choose to vent your frustrations creatively, perhaps a beach rock song about airlines destroying surf boards is in order? 15 years ago, a Canadian country singer/songwriter wrote United Breaks Guitars after a similar complaint went unresolved.
Haha good one! If only I had a musical talent.. perhaps @jasperdick would do it...
I could definitely do that song! Haha. My first time flying with surfboards was fresh out of school visiting a friend in New Zealand. I remember I was able to fix it myself... In those days you had to cut the fibreglass yourself, and mix the resin with a catalyst to make it go hard. Nowadays you get magic ding repair kit where little shards of glass are mixed into the resin, which then sets in sunlight... Ah!!! Your board looks beyond my basic skills though!! It looks like a concertina!
It's bloody awful Jasper - will leave it to the professionals!
Definitely - they need to cut out the destroyed part and shape a new foam nose section first... so it's not a simple ding repair with only fibreglass and resin at all...
Sorry... it looks like you weren't planning on surfing the UK winter before the Morocco stint? Maybe Devon or Cornwall more in summer? Surely you get more swell in winter though? Hehehe!
Yeah I don't have a think enough wetty for UK right now! So it's all good. Been doing yoga to keep in shape ready to paddle back out.
I dreamt I surfed my longboard instead and it kept slipping out of my hands walking up the beach and getting foam deep rail dings. Devastating.
The repairer should have it done by time we go.
Well, that certainly sucks! I am sorry that happened, after all the care you took packing it. I hope it can be fixed to be useable.
Me too!!!
I don’t advocate for automation to replace some jobs.. but the baggage people I do at times like this. Sorry to hear of the issue but there’s the silver lining of leaving it there so you don’t have to hassle with it back and forth and getting it damaged again. Hopefully the airline is going to compensate you for that, if not never fly them again!
Ouch... Looks like a shark needed a tooth pick. Glad you found a repair guy close by though 🏄🏼♀️