As the airlines continue to raise fees the travel portion of your ski/snowboard vacation may be affected. Many carriers have specific policies for skis, snowboards and boots — some quite expensive.
Below are fees assessed by major domestic US carriers. We’ll be doing our best to keep these fees updated — this post was last updated: May 11, 2009
Generally speaking, the ski/snowboard and boot bag combo is treated as one piece of luggage and subject to airline’s standard baggage fees. The combined weight of the two bags should not exceed 50 pounds. The 62″ dimensional limit (length + width + height) is typically revised upwards to 115″ max.
Specific airline policies
United Airlines: No extra fee, baggage treated as regular checked baggage. Weight limits apply. Note: since United charges for checked bagged, technically there is a fee. Link
Southwest Airlines: No fees unless exceeds two-free bag limit or is oversize/overweight. Link
American Airlines: Checked skis/snowboard count as standard checked baggage (which has a fee). A ski bag and boot bag set are only charged as one checked item. Size and weight restrictions apply. Link
Northwest Airlines: Same as American, see link (near the bottom)
Continental Airlines: Similar to American, but seems pre-occupied with “other items” in the bag. For instance, if a ski bag exceeds 62″ in length (which most will), that’s fine provided nothing else is in the bag. In theory a 70″ long ski bag with some gloves in it will get hit with additional checked baggage fees. Link (near bottom of page).
Delta Airlines: Same as American and most others. Link.
Frontier Airlines: Same as American. Link.
Alaska and Horizon Airlines: Same as American. Link
