Airline Travel

[Conor]

Has anyone here traveled with rods lately?

 

I looked into the baggage policies of my carrier, and it says I can only take two rods as my second piece of baggage. Thats not going to cut it, and I don't fell like paying $125 bucks for a third bag.

 

Any ideas. Could I take a small tube or two as carry-on? Maybe even a two piece tube as carry-on?

 

I will call the carrier (United) soon, but some first hand tips might be helpful.

[fishpro]

I've personally taken 2 rods on as carry on, mind you these were 4 piece rods, so they were smaller. I've seen people take 2 piece as well, but in both cases I've heard it's a matter of what security feels is acceptable, so even calling the airline may not fully help. If some of your rods are 4 piece, then you could always put the tube in you mian piece of luggage, then pack 2 of your 2 piece rods as your second piece of luggage. Alternately, if you're second piece is just the rods, I'm sure that even if you had more than 2 rods, if they were packed well they'd allow you to fly with that.

[alhuger]

Has anyone here traveled with rods lately?

 

I looked into the baggage policies of my carrier, and it says I can only take two rods as my second piece of baggage. Thats not going to cut it, and I don't fell like paying $125 bucks for a third bag.

 

Any ideas. Could I take a small tube or two as carry-on? Maybe even a two piece tube as carry-on?

 

I will call the carrier (United) soon, but some first hand tips might be helpful.

 

 

I take spey rods (4 piece) on Air Canada flights as carry on all the time. I have done the same on United. Both to destinations in Canada and the USA.

 

al

[rusty]

I just pack the 4 piece rods in my check-in luggage.

[theiceman2]

I just pack the 4 piece rods in my check-in luggage.

That is if your dont mind a 7 piece rods when you get to your finial destination....

 

[ÜberFly]

Rods should be no problem but depending on the aircraft (Beech, Dash or RJ) you might have to sky check the rod(s). Also you have to put all your hooks in your checked baggage.

 

P

[lorney]

I think I would carry on the rods and reels. If they lose your luggage you can always fish in the same clothes everyday but you can't fish without rods and reels.

[WesG]

Going to the Lodge every year I have one big piece of checked luggage which my tackle bag is in and my second piece is my rod tube, I think I have crammed 6 rods in it. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe with air canada you can have 2 pieces of checked baggage with a rod tube in addition to that. I havent had anyproblems with breakage yet, but I have seen fairly sturndy rod tubes come to the lodge folded in half and every rod inside broken, you would almost think it was done on purpose.

[headscan]

I fly for work a lot and have seen people in various airports in the US and Canada carrying on rod tubes of different lengths without any problems. In August I flew from Calgary to Vancouver and back on Air Canada with a 4 pc 12'6" rod without any problems. It easily fit in the overhead bin of an Airbus 380. In the Denver airport I was talking to a guy who was on his way to Sask with about five or six rod tubes as carry on. The trick was he used duct tape to tape them together so they counted as a single carry-on.

 

If you want to check the rods, go to a hardware store and buy some thick PVC tubing that plumbers use for pipe. You should be able to fit two or more rods and the thicker PVC is pretty sturdy. There are other options that will cost you some money like custom made travel cases (http://www.redshedflyshop.com/RODTRANSPORT.html bottom of the page) Sage and Fishpond both make "fishing" luggage, or you could just FedEx your rods and reels to your destination ahead of time.

[timjorourke]

This year I have flown to the US and Belize carrying two - 4 piece rods and two reels in a back pack. The only problem I have run into is trying to get salt water pliers through as carry on. They made me check them. If you have 4 piece rods then I think you would be able to bundle them as suggested and get them on no problem.

[Jayhad]

I've flown a lot with rods but always westjet... I use 2 piece rods. Just in thanksgiving I flew and it wasn't a problem I had 3 tubes that were taped together, just checked them with no issues.