| Air Travel and Fencing Bags
This was posted on the dcfencing listserv. I thought that fencers outside the DC area would find this useful. Anyone else have similar experiences?
Hi All --
Even though Charlotte has traveled with her standard fencing bag on a
number of flights on assorted airlines in the past, including Air
Tran, on her return flight from Atlanta this summer she was charged
$65 for an "oversized" bag.
Their regulations say that a bag is oversized if it exceeds 62 inches
when you add up the three dimensions (that is, length + width +
height). There are exceptions for particular sporting equipment, but
not for fencing equipment.
The person who checked her in was pretty nasty about it all and
Charlotte called me from the gate. I had her talk to the person at
the gate, who said that the regulation is largely -- but not always --
unenforced.
We asked for a refund from Air Tran, saying that their policy
irrationally discriminates against fencers and is arbitrarily applied
(for instance, another fencer checking in from another line was not
charged and Charlotte had not been charged on three previous Air Tran
flights). We only received back a recitation of what the policy is
that that they endeavor to be cheerful, consistent, value our
business, blah, blah, blah. No refund.
So my advice is not to fly Air Tran if you have the chance and to get
the word out to all other fencers you know. I've heard scuttlebutt
that Summer Nationals is going to be in Atlanta next year, which is
Air Trans' hub, so we might save people some money.
Diane Rose
__________________
Your life is not a prize you get at the end of it. But I did get a champagne sabre for my birthday.
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