Hawaiian Air's oversized baggage charges a $70 mill a year scam, says Slater…
I doubt if there’s a condition more likely to send a surfer into an irrational fever than an airline’s surfboard policy.
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This was emphasised today when the noted surfboard shaper and surf industry titan, Mr Bob Hurley, yeah, the same name you’re wearing on those lightweight pinched-hip trunks, had a falling out with Hawaiian Airlines.
Kelly Slater and Mason Ho were also quick to damn the airline.
Hurley announced to his 21k followers (for 400-ish likes):
I get happy when I see this logo. I love @hawaiianirlines BUT, recently had a horrible experience. Normally airlines charge extra for surfboards. We all expect it. Had three small boards in a 23 pound bag. They only allow two… even itty bitty ones. Was told in Honolulu that it’s not possible to put them on the plane. I offered to pay extra. Not possible says the manager. “Two is da rule.”
I said, “It’s possible. I travel ton and weight is the litmus test… she said this one time she would do me a favour… let me pay for two bags although it was one and she would look the other way… when I said… BUT… I felt like I might get arrested. Super bad vibes… Not another word… I know a lotta surfers that will no longer fly Hawaiian. I would be so happy to help with a practicable and profitable policy… but they have not asked.
So sad for me.
I don’t like doing stuff like this but I reached out to Hawaiian and they ignored me. Such a bum out.
Be careful cause you will get busted for being smart and honest. #dontflyhawaiianairlines.
Kelly Slater, whom Hurley tagged, duly lit up on Hawaiian to his one-point seven million followers (a disappointing 4500-ish likes).
“Yep Hawaiian air is blownnnnnnnnnnn. To get my 3 boards on the plane I had to pay extra and tell them I shaped the boards myself in a art class in school.”
“This topic just baffles me… @hawaiianairlines should rectify their policy. It’s ridiculous and a default profit racket. They made over $70M last year in oversize/overweight baggage charges.”
Mason Ho was similarly outraged, if more poetic.
“Yep Hawaiian air is blownnnnnnnnnnn. To get my 3 boards on the plane I had to pay extra and tell them I shaped the boards myself in a art class in school.”
Three hundred other people announced similar tales of woe involving Hawaiian Airlines although @fowhygundie had a more humanist take: “@kellyslater sorry that happened. I’m sure they were just doing their job. By posting this you are also putting thousands of local jobs at risk.”
What’s your take?
Are you, like me, perplexed that Bob Hurley, who sold his eponymous brand to Nike in 2002, doesn’t fly private?
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Just got back from Mexico a few weeks ago. $150 to fly one board down with Delta. $25 to fly it back, same airline. Fuck yes, Mexico!
Setting aside this specific incident, using social media to call out the unethical practices of a large corporation can be very powerful. The ability for the consumer to do that didn’t exist 5 years ago. I guess it’s up to us to decide which side we are on.
Just wondering,
Why don’t people with large board bags and multiple boards (pro surfers for example) just ship them ahead through an air frieght company? Golfers have been doing it for years.
And yes, I have worked for an airline.
I’ve only ever flown with a board once and that was on Hawaiian. I wrapped the shit out of it because, as I said, I know how baggage handlers are. As for how they are…they honestly don’t care but will treat LV’s or any other expensive bags worse so I always tell people buy good, non-descript luggage with a warranty. And yes, I check bags because I hate schlepping through airports.
if I was an airline, I’d say “fly with us, we don’t throw your shit around like the other assholes, and we don’t try to fuck you at every turn.” Problem in Hawaii is that there are no real competitors (for inter isle travel).
The problem is that, unless you are willing to shell out big bucks for biz class…it’s just glorified bus service. As a result he who charges the lowest price gets the customer. Just look at how people act on planes to see why they treat us like cattle. The two mama’s boys checking in in front of me today reeked of cigarettes and b.o. and now someone has to sit next to them for God knows how long. The airlines are merely a reflection of the low standard, narcissistic, inconsiderate society that we’ve become where service rarely matters because it isn’t appreciated.
I flew to Japan on United with a 5’9 in the smallest possible bag I could find. Said it was a snowboard and it flew for free both ways. Even threw a snowboard with no bindings in there for good measure and had to show them the deck for the trip home!
On my way to PR this winter i got hit by Delta for $150 on my bodyboards. While standing there with a printed out copy of their bodyboard policy and the webpage pulled up on my cell phone. “2 bodyboards under 43 inches in an approved case fly as one checked bag” she looked me dead in the face and said, “Those aren’t bodyboards, they are surfboards” she called a manager over and they both sat there perplexed as to what my bodyboards actually were. They brought out a measuring tape and everything. Then reassured me that they were surfboards. Spent two hours on the phone with delta when i landed, sang to the customer service rep on the phone and had a check with my money back in two weeks. I feel for you guys dealing with shitty bag fees.
For the record, that charge was justified.
Also…Chas…when you gas up the BG G650 don’t forget to pick me up. I’ll bring a six pack of beer and a bag of chips for the ride.
I’m always amused when for-profit entities complain about the prices charged by other for-profit entities. It’s as if KS and Bob are giving away their products/services for free. Hawaiian Airlines ain’t a charity and neither are Hurley or OK. And wasn’t it Kelly who went apeshit when the guy called him out over a $300 beanie (or something similar)?
I don’t think Bob or KS are complaining about anyone trying to make a buck. It’s the inconsistency and sneaky way that airlines pick & choose how and when to charge for board bags that pisses surfers off.
If you have 3 boards in a bag and it’s under 23kgs then why should they care? They just see it as an opportunity to sting you.
It’s equivalent of telling someone how many shoes they can have in their bag or how many golf clubs in a bag e.t.c e.t.c.
It’s about liability. If the boards get damaged they are obligated to pay. Basically an actuary somewhere is saying that the revenue generated by one bag with two boards is worth the risk while a board with three bags isn’t. I’m also fairly sure that IATA has conditions of carriage that play a part in this.
actually, it sounds fairly consistent at Hawaiian if all the gripes are to be believed.
Can I throw out another angle?
Bob Hurley sweated some poor lady who earns an hourly wage, who doesn’t make the stupid rules she has to enforce, until she gave him what he wanted. Then he complained about it publicly.
I just have an image of him yelling at the lady “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?? DO YOU HAVE ANY FUCKIN’ IDEA HOW BIG A DEAL I AM”
Karate chopped! As if the dude doesn’t have the funds to simply bring another bag and pay extra. Rich folks are so cheap
ah read the Bob Quote, he tried to contact Hawaiian Air , no response , so it was the no response that arced him up , not just some poor lady doing her job , which brings me to…
Last December I was flying out of san diego to Hawaii , with 3 bds in a bag , so they refused me access to the plane, as I could not leave the boards at the airport , and they said the planes were too small for boards, but they did offer me a 1st class flight ( only seat available) out of LAX , for $1800 one way . I had to throw away the ticket , H A, and buy a ticket on Alaskan Air , same plane , better price and service , never i
use Hawaiin air!
Really? I remember a nice piece you wrote recently about acting like the customer from hell over a hp laptop!
I was a dick so I could get what I wanted. Don’t remember claiming to be the aggrieved party.
That idiot talking about “local jobs”; what a dumb ass. I know a lot of people who work at Hawaiian; they’re jobs aren’t at risk as long as Hawaiian has their monopoly and the fuckers from wherever the fuck keep flocking to Hawaii “to score waves bro” and drive like fuckwads. Also, those baggage handlers at Hawaiian love throwing around boards; that needs to stop; I’m over it – I should go under-cover on their asses; full on 20/20 shit, hidden camera and baited questions. Hawaiian Airlines is wack but it’s all we got; besides the the board fee racket, and the monopoly, they’re pretty good; on time and whatnot. But seriously, fuck them.
Baggage handlers all over the world love throwing around everyone’s shit. Even I loved climbing in the hold every once in a while and tossing bags.
One of those bag tossing excursions happened to involve a box of human eyes.
Mason, as the great philosopher Ayn Rand once said, “brevity is the soul of wit.”
Airlines!! I went to Brazil once flying Qantas who’ll take whatever you like free. But the flight out of Sao Paulo was code share with British Airways who at the time would not even let a board on their planes, at all. I discovered this at the airport. So took my two boards out of the cover and left them in Brazil (they went to a good home near Wiggs’s house). Then asked if I could check in the cover with no boards. And they said Sure. Fucken riddle me that Batman.
That same lack of logic can sometimes be an advantage. We told the Continental ground staff out of Cairns, ‘that’s not a surfboard, it’s a kiteboard’, and the fee was waived .
I hope those two boards didn’t contribute to the current state of Brazils world domination Nick.
I tried telling them they were modified golf clubs, as they fly free, but they wouldn’t have a bar of it. And it clearly states 2 boards per person on the Hawaiian website.