Surf’s up!
If you’re planning a trip to a California beach, you’re in luck: United Airlines is now letting all surfers heading to or from California check their surfboards on the plane without having to pay an exorbitant fee. This comes in the wake of California naming surfing as its official state sport.
Per United’s tweet last week:
“As California’s global airline, we knew what we had to do when surfing was named the state sport: waive the service fees for surfboards, on all flights, to or from California. #Stoked”
This means that travelers leaving from or heading to the state with a surfboard, paddleboard, and/or wakeboard will no longer have to pay oversize luggage charges, which usually range between $150 and $200. Instead, surfers will get an allowance of up to 100 pounds for “free,” meaning they will only pay regular bag charges ($30 for the first bag, $40 for the second). United credit card holders and Premier members will pay nothing.
“We want to make it easier for customers to surf our beautiful beaches, whether they’re visiting or call the Golden State home,” said Janet Lamkin, United’s president for California.
This is great news for surfers, who are used to paying extremely high fees to bring their boards on airplanes. Currently, United’s two biggest competitors, American and Delta, charge $150 per surfboard each way. United will, however, continue to charge the same $150 fee for surfboards that are not a part of California-based flights, nor will surfboard fees be waived for flights that have California connections.
Additionally, United will be donating $50,000 to Sustainable Surf, an environmental nonprofit focused on preserving California’s coast and ocean water.
“Sustainable Surf is thrilled to receive support from United Airlines to help us protect and regenerate ocean health,” said Sustainable Surf co-founder Michael Stewart. “We see a very close alignment between our own work and United’s Eco-Skies sustainability program. We are looking forward to partnering with United to better enable our shared goals and values of keeping the world clean.”
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