Just a heads up. Husband is flying on Delta next week to scuba dive in FL with friend. They have specific equipment they want, so decided to bring rather than rent. Delta charges $150 each way for scuba equipment up to 50 pounds - which is not much weight, even without tanks. A regular checked bag then is $35 each way - since it counts as the second bag. To fly his equipment is actually costing more than the ticket to fly him! If he had researched in advance, he could have flown first class with it's luggage allowance for less than to fly him plus equipment.

I am not sure why scuba equipment is so special - again, he is not taking tanks with him - since it has to meet the same weight and dimension requirements as normal luggage.

You misread the information on Delta.com:

"One dive bag containing scuba equipment other than an empty dive tank is allowed as checked baggage. "

Unless he has an empty tank (and how many recreational divers take tanks along?) it goes as regular luggage. No special charge, just whatever regular baggage charge applies.

Warning: it is essential to take your camera, regulator and dive computer in carry on! Some people will include camera housing in carry on. Everything else is easily replaceable.

I don't think he mis-read (but hope he did). Below the phrase you found, it speaks to fees for scuba equip as $150.

I would don my fins and put my mask on. Flip flops are allowed, aren't they, so, I'd have big flip flops, is all.

Gail, you need to read the entire Delta entry, the pertinent part of which is:

"One dive bag containing scuba equipment other than an empty dive tank is allowed as checked baggage. An empty dive tank is allowed and will be assessed the Scuba Equipment Fee stated below. ...

"Scuba Equipment Fees
150 USD/CAD for travel to all regions (excluding Brazil, Europe, and North Africa)
...
"Scuba equipment that exceeds standard baggage allowance will be assessed the appropriate fee based on destination."

ONLY if the equipment exceeds the standard allowance is the fee charged.
IOW, tanks will incur the fee. "Regular" recreational kit will NOT. And almost nobody needs to bring a tank!

And, I should note I've dived all around the world and always take my own equipment. As a technical instructor I have a lot more equipment than the average recreational diver carries, still stay withing the standard weight allowance ... and never pay any special fee. [The few times I do carry a pony bottle or two I do pay the fee, but that's an exceptional situation.]

I didn't read it that way, and when husband called Delta he was told he would be charged $150. It sounds like you have more experience with this than the person he spoke with at Delta. He has 2 checked bags - neither over 50 pounds. Much of that is weights, as he is closing to bring his dry suit and has finally figured out a weight configuration that does not have him looking like a surfacing whale when he dives.

Weights? Nobody ever brings weights. If he uses a special harness for then, ok, but every dive operation has plenty of weights available. And dry suit only if he's diving the springs. If going to the be diving in the ocean, a wet suit is fine. (Tech divers use dry suits there but if he wants to bring weights I doubt he is in that category.)

People trained "up north" tend to use way too much weight anyway. A tech instructor from NY once visited us in the Keys and on the first dive he was bouncing off the bottom and was blaming the water temperature! I asked and he said he was carrying 36 lbs! We made a plan and before the next dive two of us "noticed" his weight belt was caught on his wet suit and so my partner manhandled him as a distraction while I "adjusted" the belt. The actual adjustment consisted of removing all but 15 lbs. After the dive we asked and he said he loved the dive. He also noticed the water had "cooled down a bit." We then told him about the extra20 lbs he was unnecessarily carrying ... and ruining our reef in the process.

Spouse takes his own dive equipment on his trips all the time - has been for over 25 years on many airlines throughout the world - never takes weights or tanks - why would anyone take weights?

He packs it in a regular hard-sided suitcase. Follows airline weight guidelines, never had a problem.

He takes his dive computer in his carry on, but that's it.

I'm not a diver -- but have a very close friend who is an instructor and I agree, no one I know of travels with weights.

I am not a diver. And I am certainly not getting into the how much weight he should dive with issue, except to say that he has been told this by many experts (although after 40 years of scuba diving, he does know quite a bit). Dive instructors and shops have even taken him in pools, incredulous that he needs as much weight as he does. He is average height, small build, not an ounce of fat on him - but still seems to float.

He can travel with the kitchen sink for all I care - I am looking forward to a week of solitude and no meal preparation.

>>Dive instructors and shops have even taken him in pools, incredulous that he needs as much weight as he does.<<

That is fine -- but he doesn't need to carry his weights <i>with</i> him. He'll save a small fortune . . .

I have told him this. He is as stubborn as I. No convincing him that the weights will enjoy staying home and he will enjoy the travel more if they do so. I am just happy to not be hauling them.

Update. Checked in on-line and paid for 2 normal bags. No further charge - so I stand corrected about the cost. He did take his weights. Everyone here and his multiple real-world scuba friends and me think he was nuts to do so, but I am not the one carrying them. Thanks all for your advice. Glad I was wrong.

I'm guessing it will the first..and last...time he carries weights!

Especially since one of the 2 luggage pieces is taking a little vacation of its own - husband is now asleep in Boston and his luggage is having an extended trip in Atlanta. (Non-stop flight Florida-Boston, not sure how this happened, but it seems Delta knows where it is and is delivering it later today)

At least it happened on the way home.

Sounds like the luggage never got put on the plane. Maybe it was then put on a plane to ATL with a connection to Boston.

Who knows, but it'll turn up. Eventually.

Does he regret taking the weights?