LRichard

Aegean Air’s baggage policy is pure assault against kiteboarding. If you check their related policy you’ll find that skis snowboard, golf gear can be checked in FREE of CHARGE if the bag length is less than 140cm and the bag is not heavier than 15kg.
But as soon as you would like to take with you a 135cm kiteboard (around 4-5 kg) you’ll have to pay 55 euro/direction!!!!!! SO, even though the kite board fits perfectly in a 140cm bag or in a golf bag, you won’t be able to check it in for free.
I kindly asked Aegean Air to explain what is the reason of this approach. But Aegean Air did not bother to answer.
I tend to think that they don’t know what “kite board” stands for. Otherwise why would they carry a bigger and heavier board free of charge and a smaller one with additional costs (a snowboard is always heavier - think about bindings and boots as these also can be included in the bag - and longer than a kite board).
As I mentioned they did not reply to me although we are not talking about a low cost company but a National Company.
Sounds like a discrimination against those who practice this fantastic sport.
I sent a complaint to Consumer Protection in this subject. Based on their reply they will investigate whether Aegean Air’s policy is discriminatory.
PS: golf is still the moneyed man’s sport but they can carry their gear gratis……

hetismij2

So don't tell them it's a kite board? if it fits in a bag and looks like a snowboard tell them it's a snowboard. Do you think they will check?

btw no need to shout out your topic title.

adrienne

I doubt I would care since I don't know what a kiteboard is.

Follow hetismij2's suggestion and quit bitching.

Michael

Kiteborad: a smaller water board used when surfing by being pulled by a kite?

Heimdall

I've just looked at the Aegean baggage policy, and if it is less than 140cm and 15kg, it should fall into the "Small" category, where the charge is €35, not €55. Maybe you could call the board a slalom waterski and get it on for free. Will the kite fit into your checked luggage?

quokka

What amazes me most is that the OP undertook the effort to register on travel forums only to post this rant. I've read the very same over on Virtualtourist, also a first-time post. What for?

Christina

who knows, some people get really upset about one trivial thing that drives them crazy. It doesn't really make sense to me, it seems it should be by size/wgt and that's it, not exactly what kind of sports gear you have.

Don't hold your breath that this will be found "discrimnatory" in any legal way. I'm sure there is no law that airlines can't discriminate about what types of baggage they charge for or not.

I read the rules and they are by size and don't even mention kiteboards. They do give examples of each category and so maybe they can't think outside the box, but they clearly only have a couple types that are free so that's just a marketing decision. All marketing promotions or policies could be perceived as "discriminatory", I suppose. But it isn't specifically kiteboards, they don't exempt diving gear, either, and I bet there are a lot more people going there with that.