The Best and Worst Airlines For Your Action Sports Getaway
In early November, Hawaiian surfer Billy Kemper expressed the rage that many travelling action sports fans feel. “Surfing is part of our culture. It’s part of our community... the fact that I cannot physically fly with a board bag that’s a few pounds overweight on a 25-minute flight back to Maui is ridiculous.”
He posted that online after his boardbag wasn't accepted on a Hawaiian Airlines flight. To their credit, the airline responded to Billy and changed their policy. They doubled the weight limit and lowered the flat fee for surfboards. Now, not all of us have Billy Kemper’s awards (3X World Titles), Instagram followers (270K) or tattoos, but we do have a choice. When it comes to airlines for skiing and surfing, not all are created equal. We scoured the fine print to find the best and worst airlines for your action sports getaway.
The Bad
Wizz
With destinations in Lyon, Grenoble, Bilbao, Santander, Geneva, Turin, Lisbon and Porto, the Hungarian-based airline could, and should, be a viable option to the EasyJet and Ryanair that continually do surfers, skiers, and snowboarders' heads in. Yet in 2023 Wizz operated just 56 per cent of its flights on time and nearly 2 per cent were cancelled within 24 hours of departure. Between the cancellations, delays, poor customer care and higher-end luggage fees for sports equipment, you might want to