Flying on AA with Shinais
 

Good day everyone,

As my search on the topic only came up with thread that are a few years old, I am looking for some latest baggage check-in info when flying with shinais on American Airline.

I will be flying domestic here in US, so I will have to check-in my bogu at $20/ea way. But, as some of you already know, checking in shinais as "2nd Check-In Baggage" will be $30/ea way, if they don't consider it an oversized item!
I miss the good old days when two free check-ins were available...

Anybody wants to share their tips on "HOW TO SAVE MONEY" when handling shinais with AA?

Thank you in advanced.

Pretty much no way around it http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/frown.gif there are a few airlines that only charge you over 1 baggage. Continental only charged me for 2 out of 3 bags. a couple of months ago.

Thats what I am afraid of too. I am flying back to the city of my birth (San Diego) for a scientific conference in December and am trying to make up my mind if I should bring my bogu and shinai as well as all the other stuff I need to take. What I might do is just ship the bogu and shinai to my sisters via UPS and then ship them back home the same way but I need to look into costs. Anyone in the States ship their bogu UPS recently? If so how much did it cost you?

Have you considered simply buying a new shinai there? It sounds like it might be cheaper.

This occurred to me too, but I suppose it depends where he's going. I go out to SoCal every now and then; bought a shinai at Ebogu and left it at the inlaws. It's still there if I ever get a chance to practice when I'm out in LA.

But several places one could travel wouldn't have a place to purchase a shinai. An alternative would be buying it online and having it shipped to the hotel. Nice hotels will certainly hold something for a guest to be arriving soon.

That was going to be my second option.
I might just buy one for the event and donate(?) it to local dojo afterwards.

I was unpleasantly surprised by that checked baggage charge this year. Flying back from Japan, the don't charge for the normal 2 bags, but while in the US there was a baggage charge.

They did count bogu and shinai as 2 separate bags for the international flight though, and they were considered oversized.

Well I'll send you my info so that you can practice with us. as for shinai, i have about 6 spares (well hydrated). If you don't want to worry about shipping, I will glady loan you one of mines while you are in SD.

Perhaps you should check out Southwest Airlines and their "Bags Fly Free" promotion!

THANKS! That would mean I'd just need to ship out my bogu. I'll need to look into my schedule and stuff but I will be there about a week so I am hopeful I will have time to at least make one practice while I am out.

One more option if you have the time is send the piece either general delivery and pick it up at the local post office or if you know the hotel ship it there. I've had to use the general delivery a few times and works seems to work ok.

I've done this with cheap shinai from e-bogu. Works like a charm. I also got away with two shinai in a bag as carry-on once for a short flight a few years ago. I forget which airline though.

E-Bogu is touting their new bogu backpack and then their 5 hold shinia bag: http://www.e-bogu.com/Backpack_Style...g-backpack.htm

Supposedly you can link them together and then count it as one bag rather than two. I don't know if this would get passed the oversized bag issue though if it comes to that. Might be an option to consider.

Hoonyistyle,
SouthWest Airlines may be the way to go, if they have a flight to Omaha. I'm not sure they do.

I would consider buying one there. Check with one of the Omaha guys to see if they are having a vendor.
Have fun and good luck this weekend.

When I went to Helsinki I asked about borrowing a shinai.. thanks again Inkinen sensei for the loan of KKT shinai while I was there.

Well..
The event is this weekend, so the flight was already booked about a month ago.

Anyway, I have decided to split the $60 with the other dojo member by packin our shinais and bokutos together.
Because shinais can break during the practice, I've figured that buying or borrowing a shinai won't be a reliable option...


Thank you for the input everyone.