# Packing Your Gear Into Your Snowboard Bag



## donm3ga (Apr 5, 2008)

Hey all, this is my first post. Started snowboarding this season and heading to Mammoth in 2 days with the lady and a bunch of friends.

I have a snowboard bag with some cushion in there. My question is, are there any general tips or tricks you guys/gals use when packing your gear into your bag for the airport? Are your bindings mounted on your board in your bag? Do you wrap your board with anything? Do you lock your bag?

Just some general tips would be great.

Thanks for your help. Great forum.


----------



## Guest (Apr 7, 2008)

i stuffed as much as i could into my board bag when i flew. i left my bindings on, but of course i folded down the backs. i didnt wrap my board or anything like that tho, and it made it just fine, except that they forgot to put it on the plane when i flew home  the dumbasses...


----------



## Guest (Apr 7, 2008)

My situation is bit different, I have traveled about 10 times with my board. I have a Dakine bag and it is well padded, but before I had a Burton bag that had no padding at all, it was just like a school backpack. I usually have two boards in the same bad and 2 sets of biddings(I carry my friends board too). Since its 2 boards I don't have the privilege of leaving the bindings on, I have to remove them, no way around that. I usually rap each board with towels and them I lay the larger board underneath and the smaller on top, with plenty of layers in between and even more protecting the sides of the boards (that way they never come in contact).

Then I put the on top of the smaller board with another layer to separate then, and plenty of clothes protecting the bindings. Just make sure you wrap the boards with a towel, on my second trip my board destroyed my favorite jacket, it cut it all and all the feathers came out(the hotel room was a mess :laugh: they were so pissed off, I felt so bad the cleaning lady was there for ever cleaning(I gave her a nice tip, she did a great job).

Also keep in mind that most airlines have 50lbs limit, but that will not be a problem for you, I have never been over the limit with 2 boards 4 bindings and cloths in there.

I would recommend to put the boots on a separate bag, that way if they loose one of the bags you don't have to rent boot, or vise versa the other way around. If they loose both then you're screwed. But they are usually good with those kind of bags


----------



## donm3ga (Apr 5, 2008)

I have a burton bag with pretty decent padding. I'm going to be packing 2 boards, 2 bindings, and a pair of boots. I have another snowboard bag I'm thinking of using to relieve some pressure from my first bag.

How good is airport security at going through your stuff and keeping putting everything back? Taking care of everything? And making sure they don't forget something?

What if your bag is over 50lbs? Do you have to pay?


----------



## Guest (Apr 7, 2008)

i don't think airport security will look thru your snowboard bag, they didn't look thru mine and i had all sorts of stuff in there. they can easily recognize pretty much everything in your board bag because everyone puts the same stuff in and they see it all the time.


----------



## Guest (Apr 7, 2008)

donm3ga said:


> What if your bag is over 50lbs? Do you have to pay?


yep. i forget exactly how much but i remember it being a decent bit.


----------



## Guest (Apr 7, 2008)

donm3ga said:


> I have a burton bag with pretty decent padding. I'm going to be packing 2 boards, 2 bindings, and a pair of boots. I have another snowboard bag I'm thinking of using to relieve some pressure from my first bag.
> 
> How good is airport security at going through your stuff and keeping putting everything back? Taking care of everything? And making sure they don't forget something?
> 
> What if your bag is over 50lbs? Do you have to pay?



Well so far I haven't had a problem, the only problem i had is that the bag missed the plane in a connection but it got home a couple of hours later. The extra is like $25 dollars or so, it also depends on the airline, some cheap airlines will charge you for the second bag try contacting your airline.

Trust me on this one just take one bag, less stuff to carry around and aslong as you cover everything well there will be no problem. My old burton bag was a piece of crap very old and cheap, but it took a lot pressure before it ripped just a little bit, if you bag is well padded the odds are that it will hold well. And with the weight don't worry about the weight, I honestly have never gone over the limit, weight it before leaving your house.

The airports are usually good in the sector of security, I believe they opened mine like a couple of times. Just remember to pack the screws and plates in a zipplog bag and put the in a side pocket of the snowboard bag, that way they have less of a chance to get lost.


----------



## BiggerThanYours (Dec 3, 2007)

donm3ga said:


> Hey all, this is my first post. Started snowboarding this season and heading to Mammoth in 2 days with the lady and a bunch of friends.
> 
> I have a snowboard bag with some cushion in there. My question is, are there any general tips or tricks you guys/gals use when packing your gear into your bag for the airport? Are your bindings mounted on your board in your bag? Do you wrap your board with anything? Do you lock your bag?
> 
> ...


NJ/NY airports will break your lock or cut open your bag if you lock it. Im not sure how strict oter airports are.


----------



## Guest (Apr 8, 2008)

BiggerThanYours said:


> NJ/NY airports will break your lock or cut open your bag if you lock it. Im not sure how strict oter airports are.


yeah i wouldn't suggest a lock, i think they are more enticed to look inside if you have one also. i just put a twist tie thing on my zippers just so they wouldn't come open, and i could tell that they never opened my bags because of how they were on there. it does depend on the airport. in columbus oh, they were not strict at all compared to reno.


----------



## Guest (Apr 8, 2008)

I don't think I have ever locked my bags, I always carry the $$$ things in my hand.


----------



## Guest (Apr 8, 2008)

Gustov said:


> i don't think airport security will look thru your snowboard bag, they didn't look thru mine and i had all sorts of stuff in there. they can easily recognize pretty much everything in your board bag because everyone puts the same stuff in and they see it all the time.


not true. almost everytime i've traveled they have put that little piece of paper that says my bag has been opened and personally checked for any bombs and stuff.

last time i wrapped by board with a blanket. and they still some how managed to RAPE the nose edge of the board. it actually dented the metal edge and peeled off of the board. a little bit. the plastic-y stuff was wrinkled.


----------



## Guest (Apr 9, 2008)

Shankmasterflex said:


> last time i wrapped by board with a blanket. and they still some how managed to RAPE the nose edge of the board. it actually dented the metal edge and peeled off of the board. a little bit. the plastic-y stuff was wrinkled.


Men I would of complained, someone has to be liable for that. I have never experience anything like that, but you never know.


----------



## Guest (Apr 9, 2008)

i didn't know who to be mad at! so many people are involved in airlines now a days idk wtf to do!

either way its really **** cause i have a custom x which was like 500 dollars and i dont like things that expensive get treated like crap. know what i mean?


----------



## Guest (Apr 9, 2008)

Shankmasterflex said:


> i didn't know who to be mad at! so many people are involved in airlines now a days idk wtf to do!
> 
> either way its really **** cause i have a custom x which was like 500 dollars and i dont like things that expensive get treated like crap. know what i mean?


I don't know men I would of at least filed a report, I am telling you men someone has to pay for that. My friends coach bag was broken in the Miami international airport, not the airline but the airport broke it. She filed a report and the airport will pay for the bag to get fixed.


----------



## Guest (Apr 9, 2008)

dang. haha.

knowing how douchy the airlines are. they probably would've had to like fricken snap the entire thing in half for them to be liable. i also would have had to somehow managed to have snowboard-in-half insurance. =P


----------



## Guest (Apr 15, 2008)

DEFINITLY use a bag that is designed for air travel - not just one of those single-layer jobbies. I always have had my bindings mounted. Wrap your boots in a base layer to keep them from scratching the board, and them put them in the bag next to your bindings to give them some protection. I also stuff my socks etc into/around the bindings to give them a little extra padding. Basically, when I fly with my board, all my snow gear including jacket and pants is in one bag - maybe not the smartest but it has always worked out for me. I have never been over 50lb, but if you are it will be around $40.

No locks, just be sure and be at the oversize baggage area when they deliver it and you won't run any risk.


----------



## Guest (Apr 16, 2008)

should i consider a hard case? will it be too heavy?


----------



## donm3ga (Apr 5, 2008)

I just returned from Mammoth. It was blast.

Here is the info on what happened to my bag. I wrapped my board in some towels and my jacket. On the way to CA my bag was not opened. On the way back to TX, my bag was opened. TSA will put a slip in your bag if they check it. They seemed to put everything back the way it was.

It was all good. This is my first season of snowboarding and I LOVED IT! I am an addict and cannot wait until next season.


----------



## Guest (Apr 16, 2008)

My bag was checked by Security (they left a note in it) but I presumed that's because I put my Swiss Army knife in for the screwdriver and scissors. I carried two boards in the bag with a layer of polythene wrapping between them. I left the bindings on the top board and obviously took them off the lower board. The boots also went in the bag and helped to keep the bindings from moving. I also put in a couple of hoodies. All the stuff was in pristine condition.
My only gripe was them not managing to get the bag on the flight from San Francisco to Reno. That was frustrating given the fact that the bag had managed its way from Glasgow, through London Heathrow (one of the worst places for bags being lost) and had arrived safely in SF.


----------



## Guest (Apr 22, 2008)

1. never under estimate the stupidity of tsa or ramp workers
2. locks can be purchased which have a key hole for a key that only the TSA is supposed to have (see rule#1)
3. if you can pay that much for a deck, get a good padded bag to protect it!


----------

