Ski Boots as Hand Luggage

A snowHead

We've taken boots in hand luggage lots of times from lots of airports. However, I have now heard that some UK airports will not this.

Off to Geneva (Tignes trip) next month and am wondering what the position is at East Midlands as I have never flown from there. Can anyone advise?

Which airports won't allow ski boots as hand luggage? Has anyone been refused?

Cheers.

A snowHead

TYPO ALERT!!

My earlier posting should (of course) have read

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Save yourself the potential hassle and stick 'em in your hold luggage.... Twisted Evil

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1. Can't pay won't pay....( Twisted Evil

Only kidding but prefer not to pay for bags if I don't need to - already stung for easyjet's increased ski carriage rate...)

2. Prefer to guarantee that boots will definitely get there (as no real wish to faff about with hire stuff and slop about in someone else's wellies.)

3. It's no hassle at airports that allow it - hence the query.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Do a search on the words in your title. There are loads of threads, if you go through them EMA is bound to be mentioned. Seems that many airports are now banning it.

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mountainaddict,

1. So how much luggage do you actually take, that your boots will take you over the 20kg allowance? Particularly for a weekend trip....

2. So you'll have your boots, but no change of clothes, ski clobber, ski's, toothbrush etc etc.....

3. There are no hard and firm rules, they tend to depend on which security guard is on duty when you travel, and what sort of a mood they are in....

Congratulations on posting the first of at least a hundred threads with this title over the next season though Toofy Grin

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Guvnor,

After all it is free

Dave Horsley, And this affects the OP how exactly?

Guvnor,

Not at all, but you seemed to be suggesting that there was no situation that a person would be travelling only with hand luggage and without hold luggage. I'm pointing out an actual trip where I will only have hand luggage and no hold baggage.

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mountainaddict, to answer your questions I think there is no pattern to which airports are ok with it and which aren't.

I think it depends on the carrier, who happens to be checking in your luggage and who happens to be scanning your hand luggage through security. Plus it could be that they are having a crack down on boots in hand lugagge that week or something or it's flavour of the month.

I wouldn't take my boots as hand luggage, I would either put them in a boot bag (as not all airlines charge extra for this luxury-Easyjet do though), or many a time even for a week's holiday I've had the boots in the boot pockets in my kit bag and have still had a week's worth of clothes, shell jacket, helmet, goggles etc in there as well and still been under or bang on the 20kg allowance. I'm someone that takes enough fresh socks etc for every day as well so it's not as if I was travelling with one pair of socks and one pair of thermals for a week intending on washing them in the sink every night. That was in a 100L Salomon kit bag though. Did the same for 2 weeks.

If your main bag does get left behind with the boots in it, well you'll be without your salopettes and jacket and all that anyway presumably so having just your boots in your hand luggage isn't going to make a lot of difference. They normally deliver the bag to you the next day anyway as far as I know if it gets left behind. It's skis and boards if anything that get left behind IMV.

If you're just going for a few days on that Mountain Sun thing then put them in your main luggage.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

It's amazing what you can and can't get thru airport checkin and security. Just came back from US with a 1m long (inert) rocket motor in a poster tube. US airways wanted $100 to ship it as an extra bag. Security didn't bat an eyelid. But they would if you accidentally had a 125ml toothpaste in your hand baggage.

Can't help with ski boots as hand luggage, but I'd consider risking it, and worst case leave it as 'valet service' luggage at the gate, usually collect as you get off the plane.

Normally I'd check the boots in, but I split my base layers, fleeces, hats, gloves across 2 bags, and keep 1 complete set in hand baggage too, so I know that I have at least 1-2 days skiing with nothing more than boot rental (need ski rental anyway, so although not desirable it's not a massive time waster) and acquisition of a new pair of ski pants (which I need anyway due to eating a few too many pies, but Insurance would buy them).

My lost luggage has always been on AirFrance and arrived 4 working days later. That would totally screw a holiday, and missing boots would be a minor part of that hassle.

As for checked-in baggage fees... always check flights on some proper scheduled airlines as well as no-frills airlines. You may be surprised at how cheap flights can be (and you get a free sarnie and drink).

snow reports

rayscoops, Easyjet tried to charge me in Geneva last year for having a separate boot bag despite me paying for ski carriage. I got away with it because I said they never said anything on the way over, she said that all boots need to go in hold lugagge or in the ski/board bag if they will fit in or you have to pay for a separate boot bag!

BA or anyone else haven't charged me for having boot bags though.

You know it makes sense.

In all of these threads there have been several posters who claim that the reason for taking boots in hand luggage is that they don't want to risk losing them in their hold baggage. I'd just like to say that I have never lost a piece of hold luggage nor has an airline or its ground handlers failed to deliver my luggage to the carousel. There, that's put the mockers on my next trip Toofy Grin

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

halfhand,

BA failed to carry my skis when I flew aberdeen-heathrow-oslo. I specifically left a long connection time in heathrow, but they failed to load them on the plane in Aberdeen. Turned up next morning and we had to detour via the airport to pick them up.

Easy Jet managed to lose my skis on return. Some idiot at Aberdeen had loaded them on the top (roof) of a baggage car at aberdeen when unloading and then failed to notice them and put them on the baggage carousel. They the didn't bother to check when the front desk staff asked them to. Got them back after a couple of hours of hassle.

Ryanscare have been OK on two trips to Italy and back and one trip to Thorp.
BA were Ok on one trip to Munich via Heathrow

Thats the sum total of my experience.

Not if I'm carrying hold baggage I'd stick my boots in the hold.

A snowHead

rayscoops, Would ski bag , for someone that had paid for ski carriage, cover the big wheely bags like the one I took on the train to VT - a big bag that would have taken two pairs of skis had I wished and also helmet, boots, and ski clothes, or just the smaller bags that are designed to take only skis.

A snowHead

Megamum, yes as long as it weighs 12kg or less, or if you are taking only that and no hold bag/suitcase then as long as the ski bag weighs less than 32kgs then that's ok. See my other thread on Dakine High Roller for rayscoops thorough explanation of this 32kgs thing.

So say you decide to take one big wheely ski bag with one pair of skis in it, and all your clothes, helmet, ski wear etc and that bag say weighs 25kg then as long as you've paid for ski carriage then that's ok and they will let you take it. If you've not paid for ski carriage then they won't as I don't suppose it would classify as a hold bag even if you paid for 1 hold bag.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

halfhand, I think most people who have had stuff left behind, it's either been boot bag or ski/board bag that's been left rather than the main suitcases. When my skis got left in Geneva one time I asked a guy in baggage claim, why not load them on, the plane only had half the capacity of passengers on it anyway so there must have been loads of room in the hold for the skis and boards. He said, (his words) sometimes the baggage handlers don't have time or can be bothered to load them all on Shocked

again his words, not mine and he also said if anything doesn't get loaded on it will be skis and boards and boot bags rather than main bags. So I always try and get mine in the main bag if possible unless it's BA who are boot bag friendly so I've found. Very Happy

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I might have said this before, but coming back from Geneva to East Midlands in Feb, there was a bloke wearing his!

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paulio, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Maybe he had them in his hand luggage and was wearing trainers, and they said you can't have 'em in there so he put his ski boots on and wore them instead and put his trainers in his hand luggage. That was probably the most likely scenario I should think.

A good reason why I just put 'em in my hold luggage and be done with it. I wouldn't want to carry ski boots in my rucksack on my back anyway, they're hardly the most comfortable of objects to have clunking around in there digging into your back.

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On a separate scenario - if you are flying to the US and then taking a transfer flight onwards, things can get a bit tight time wise with immigration then reclaim, then clear customs and agriculture then bags to transit desk. Twice I have missed a day of skiing because of boots still being at O'Hare or Denver. So now we always carry Boots as Hand Luggage plus enough ski clothes for a day or two in our bags and have never had any issues with Gatwick or Heathrow. I don't do this for Europe though.

For summer holidays we no longer take any hold baggage at all. Saves tons of time and effort.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

VolklAttivaS5, if you wear your ski boots when flying then they don't count either as hold baggage weight or hand luggage weight. Quite canny really. ANd as my boots (Tecnica race ones, several years old now) weigh 6kg that would be a useful saving from your baggage weight.

After all it is free

stoatsbrother, this is most annoying when booking flights online. Most online booking sites seem to think that a 1 hour layover in a US airport is OK on arrival.

Saying that, we managed to collect our luggage promptly at Philadelphia, and then got thru Immigration+Customs and were handing bags back at transfer baggage drop less than 10 minutes later. That was much quicker than at LGW despite 5x as many questions and the webcam/fingerprint treatment. From friends stories, I wouldn't expect that kind of speed at Chicago or San Fran.

I always spread ski gear, with 1 full set of ski clothing (except jacket/pants) in each bag, including handluggage.

jmdohanlon,

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VolklAttivaS5, if I'm taking alpine boots I take them in my hand baggage, and if touring boots I usually wear them on the plane. Wear the ski gear on the plane as well. No chance then of losing it on the journey. On one trip that meant the only hold bag I took was my ski bag containing skis and all the off-piste toys - for which it is easyish to hire replacements if necessary.

Never been through EMA though, so this is another post that doesn't answer the OP Sad

.

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VolklAttivaS5, OK, point taken. But I do know people who have deliberately worn ski boots (plus other heavy items such as coats) to minimise their baggage weight.
They did get a lot of funny looks (to the point where you don't want to look like your in the same group as them) and had to take the boots off and have them scanned separately at security (before this was commonplace) - but they were never refused passage.

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GrahamN, yeah true re your post or some of the other posts not answering the OP exactly but that happens all the time on threads. At least mountainaddict knows you get your boots through ok wherever you fly from. I think most people have said in reply to the OP anyway there seems to be no pattern with accepts or declines, and don't know if EMA is any different to the others, depends who you get sometimes, airline etc and some people have taken their boots through ok like you have done.

I've seen quite a few people last couple of trips for some reason in the queue in front of me who have been told to take them out and put them in their hold luggage and I've been asked on the last few flights if I've got them in my hand luggage to which I answered "No" naturally because they were in my hold luggage. Not sure which airlines are ok with it and which aren't, seems to be ok one side and not the other sometimes as well i.e nothing said on way there but something said on way back. Puzzled

Good for you wearing all your gear on the plane like you say no chance of it getting lost then.

jmdohanlon,

It is always the security at the airport who's rules are blamed for banning ski boots in hand luggage. When asked, the security always blames government rules, despite the fact that some airport ban them and some don't. All I can suggest is ringing the airports to ask them (that's what I did last year).

You know it makes sense.

Guvnor:

brian

I think it would be useful to differentiate between:

1. boots in less than maximum sized hand luggage, ie. 56cm x 45cm x 25 cm
2. boots in boot bag

I think most boot bags would be wider than 25cm so I suspect (2) will not be allowed if security are doing their job.

I have done (1) several times and have had no problems so far, so specifically it's ok at:

Edinburgh
Heathrow
Geneva
Frankfurt
Lyon

A snowHead

A snowHead

Actually the rules have changed, last season Easyjet specifically listed sports equipment as 'ski bag and boot bag' (i.e. two bags in effect), now they say this ..... and it sounds like you need to pay per sports item per flight? so ski bag and boot bag are two items ?

'Each passenger is allowed a maximum hold baggage weight of 50 Kgs including any sports equipment, subject to available space. The maximum weight for any single piece of baggage is 32 kgs.'

'An additional non-refundable fee is charged per item per flight for the carriage of the sporting equipment as set out in the table below:

'Payment of the additional fee increases your checked-in hold baggage allowance (including additional item) to a maximum weight of 32kgs.
Where your total checked-in hold baggage weighs more than 32Kgs, normal excess baggage charges as set out above shall apply in addition to the above fee.'

why don't all you skiers simply get a big board bag and bung your skis and boots in it (yes I know you all have some dusty old 178's but leave them at home Very Happy

), or better still just get a board instead Laughing

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

rayscoops

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VolklAttivaS5, you should be ok as long as you do not scrape your new board Very Happy

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

rayscoops, no I won't-promise! I will take the bindings off and wrap those separately, and put just the board in the zipped separate compartment in the bottom of the High Roller bag as Sherlock suggested on the other thread.

Think I'm sorted for flights or driving now ta. Very Happy

Probably will take either skis or board for a week when I fly anyway and use the High Roller one way or another.

Looks like the way forward for most peeps to avoid excess charges re boots or having the hassle of being told to remove them from their hand luggage is to either:-

1) wear the boots onto the plane as others have suggested above
2) put the boots in their hold luggage and keep it under the baggage allowance
3) put the boots in with their skis or board if they can get them in the ski/board bag that is

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Just to add a quick note - I flew out of Luton on Tuesday (where I am flying to Geneva from in January), and was told by security staff at the hand baggage check that ski boots were not allowed as hand luggage due to the buckles / straps apparently????

I was then (very slowly) served a lasagna past security control with a fork and knife (bluntish) which if I was inclined would have made a much better weapon than a cunningly wielded
ski boot.

Reded

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

To be fair.. ski boots are damn heavy and could easily knock someone out.

After all it is free

reded78, in my opinion the reason they don't want boots in hand luggage is because they want you to put them in the hold luggage and therefore there will be more chance of your holdall being over the weight allowance and that means extra ££££ for them in excess baggage charges.

Or, they want you to put them in a separate boot bag so they can charge you ££££ for having an extra bag (as it appears may be the case in the new rules as posted by rayscoops earlier in this thread).

On a safety note, I suppose if lots of people took their ski boots as hand luggage and are stowing them in the overhead lockers, then if those bags enclosing the boots fell out above you then I guess it would give you one hell of a knock on the head compared to say a normal sized rucksack as hand luggage containing a book and a sarnie say. That's the ony safety issue I can think of to do with boots in hand luggage.

I bet they will stop the very few people from wearing their ski boots on the plane in due course if it turns out more and more people will end up doing that if they put the kybosh on boots in hand luggage all together as it seems it's going that way anyhow. I expect it will be a very small minority of people who will wear them though, I suspect the majority of people will put them in their hold lugagge rather than wearing them.

I like to see people wearing their ski boots on the plane - it makes me laugh and point at them

However, given the anal security Nanny state in which we live, I can see the argument as to how a ski boot could be used as a 'weapon', or to kick down the doors to the cockpit more easily than, say, a flip flop.....and certainly potentially more dangerous than a bottle of water

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Guvnor, very true indeed about being more able to kick down the door to the cockpit with ski boots on-I hadn't thought of that actually! Blimey!

They'd certainly do some damage to folk as well swinging them round by the power straps at passenger seat head level that's for sure. Doesn't bear thinking about.

I can see them being banned soon from being worn on the plane to be honest, rightly or wrongly.

Personally, like you by the sounds of it, there would be no way you'd catch me wearing my ski boots anyway (regardless of type of ski boot, alpine or touring or alpine-touring) round an airport for however long it would be. Then again, thinking about it there would be no need to have them on the whole time anyway after check in, all you'd have to do is check the hand luggage in at the check in desk and through security with a pair of trainers in it and wear the ski boots through security letting them think you are going to wear them all the time, then once you're the other side and out of sight you can get your trainers out of your bag and put them on, putting the ski boots back in the hand luggage. Would that work? Laughing

I'd rather take the risk of my hold luggage getting left behind with the boots in it rather than doing the above sneaky manoevre. Having no underwear or clothes cos it's all in the hold bag would be more my concern than no ski boots, I'd happily hire or buy some even and claim on the insurance. Besides the chances of that happening considering the number of bags flown every day out of the UK is very slim-more chance of slipping over on an airport tiled floor and gaining a injury of some kind I reckon. Those airport floors are slippery enough without having sensible footwear on as well. As I've said before, if any bags get left it's usually skis and boards.

Help!!

Ski Boots as Hand Luggage

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