The relationship between airlines and surfers has always been tumultuous.
First, there’s the fees. They’re usually exorbitantly high and irrational, considering boards often don’t weigh more than suitcases checked free of charge.
There’s also the treatment of the actual boards. Even surfboards carefully packed in expensive travel bags with extra padding often arrive broken or dinged. Then there’s the worst-case scenario that Nathan Florence has experienced three times this year—the boards get lost and that dream surf trip is over before it gets started.
Last month big wave surfer Billy Kemper called out Hawaiian Airlines for an issue he encountered trying to bring boards from Oahu to Maui.
Due to a minor detail in their policies, Hawaiian wouldn’t accept Kemper’s boards on the short flight.
“This has to change,” he said.
Surprisingly, the surfboard travel gods got right on it and answered his prayers.
Yesterday, Kemper took to Instagram to share a message from Hawaiian Airlines in response to his complaint. The airline notified him of changes to its weight and fee policies.
He captioned the post above:
“I personally would like to thank the team at @hawaiianairlines for hearing me out and understanding my issue and questions towards their board bag policy. I’ve dedicated my life to the sport of surfing and want to continue to help make it better for the future in anyway I can. Mahalo,-bk”
The post shows a message from Hawaiian Airlines stating that they now accept surfboard bags weighing up to 100 pounds.
In addition, they lowered the cost of bringing boards on a flight between Hawaii and the U.S. Mainland from $100 to $75 and from $150 to $75 for international flights.
Other surfers were stoked and thanked him in the comments section:
Kelly Slater: “Nice work!”
Kalani Robb: “Good work”
Dustin Barca: “Spoke for us all. Thanks @billykemper and @hawaiianairlines =”
Below is Kemper’s original post scolding Hawaiian Airlines and explaining his issue.
He captioned the post:
“Surfing was born in Hawaii, it’s part of the HAWAIIAN culture. Wouldn’t you think @hawaiianairlines would have some sort of support to our sport? THIS HAS TO CHANGE!”
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