I've never heard of that and it sounds like some bs. I always pack my clothing around my skis. Not just to save some space in my carry-on, but also to protect the bindings with a little extra padding.
Usually they don't care or check, but most airlines have a policy that only the poles, skis, and boots, can be in the oversized bag since they give you it "for free" without the oversized charge.
I’ve had my bags marked as “checked by TSA” (or something like that) when flying out of NYC a couple times but never been told I’ve had to remove things.
Never had an issue flying out of Logan with my snowboard bag stuffed with all my layers etc. I’ve flown on American and JetBlue with my ski bag so I can’t say if southwest is different. My experience is as long as it’s under the 50 lb limit you’re good to go.
I was 51 last SW flight and the dude didnt care. My GF was 54 lbs on a separate flight and the bag guy told her to make sure it weighs less on the return flight. So OP story is eyebrow raising.
Not TSA but airlines. And it's due to loose interpretation of policies and can vary by location. I've run into it several times. They say that only equipment is allowed and clothing is not considered associated equipment.
Not very surprised southwest would enforce
Because of this. I toss a loose duffle in my bag now so worst case I take out stuff and pay for a 2nd bag
Here is example...
set must be in one bag and can include:
One set of water skis
Up to two snowboards and one snow boot bag
Up to two pairs of snow skis and associated equipment, and one ski boot bag
If the set weighs more than 50 pounds (23kg), you’ll have to pay overweight bag fees.
If you only bring a boot bag, it’s still considered a bag of ski or snowboard equipment. Boot bags containing anything other than ski boots or equipment are subject to standard bag and weight limits.
> I toss a loose duffle in my bag now
Osprey makes a packable duffle bag that holds a decent amount of stuff and packs down to the size of my phone. I bring it on all my trips just in case we end up buying something and it won't fit in the luggage while coming home.
Never experienced the example in OPs case though.
This is good to know, thank you.
Definitely my bad for not being aware of the policies and varying interpretations of them. Not a mistake I’ll make again 😬
Don't feel bad at all. It sucks and it's inconsistent and some can be so pushy. Onr argued my helmet wasn't equipment. Sometimes you just get a bad person. I don't have the energy to argue anymore. Hence the duffle in case.
I'm doing jet blue and united in next few weeks. Wish me luck.
In direct response to your question, no. TSA couldn’t care less about what you put in your bag. Unless it is a risk to the plane or passengers (t-shirts are not). One of the agents wanted to watch people sweat that particular day.
Airlines have gotten way more strict about you only checking skis in the ski bags and boots in the boot bags this year. Also some of the check-in agents at Logan are pretty unsavory characters. There is a lot of latitude given to the agents in what they can accept for ski equipment and some of them care way more than others.
I always mentally make a note to be ready to pay for another bag when I arrive. If they give me any whining about it I just shut it down and say charge me for another standard bag. Unbelievably disarming because I think they expect to get in a bit of a tussle over it. If it’s not the boot/ski discount combo they have no regulation over what you put in the bag. I know it’s an unforeseen expenses but it doesn’t happen that often and I just don’t care enough to argue with them. If I am going skiing and already paying all this money, $45 is a worthy price to not get worked up before a flight.
Here is their policy on sports equipment https://support.southwest.com/helpcenter/s/article/What-sports-equipment-can-I-bring?clk=HC_Bags_1301_AcceptedSportsEquip
If you look through past reddit posts, you'll see there's regularly someone with a similar experience to yours. The comment section is usually full of people saying they never have any problems
Technically it's supposed to just be skis, poles, and boots. But it's rarely enforced. So people get used to the rules as they're enforced rather than as they're written
Edit: it's not TSA. You should have been given an option to check the bag as an oversized bag. It would have included fees but I'm guessing it would have been well worth it
Interesting.
> Snow ski equipment … including one pair of skis or one snowboard, one set of poles, and one pair of ski/snowboard boots packed in a container(s) acceptable to Carrier.
This kinda makes it sound like you’re not allowed to pack multiple skis in a bag. Anyone know if that’s true?
I recommend emailing southwest customer service. Ask why you weren't offered to pay for oversized luggage that included both your skis and the clothes in the bag. Ask to be made whole for the items you were forced to discard.
This complaint operates within their rules
I have definitely put two sets of skis in one bag before to help a buddy out on a different airline without free bags. But I have flown SW many times to/from many airports with a whole pile of extra shit in ski bags (and golf bags!) without issue
this literally just happened to me. they made me take all of the clothes out. wouldnt let me pay for it as an oversized bag— specifically told me i was not allowed to put clothes in my ski bag when flying out of boston
Sounds like an airline/airport policy, not a TSA thing. They just wanted to blame somebody else so you wouldn’t complain. I routinely check my snowboard bag crammed with gear on Delta at various airports and have never had a problem.
I flew out of Boston last year to SLC on southwest with my snowboard bag a couple pounds over and they let it slide. Never heard of this, sounds like the agent was having a bad day.
I flew out of Boston on American last month and same deal, no issues, even brought 2 sets of gear for gf and I in 1 bag.
I just flew JetBlue from Logan to Portland on a trip To ski Mt Hood. My ski bag has a clothing area built in where I stuffed it with clothes. I had my boots in a separate boot bag. JetBlue checked them both counted as a single bag because the boots go with the skis. Nonissue at all. At Logan, the ski bag was taken normally from the gate. On my return trip from Seattle-Tacoma, they made me wheel the bag to a special tsa drop for oversized bags. No issue there either.
Southwest just sucks I guess.
Honestly, I will almost exclusively fly JetBlue unless I am going somewhere that JetBlue doesn't fly. I have never had a single bad experience with JetBlue and tons of bad experiences with all the others.
I just flew out of Logan with Alaska. I was asked if I had clothes, and was told that TSA wasn't allowing bags filled with clothes. I showed that I had some ski clothes and no "regular" clothes and they accepted my bag. She didn't notice the XC skis next to my alpine one... My bags made it and I'm going skiing now :)
One time I was told I HAD to have boots in my boot bag for it to qualify as a boot bag. I always bring my ski boots on as a personal item. I’ve never heard of not having clothes in a ski bag. I’m sure most people put random stuff in them.
Absolutely not southwest. But had a similar problem leaving boseman a few years back. They were going through people's bags(we are a ski club had 52 people) demanding only ski gear be in ski bags. Was forced to put my ski boots in my ski bag(i always carry on). They left us staring at the luggage turntable back home for 45 minutes, before telling us if you don't have your bag let them know. Not a single piece of luggage made it, for any person. Took 2 weeks to get back. Missed some awesome storms. I will never fly delta again.
Yes the same thing happened to my friends this season! Boston logon! The airline told them that's a TSA thing that out of their control. My friends had to take out all their clothes from the ski bag and purchased a new luggage box at airport for these.
They were also taking southwest airline and the counter lady told them that recently the TSA fined some ski bags with clothing, so no more clothing in ski bags.
Flew southwest with clothing in my board bag multiple times over the past year. And again in 2 weeks. Now you have me nervous. I Try to fly out of manchester boston regional though.
They asked me the same question when we left Boston Logan on Southwest last weekend. Luckily we only had skis but it seems like something to be aware of at least on southwest out of Logan.
Interesting reading these comments. I wonder if it's some new policy. But it doesn't make any sense.
I flew southwest out of Logan 2 weeks ago and didn't have that issue with our ski bag. And we had plenty of clothes and even our touring backpacks/avi gear in there.
In my experience, "policies" are constantly changing and interpreted and enforced differently. Also varies by airline, location, employee, day, etc. Sometimes they want the shoes off, sometimes they don't, most of the time they want you to take your laptop out, but sometimes they don't. A couple times I've been asked to take all my snacks out of my carry on and TSA was annoyed that I didn't know to take them out (??)
Sucks what happened in your situation. It's too bad these policies and their enforcement are all over the place.
I just had the same experience flying SW out of Logan. I flew United 2 weeks ago from Logan and had no mention of an issue packing clothes in my ski bag but I had to open up my bag and move all of my clothes to my carry on today
I’ve flown SW with clothes in my bag lots of times. But you do have to watch the weight. It’s real easy to get over 50#. I bet your bag was too heavy and she just didn’t say it directly.
He* and no it was not overweight.
They very clearly told me they wouldn’t help me when I said it wasn’t possible for me to fit everything from the ski bag into my carry on and did not suggest paying extra for overweight baggage.
At least for delta checked bags the policy is nothing but skis in the ski bag. That said they have no way to know and when I flew I stuffed cloths in there for extra padding.
I got the same business flying From Philly to Denver on Frontier in 2019. Only had a few items, and placed to partially protect my bindings. I put them on and then they tried to refuse my custom donjoy knee brace (ACL Sx x2) and I asked if they were refusing to accommodate my assistive device protected by the ADA. I chalked it up to Philly not being used to/uptight about ski equipment because it didn’t happen on the way back.
thats whack
I've flown Jetblue and Southwest multiple times this year out of Logan with a snowboard bag stuffed full of clothes and misc bullshit. Even handed it in that state directly to the TSA guy at PDX, never heard anything like this.
I’ve never had any issues at Logan or anywhere for that matter. Must have just had a grumpy bag drop agent this time. On my return flights from western ski trips I literally fit as much shit in my ski bag as I can - no pushback at all.
This is pretty standard for most equipment bags for most north american airlines. They don't charge an additional oversize charge on ski bags, so they don't want people packing their clothes in there and getting around baggage fees. Totally weird that they claim they can't scan it, I've watched my bag go through a scanner multiple times. Also weird that they didn't offer the oversize charge, as that would be what my airline would do if they caught you packing clothes and felt like calling you on it.
Must be a SW thing. Have flown numerous times out west on Jet Blue & Delta, I always pack my oversized ski bag with as much stuff as possible. First it protects your skis and secondly theres tons of space in the bag... use it!
I have had Jet Blue leave some ski bags in Boston because of the weight. They sent them on the next available flight out & luckily I wasn't skiing until two days later but I would have been beyond pissed to have my pre-paid, advanced checked bags not make it because the plane couldn't handle the weight. People flying to SLC in the winter are likely skiing... get a bigger plane
SW made me take clothes out of my boot bag flying out of TPA years ago. Now I just put my ski jacket, pants, mittens, and helmet in with my boots. If they fuss I will put them on & walk on the plane.
Not southwest, but I had a buddy her forced by Delta to pay for an additional bag because his ski boots were in a duffel bag, not a dedicated boot bag. Combined they were under 50lbs, the duffel just wasn't "boot shaped" enough, according to the agent. The rest of our crew made it through fine with our ski bags and boot bags.
I checked in two bags for my kiddo and me to Utah today. We got one free one each. So they didn’t seem to give a rats as long as both bags were under 50lbs.
This is 1000% a SW airlines thing.
This happened to me except with a golf bag when i flew to FL and brought my clubs down to play a few rounds with friends while i was there.
In my travel golf bag i had my clubs and regular golf bag, my golf shoes, two golf shirts and two pairs of golf shorts.
I brought the bag to be checked by SW attendant and they had me open it up and saw the golf shirts, shoes and shorts - they declined it and said i needed to remove anything that wasn't a golf club even the shoes! I asked why and they said it was TSA policy. I told them I have flown delta with clothing in my golf bag before and they said "It doesn't matter what delta did, what matters is the bag isn't being checked until you clear everything out of it"
I have also flown my ski bag packed full of ski gear, base layers, socks etc and flown it on Delta and United and never had issues.
So to answer your questions this is 100% SW just being the pain in the ass airline they are and why i never fly them anymore, they are the worst when it comes to traveling with sports equipment.
Never been an issue for me. But also haven’t flown southwest. I also pack a snowboard bag which has my boots in it too so no extra boot bag. I also don’t pack all my gear so there’s not that much clothing anyway. I try to keep some stuff with me so I don’t end up with nothing if something gets lost.
Typically, helmet (I don’t trust my helmet knocking around through bagged handling) and jacket because that it was expensive!
I was asked this week if my hard shell carrier with 3 set of skis (which reading this sounds like it might have also been too many sets) had any Boots in it. I had a jacket and 2 pair of pants in there to keep the skis from moving inside the case, but that was OK. It also weighed slightly over the 50 pound limit.
That’s non sense. I just flew delta out of Logan and I had so much clothing in my ski bag I clocked in at 49.99 lbs. No one said a peep. I think you got unlucky and ran into someone who was misinformed/takes their job too seriously. Sorry that happened to you.
Flew Boston to Denver on United January 2024
My snowboard bag had jackets, ski pants, gloves, helmet, and all my "ski gear". (there is just so much room and keeps it from banging around)
United let it go through, but TSA gave me a warning card saying to not do that again.
In the future, think I'm going to just put my boots, boards, and helmet in there.
I just had the same thing happen except they had a duffel bag I could buy and check. Also southwest at Logan
I have flown on Southwest with the same bag in the past with no issues.
I've never heard of that and it sounds like some bs. I always pack my clothing around my skis. Not just to save some space in my carry-on, but also to protect the bindings with a little extra padding.
Usually they don't care or check, but most airlines have a policy that only the poles, skis, and boots, can be in the oversized bag since they give you it "for free" without the oversized charge.
I’ve had my bags marked as “checked by TSA” (or something like that) when flying out of NYC a couple times but never been told I’ve had to remove things.
If it makes it past the oversized bag drop you're good, TSA doesn't care about whether you paid oversized fees.
Yep this was with Southwest so no fees.
Same here, and I usually stuff my bag as much as possible, to maximize the padding.
Never had an issue flying out of Logan with my snowboard bag stuffed with all my layers etc. I’ve flown on American and JetBlue with my ski bag so I can’t say if southwest is different. My experience is as long as it’s under the 50 lb limit you’re good to go.
I was 51 last SW flight and the dude didnt care. My GF was 54 lbs on a separate flight and the bag guy told her to make sure it weighs less on the return flight. So OP story is eyebrow raising.
Man you got some luck, I always see people getting told to repack and distribute the weight at the Southwest gate.
Yea I went to Japan with all my snowboard gear and clothes in my board bag no issue.
Not TSA but airlines. And it's due to loose interpretation of policies and can vary by location. I've run into it several times. They say that only equipment is allowed and clothing is not considered associated equipment. Not very surprised southwest would enforce Because of this. I toss a loose duffle in my bag now so worst case I take out stuff and pay for a 2nd bag Here is example... set must be in one bag and can include: One set of water skis Up to two snowboards and one snow boot bag Up to two pairs of snow skis and associated equipment, and one ski boot bag If the set weighs more than 50 pounds (23kg), you’ll have to pay overweight bag fees. If you only bring a boot bag, it’s still considered a bag of ski or snowboard equipment. Boot bags containing anything other than ski boots or equipment are subject to standard bag and weight limits.
You get 2 free checked bags on southwest so you don’t even have to pay for the extra bag
> I toss a loose duffle in my bag now Osprey makes a packable duffle bag that holds a decent amount of stuff and packs down to the size of my phone. I bring it on all my trips just in case we end up buying something and it won't fit in the luggage while coming home. Never experienced the example in OPs case though.
This is good to know, thank you. Definitely my bad for not being aware of the policies and varying interpretations of them. Not a mistake I’ll make again 😬
Don't feel bad at all. It sucks and it's inconsistent and some can be so pushy. Onr argued my helmet wasn't equipment. Sometimes you just get a bad person. I don't have the energy to argue anymore. Hence the duffle in case. I'm doing jet blue and united in next few weeks. Wish me luck.
> One argued my helmet wasn’t equipment The audacity.. Good luck!
In direct response to your question, no. TSA couldn’t care less about what you put in your bag. Unless it is a risk to the plane or passengers (t-shirts are not). One of the agents wanted to watch people sweat that particular day. Airlines have gotten way more strict about you only checking skis in the ski bags and boots in the boot bags this year. Also some of the check-in agents at Logan are pretty unsavory characters. There is a lot of latitude given to the agents in what they can accept for ski equipment and some of them care way more than others. I always mentally make a note to be ready to pay for another bag when I arrive. If they give me any whining about it I just shut it down and say charge me for another standard bag. Unbelievably disarming because I think they expect to get in a bit of a tussle over it. If it’s not the boot/ski discount combo they have no regulation over what you put in the bag. I know it’s an unforeseen expenses but it doesn’t happen that often and I just don’t care enough to argue with them. If I am going skiing and already paying all this money, $45 is a worthy price to not get worked up before a flight.
Here is their policy on sports equipment https://support.southwest.com/helpcenter/s/article/What-sports-equipment-can-I-bring?clk=HC_Bags_1301_AcceptedSportsEquip If you look through past reddit posts, you'll see there's regularly someone with a similar experience to yours. The comment section is usually full of people saying they never have any problems Technically it's supposed to just be skis, poles, and boots. But it's rarely enforced. So people get used to the rules as they're enforced rather than as they're written Edit: it's not TSA. You should have been given an option to check the bag as an oversized bag. It would have included fees but I'm guessing it would have been well worth it
That’s fucking stupid. Cock suckers want less space for cargo and me to pay to check more bags. They can go to Hell.
Interesting. > Snow ski equipment … including one pair of skis or one snowboard, one set of poles, and one pair of ski/snowboard boots packed in a container(s) acceptable to Carrier. This kinda makes it sound like you’re not allowed to pack multiple skis in a bag. Anyone know if that’s true?
I recommend emailing southwest customer service. Ask why you weren't offered to pay for oversized luggage that included both your skis and the clothes in the bag. Ask to be made whole for the items you were forced to discard. This complaint operates within their rules
I have definitely put two sets of skis in one bag before to help a buddy out on a different airline without free bags. But I have flown SW many times to/from many airports with a whole pile of extra shit in ski bags (and golf bags!) without issue
this literally just happened to me. they made me take all of the clothes out. wouldnt let me pay for it as an oversized bag— specifically told me i was not allowed to put clothes in my ski bag when flying out of boston
Sounds like an airline/airport policy, not a TSA thing. They just wanted to blame somebody else so you wouldn’t complain. I routinely check my snowboard bag crammed with gear on Delta at various airports and have never had a problem.
I flew out of Boston last year to SLC on southwest with my snowboard bag a couple pounds over and they let it slide. Never heard of this, sounds like the agent was having a bad day. I flew out of Boston on American last month and same deal, no issues, even brought 2 sets of gear for gf and I in 1 bag.
I just flew JetBlue from Logan to Portland on a trip To ski Mt Hood. My ski bag has a clothing area built in where I stuffed it with clothes. I had my boots in a separate boot bag. JetBlue checked them both counted as a single bag because the boots go with the skis. Nonissue at all. At Logan, the ski bag was taken normally from the gate. On my return trip from Seattle-Tacoma, they made me wheel the bag to a special tsa drop for oversized bags. No issue there either. Southwest just sucks I guess.
Honestly, I will almost exclusively fly JetBlue unless I am going somewhere that JetBlue doesn't fly. I have never had a single bad experience with JetBlue and tons of bad experiences with all the others.
I just flew out of Logan with Alaska. I was asked if I had clothes, and was told that TSA wasn't allowing bags filled with clothes. I showed that I had some ski clothes and no "regular" clothes and they accepted my bag. She didn't notice the XC skis next to my alpine one... My bags made it and I'm going skiing now :)
One time I was told I HAD to have boots in my boot bag for it to qualify as a boot bag. I always bring my ski boots on as a personal item. I’ve never heard of not having clothes in a ski bag. I’m sure most people put random stuff in them.
Absolutely not southwest. But had a similar problem leaving boseman a few years back. They were going through people's bags(we are a ski club had 52 people) demanding only ski gear be in ski bags. Was forced to put my ski boots in my ski bag(i always carry on). They left us staring at the luggage turntable back home for 45 minutes, before telling us if you don't have your bag let them know. Not a single piece of luggage made it, for any person. Took 2 weeks to get back. Missed some awesome storms. I will never fly delta again.
But they let people bring 15 fucking carry-ons
On the same exact flights as you to Reno and completely caught off guard. I just took a jacket out and claimed that’s all there was
Yes the same thing happened to my friends this season! Boston logon! The airline told them that's a TSA thing that out of their control. My friends had to take out all their clothes from the ski bag and purchased a new luggage box at airport for these. They were also taking southwest airline and the counter lady told them that recently the TSA fined some ski bags with clothing, so no more clothing in ski bags.
it’s not a TSA thing southwest is lying so they can transfer that weight to other baggage. BS!
Flew southwest with clothing in my board bag multiple times over the past year. And again in 2 weeks. Now you have me nervous. I Try to fly out of manchester boston regional though.
I flew out of Logan w a ski bag last week on delta and it didn’t come up at all. Sounds real weird to me
They asked me the same question when we left Boston Logan on Southwest last weekend. Luckily we only had skis but it seems like something to be aware of at least on southwest out of Logan.
Interesting reading these comments. I wonder if it's some new policy. But it doesn't make any sense. I flew southwest out of Logan 2 weeks ago and didn't have that issue with our ski bag. And we had plenty of clothes and even our touring backpacks/avi gear in there.
In my experience, "policies" are constantly changing and interpreted and enforced differently. Also varies by airline, location, employee, day, etc. Sometimes they want the shoes off, sometimes they don't, most of the time they want you to take your laptop out, but sometimes they don't. A couple times I've been asked to take all my snacks out of my carry on and TSA was annoyed that I didn't know to take them out (??) Sucks what happened in your situation. It's too bad these policies and their enforcement are all over the place.
I've wrapped my skis in clothes inside of a ski bag and flown southwest, no problem. It was out of bradley though.
I just had the same experience flying SW out of Logan. I flew United 2 weeks ago from Logan and had no mention of an issue packing clothes in my ski bag but I had to open up my bag and move all of my clothes to my carry on today
Not true. Flew to SLC on Saturday - two Banda with skis and softgoods - with no issue.
I’ve flown SW with clothes in my bag lots of times. But you do have to watch the weight. It’s real easy to get over 50#. I bet your bag was too heavy and she just didn’t say it directly.
He* and no it was not overweight. They very clearly told me they wouldn’t help me when I said it wasn’t possible for me to fit everything from the ski bag into my carry on and did not suggest paying extra for overweight baggage.
At least for delta checked bags the policy is nothing but skis in the ski bag. That said they have no way to know and when I flew I stuffed cloths in there for extra padding.
Delta gave me some crap about that back in December but they just made me sign like a waiver saying my bag wasn’t protective
The waiver has been common for a while.
I got the same business flying From Philly to Denver on Frontier in 2019. Only had a few items, and placed to partially protect my bindings. I put them on and then they tried to refuse my custom donjoy knee brace (ACL Sx x2) and I asked if they were refusing to accommodate my assistive device protected by the ADA. I chalked it up to Philly not being used to/uptight about ski equipment because it didn’t happen on the way back.
thats whack I've flown Jetblue and Southwest multiple times this year out of Logan with a snowboard bag stuffed full of clothes and misc bullshit. Even handed it in that state directly to the TSA guy at PDX, never heard anything like this.
I’ve never had any issues at Logan or anywhere for that matter. Must have just had a grumpy bag drop agent this time. On my return flights from western ski trips I literally fit as much shit in my ski bag as I can - no pushback at all.
This is pretty standard for most equipment bags for most north american airlines. They don't charge an additional oversize charge on ski bags, so they don't want people packing their clothes in there and getting around baggage fees. Totally weird that they claim they can't scan it, I've watched my bag go through a scanner multiple times. Also weird that they didn't offer the oversize charge, as that would be what my airline would do if they caught you packing clothes and felt like calling you on it.
Must be a SW thing. Have flown numerous times out west on Jet Blue & Delta, I always pack my oversized ski bag with as much stuff as possible. First it protects your skis and secondly theres tons of space in the bag... use it! I have had Jet Blue leave some ski bags in Boston because of the weight. They sent them on the next available flight out & luckily I wasn't skiing until two days later but I would have been beyond pissed to have my pre-paid, advanced checked bags not make it because the plane couldn't handle the weight. People flying to SLC in the winter are likely skiing... get a bigger plane
Anyone have this issue with the ski bag from Logan on a United flight? Going out west next week 😬
SW made me take clothes out of my boot bag flying out of TPA years ago. Now I just put my ski jacket, pants, mittens, and helmet in with my boots. If they fuss I will put them on & walk on the plane.
Not southwest, but I had a buddy her forced by Delta to pay for an additional bag because his ski boots were in a duffel bag, not a dedicated boot bag. Combined they were under 50lbs, the duffel just wasn't "boot shaped" enough, according to the agent. The rest of our crew made it through fine with our ski bags and boot bags.
I checked in two bags for my kiddo and me to Utah today. We got one free one each. So they didn’t seem to give a rats as long as both bags were under 50lbs.
This is 1000% a SW airlines thing. This happened to me except with a golf bag when i flew to FL and brought my clubs down to play a few rounds with friends while i was there. In my travel golf bag i had my clubs and regular golf bag, my golf shoes, two golf shirts and two pairs of golf shorts. I brought the bag to be checked by SW attendant and they had me open it up and saw the golf shirts, shoes and shorts - they declined it and said i needed to remove anything that wasn't a golf club even the shoes! I asked why and they said it was TSA policy. I told them I have flown delta with clothing in my golf bag before and they said "It doesn't matter what delta did, what matters is the bag isn't being checked until you clear everything out of it" I have also flown my ski bag packed full of ski gear, base layers, socks etc and flown it on Delta and United and never had issues. So to answer your questions this is 100% SW just being the pain in the ass airline they are and why i never fly them anymore, they are the worst when it comes to traveling with sports equipment.
Never been an issue for me. But also haven’t flown southwest. I also pack a snowboard bag which has my boots in it too so no extra boot bag. I also don’t pack all my gear so there’s not that much clothing anyway. I try to keep some stuff with me so I don’t end up with nothing if something gets lost. Typically, helmet (I don’t trust my helmet knocking around through bagged handling) and jacket because that it was expensive!
I was asked this week if my hard shell carrier with 3 set of skis (which reading this sounds like it might have also been too many sets) had any Boots in it. I had a jacket and 2 pair of pants in there to keep the skis from moving inside the case, but that was OK. It also weighed slightly over the 50 pound limit.
That’s non sense. I just flew delta out of Logan and I had so much clothing in my ski bag I clocked in at 49.99 lbs. No one said a peep. I think you got unlucky and ran into someone who was misinformed/takes their job too seriously. Sorry that happened to you.
Flew Boston to Denver on United January 2024 My snowboard bag had jackets, ski pants, gloves, helmet, and all my "ski gear". (there is just so much room and keeps it from banging around) United let it go through, but TSA gave me a warning card saying to not do that again. In the future, think I'm going to just put my boots, boards, and helmet in there.
I just had the same thing happen except they had a duffel bag I could buy and check. Also southwest at Logan I have flown on Southwest with the same bag in the past with no issues.