Padded Board Bag

Hey I'm about to go on vacation and I want to bring my wakeboard with me. Will a padded wakeboard bag protect my board from all the abuse the airplane people give all the lugage? If so where can I find one for a good price.

I say padded bag alone is too risky. Go to Home Depot and get some padded pipe insulation, it's like a buck for each 6' section. Use this to wrap all your board's edges (inside your bag), and tape it down to keep it in place. If you want to be really obsessive, a couple layers of corrugated cardboard around the edges won't hurt either. All it took was one time having my wife's $450 snowboard deck smashed, and I became much more cautious. Check ahead about additional airline fees, if any. Sometimes I'll just mail my board to myself at my destination spot (insured) and simply pick it up when I get there. Sometimes it's not too much more expensive, and it beats hauling the thing around the airport.

I manage the installation of baggage handling systems in airports. My advise to you is rent or demo when you get there and pack tight enough to carry on your stuff. I wont check a bag if I dont have too.
If you are going to bring your board - take every precaution you can to protect it,I recommend the hard cases on the market, but the padded cases are cheaper as long as you follow Doc Oct's advice...
Good luck.

Make sure you don't buy the pipe insulation with the adhesive on it. It is a b***h to get off of your board. You can also use toweld, life jacket etc. to help pad your bag. I did this with my boards to Vegas and didn't have any problem.

I just flew to Florida and back with a padded O'brien bag with wheels. I packed two boards by wrapping them in shorty wetsuits and then strapped the neoprene vests around the ends. I also put my barefoot suit between them. They made the trip no problem.

Really, it's a roll of the dice, regardless. We had flown dozens of times with snowboards in padded wheelie bags, and then there was that one time that I mentioned above...
If you do have your stuff damaged by the airline industry, you should know that you only have 48 hours to file a claim, after that, they won't even take a report, so you're SOL. Found that one out the hard way... ouch!!
Also, if you're gonna fly with your board all packed and padded with other gear, check and make sure that nothing is missing when you get there. Last time I flew with my wakeboard and skate in a bag, I had it all crammed with extra gear for padding. So I get there and open my bag a couple days later to find that I now only have one wake skate shoe in the bag, and some other things were missing, as well. At least my boards were not damaged that time.

Man these are some scary stories. I'm not sure if I want to do it or not.

Hey Doc,
Your bag was likely hit by a pusher -these things are the size of a volkswagon with a rotational paddle on it. The pushers hit with enough force to rip open a bag if its positioned incorrectly on the belt. 99 bags out of a hundred pass these pushers with no problem, but occasionally . Some guy at the end of the line does what he can to fix the damage. Your shoe is probably in a conveyor somewhere. Technology in airports has not changed since the 1940's.

bro, just wrap each end and the edges with thick towels and then duct tape. Ive done this for 8 years with snowboards and wakeboards and havnt had 1 problem. as long as your board bag is a decent one.u most likely have both tape and towels at your haouse already...so its free!

Check your airline for extra fees. I just came back to Florida from Texas Ski Ranch with 3 other guys. We had four boards in a bag and they wanted to charge us $240! one way. The rule is $80 for up to two boards in a bag. Triple fees for above that. The a-holes claim that surfboards and wakeboards are lumped togeather.

Fortunately I was able to get them to just charge $80. If you can check in your luggage at the street, make sure you are holding a fiver in your hand so the baggage guys knows he getting a tip. That worked for getting them on for free on the way out. Unfortunately there was no curbside checking on the way back.

Alright I got the Hyperlite Sidewayz bag. Do you think I should take my bindings off my board and just wrap it in towels. and put the bindings in my other suitcase. I checked with my airport and they said i can have 2 bags that are no bigger then 80 inches. height plus width plus length. My bag with my board in it is 75 inches.

I would take the bindings off. IF the sky cap asks just tell them they are, waterskis. United didn't charge me anything for mine.

BTW, the airline I had trouble with was Continental. Be careful when you travel with them. They specifically single out wakeboards as a chargeable item ($80 each way). And their maximum bag size is only 65" (L+W+H). Even if you were able to get a board into a bag that size they could still charge you based on their rules. Airlines are pretty much like the Soup Nazi. Ya do what they tell you or you don't fly.