I travel frequently with the my daughter and her tri-bike. She has a hard sided case that measures over the maximum of 80 inches. We have never (over three years) had a problem with the case until recently in Hawaii. As we watched someone pick up their HUGE surfboard from the oversize baggage area, the agent gave my daughter a hard time about her bike. The only reason they let her check it was that Southwest had flown it over to the islands with no hassles or questions. Why the inconsistencies? We now feel that we can't risk flying Southwest because of these policies. Why take a risk of being hassled? She is usually flying to competitions so not taking it is not an option. Why are some types of sports equipment allowed that are clearly over the 80 inch max and some not?
The rules are different for different pieces of sports equipment. Many have criticized SW's 80 inch limit for bikes. You could contact SW to compalin about it. To do so click on "contact us" below and follow the prompts.
