I was contacted this week by APH (Airport Hotels and Parking) who have a verty nifty price comparison sheet of charges for carrying golf clubs by air. There are clearly huge differences in how much extra it will cost you to take your clubs abroad and not surprisingly it's the budget lines who are more likely to levy extra charges, with Easyjet and BMI asking £15 on top of the flight price, whereas BA allow you to take '14 clubs, 12 balls and a pair of shoes' within your baggage limit. As with everything else in life, I guess that you get what you pay for.
However, I think there's something that APH has missed. I've been looking closely at the Easyjet site because they're the biggest operator from our local airport and if the flight is cheap, £15 for clubs doesn't seem too bad to me. However, on their page for baggage allowance, I found that each passenger is permitted one standard piece of hand luggage and 'up to 8 pieces of checked-in hold baggage (each bag charged at £3.99 online or £8 at the airport) to a maximum combined weight of 20kg'
I read this to mean that all hold baggage is charged extra on top of the flight price. Again, £3.99 isn't the earth, but if you hadn't picked this up in advance, and your party arrives at the airport to find it owes £8 per item added to £15 for clubs, I think it might be enough to dim the pleasure of taking off into the sun.
I'm still thinking a trip abroad might be tempting, so forewarned is forearmed. If I have unjustly accused Easyjet, I shall look forward to being corrected.
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