Air travel – Bamboo Rods

[Pwknauth]

What has been your experience when travelling major airlines, transporting your favorite bamboo rods?
I am asking specifically about carry-on items. My graphite rods are 3 piece, with a 31 inches long rod case. I have never had a problem or have been questioned. My bamboo rods are 2 piece with a rod case 48 inches long. I don’t want to be is a situation where I must check rods, because a rod case greater 48 inches.

Thank you for response

[16pmd]

I never check any bamboo rods. I don't trust the airlines, baggage handlers, etc. and I think the airlines reimburse by weight, not value, of lost items. I have a cloth-covered PVC case that holds multiple rods and is just long enough for 3 pc. 9 foot rods. It fits in overheads and I've never had a lost or damaged rod using it.

[Eric Peper]

Agree 150% with16pmd. I wouldn't let the baggage trashers handle even a glass rod.

EP

[ibookje]

Just don't take the chance I'd say, just like both gents.
Bring three piece bamboo instead if you want to fish with bamboo.

[PT48]

I have taken a three piece bamboo, locked in my checked-in luggage, from Hobart, Tasmania, to Bozeman, Montana, and back with no problems (I have done the same with graphite rods into and out of NZ on many, many occasions). I took a two piece bamboo in the cabin from Portland, Oregon, to Sydney, Australia, and got wrapped over the knuckles in Sydney for taking it in the cabin. If you have a strong bag/case which is securely locked I think that packing a three piece rod in that and checking it is a fair gamble. If you try to take one into the cabin, you might get pulled up at the security gates or, worse, told when you attempt to board the plane that you cannot take it on. It pays to do some research on both the airline and the airport before you attempt anything. Try to get an answer in email form so that you can take it with you. Reels are risky too because you can strangle people with fly lines!!

[Ear4]

Had anyone tried to bring a 2 piece rod as carry one lately? Either successfully or challenged?

I am flying out to MT next weekend, Jet Blue’s website says that fishing rods can be carried on if “they fit in the overhead bin”, so I am leaning towards bringing two favorite 2 piece rods in clothes covered PVC tubes but would love to hear if people have recent experience.


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[ibookje]

Just be prepared to be asked to check in the two piece rod after all…

[GMflyf1sh]

IU use a gun case and check the rods - flat and square and foam lined. I once had to check a single Gary Howells rod in an Airport in Moilne Illinois where the TSA agent would not let me take it through screening. At the time i lived in Montana and saw thousands of rods go thru screening. Never again .

Gregg

[GMflyf1sh]

I have three three piece bamboo rods which will fit in a duffle with all of my clothes around them.

[mcflyfish]

Folks...I have been flying out west as well as AK and South America a couple times a year for over 25 years. Pre-9/11 and of course...after.

Here's what I have found....I only take 3 piece rods in either a PVC tube (holding 5 rods) or a 36" rod carrier (like the one Orvis sells)....5-6 rods I have carried them on in these cases and only rarely will I get any grief, usually by a newbie at the check-in counter but never at TSA security or on-board. You can sometimes ask the flight attendant to put them standing up in the first class closet but I always can find space (easier with the PVC tube than the Orvis case which takes up more space).

With that said....I also will check them in the PVC tube shown in the picture in the drop-bottom of a 36" duffle with all my other gear and have never had an issue.

The only place I had to check the Orvis bag with rods was flying OUT of Balmaceda, Chile a couple years ago. The airlines just insisted...no fishing rods in the cabin...period. Some guys in my group had long 2 pc tubes etc that they had brought down there with no issues but had to check them on the return...go figure.

[Recidivist13]

Can’t add to the airline situation in US , but if ever coming down to Australia then you won’t be allowed rods as carry on, no matter the size. They get classified as sports equipment, so no go. I travel with 3 and 4 pce rods inside a pvc tube in a rolling duffel bag at least twice a month with no issues.

[Bill Terry]

Back in 2007, I went to Kamchatka via Paris and Moscow, because the only airline that went through Anchorage, Magadan Airlines, had (deservedly) gone belly-up. I carried two three-piece graphite 9-ft rods in a canvas case enclosing two heavy PVC tubes. I carried this case on board from Denver to Paris to Moscow to Petropavlovsk to Moscow to Paris with no objections. But the security guy for the flight from Paris to Denver wouldn’t let me through. He said I couldn’t carry fishing rods on board “because of the hooks.”

My French isn’t good enough to hold a complicated conversation, but my wife is fluent. Nevertheless, we couldn’t convince him that there was nothing dangerous in the case. I had to run back to check-in and check the rod case. I barely made it back to the gate in time to board. It arrived in Denver without further problems, but I have never tried to carry rods on board after that. I have a 4-pc 14’ Spey rod that I put in a Simms case and check; so far, so good, but I’m always nervous.

[Ear4]

So I decided to check a soft sided rod bag with 4 rods inside. Two 8 1/2 foot, two piece rods in cloth covered PVC tubes, one 7 1/2 foot two piece rod in a metal tube, and a 3 piece 8 foot rod in a cloth covered PVC tube. No issues on my way to MT. Flew back from Calgary, through Toronto, then to Newark. When I went through Customs in Toronto I was asked what I had in the long bag I checked and they had a picture on the screen of me putting the rod bag into the oversized checked baggage section. I suspect that Customs held up my luggage because when I got to Newark, my luggage was not there, and I was told it was last reported in Customs in Toronto. Two days later the bag was delivered to my house unharmed though.

So alls well that ends well, I guess but I did not feel great for the two days that I did not have my rods in my possession.

My take away is going forward I will limit myself to 3 piece rods and maybe only 2 that I can have in cloth covered PVC tubes I strap to my carry on bag. That way I can keep them with me.

[PT48]

So you faithfully declared the contents and they still held up your luggage? I think I would be making a formal complaint.