Every surfer can feel the pain. Photo: Jorge Sangachi
Airlines struck a helpless surfer once again. This time it was JetBlue that bamboozled Ecuadorian surfer Jorge Sangachi while he attempted to check in for a flight at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.
A video that Sangachi posted online is rekindling the never-ending surfers-versus-airlines feud, showing the surfer shoving his surfboard in an airport trash can to make his flight back to Ecuador.
According to Sangachi, he had originally purchased a flight on United Airlines, but United automatically changed his flight to a JetBlue route. While United’s surfboard policy doesn’t limit the number of surfboards per bag as long as they are under 100 pounds and within the required dimensions, JetBlue has a stingy policy that only allows one surfboard per bag.
“I went to do the check-in, and surprise, I could only bring one board per bag,” Sangachi told The Inertia.
When the desk agent asked Sangachi how many boards were in the bag, he responded with a minor fib. He told them he had two boards, when, in reality, he had four. The agent didn’t check, but told him one board had to go if the bag were to be checked onto the plane. At 2 a.m., it was impossible to call friends to come pick it up.
“I begged and begged, but it didn’t work,” Sangachi said. “It was horrible. We spent an hour arguing, but I still had to leave a board.”
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Luckily, they never opened the bag to see how many boards were really in it. Sangachi figured that if he had lied and said there was only one board, they’d get suspicious of the bag’s size and open it up to count them all. Given how firm JetBlue was on the one-board rule, he’s lucky they didn’t make him leave three behind.
Sangachi recommends that surfers check the latest surfboard policies before they fly with an airline, because the rules often change. He still believes that it’s unfair that he was subject to JetBlue’s policies since he purchased the ticket with United.
“Hopefully a surfer (finds my board) and takes it for free,” Sangachi said in the video.
Sangachi’s troubles traveling with a surfboard are not uncommon. Every surfer who has traveled enough has had to plead and negotiate with airline agents. Earlier this year, Scoot Airlines demolished $3,600 worth of surfboards that belonged to Chinese surfer Karlie Huang. Last year, Joel Tudor blasted Hawaiian Airlines on his social media feed for refusing to take his longboards to Hawaii. The backlash ultimately led the airline to update its policy.
