Published May 2, 2004 12:00AM
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Destinations, July 1997S M A R T T R A V E L E R
It’s Not a Canoe. It’s a Tuba.
Tromping about on Spain’s unique western shore, where fjords abound and vino is a breakfast staple By Claire Martin Skis are free. Golf clubs cost nothing. Even sousaphones carry no surcharge. But try to check a kayak, even a foldable one, before your next airline trip and watch the ticket clerk’s eyes roll. If the airline will transport the craft, you’ll be charged a hefty fee. This wasn’t always so. As recently as last year, most equipment-lugging travelers could find baggage handlers who’d wink at restrictions. But since the crash of ValuJet Flight 592, which was blamed on oxygen tanks, and the implementation of tighter airport security, airlines have become much stricter about what they’ll carry and at what price. Stove fuel containers, for example, must be empty, their cleanliness proved by scrubbing them in view of gate attendants; even then, most airlines won’t carry them. What follows are other current baggage regulations — and a few possible end-runs. Illustration by Philip Anderson |