How to fly with a longboard: the airlines that take a 9'6"

The 9'6" problem

A 9'6" board is 114 inches long. The 8 bags in our catalog cut for one run 113.8 to 122 inches long on the outside. Pro-Lite cuts its longboard coffins about 3 inches long. TAP Air Portugal's packing guide says buy a bag 6 inches longer than your longest board.

Joel Tudor learned that math at the San Diego counter in September 2025. Hawaiian Airlines refused his 9'6". The bag ran about 10 feet, and the limit then was 9 feet 7 inches.

His warning to other loggers was blunt: "don't fly Hawaiian!"

Seven weeks later, Alaska and Hawaiian rewrote the rule. Since November 3, 2025, a board bag up to 10 feet 5 inches flies on their mainline jets. Their E175 regional jets still stop at 9 feet 7 inches.

Length beats linear inches

Airlines cap a board bag one of two ways. Some measure its length alone. Others add length, width and height into linear inches.

Linear caps suit a suitcase. A longboard bag fails every one we track, by a wide margin. So a log flies on airlines that cap length alone, or publish no cap at all.

American shows how fast this moves. It published 126 linear inches for boards in July. Its page now says 115 for all sports equipment.

Every airline that takes a board, against the three common log lengths. Each verdict uses the real bags in our catalog for that board size.

Which US airlines take a log

• Alaska and Hawaiian: a bag up to 10 feet 5 inches on mainline jets. Their E175 regional jets stop at 9 feet 7 inches.
• Southwest: no length cap for surfboards, and no oversize fee.
• JetBlue: exempts boards from its size rules, one board per case.
• United: up to 115 inches long on its own jets. That fits a 9'0" and is too short for most 9'6" bags. United Express stops at 92 inches.
• Delta and American: 115 linear inches, which no longboard bag clears. Delta Connection takes no board over 72 inches.
• Frontier: its surfboard list says 15 feet, and its bag rules refuse anything over 110 linear inches. Get the answer in writing before you book.

The Loggerhead test: getting a log to Jacksonville

Sunday at the pier

Chase Lieder of Montauk won the men's final at the Jacksonville Beach Pier on September 27. Sally Cohen of Oahu's North Shore won the women's.

Saxon Wilson of Flagler Beach won the 60s Vintage Log for the second year running. That division only takes boards built in the 1960s.

The seventh Loggerhead Classic ran September 25 to 27. Liveheats lists 127 entries from 108 surfers. Three divisions split a $20,000 purse equally.

Justin Quintal started the contest in 2018 as a one-day invite for 32 East Coast loggers. In 2025, Surfer called it the best longboard contest in the world.

The ocean helped. A storm out of the north ended what Quintal called "a long, hot, flat summer." The St. Augustine buoy read 8-foot seas on Friday. By Sunday the swell was smaller and cleaner, 13 to 15 seconds apart.

Where 108 loggers came from

The finals split between two ends of the country. Oahu put two surfers in the women's final. Montauk put one in each of the open finals. Joel Tudor rode the 60s Vintage Log and finished seventh.

The surfers with a published home base, by straight-line distance to the pier:

No competitor has said in public how their boards got to Jax. The airline rules say which routes could have carried them, and the answer is fewer than you would think.

Into Jacksonville

JAX has no nonstop that will carry a surfboard to California. Alaska and Hawaiian, which take a 10-foot bag, do not fly to JAX at all.

The airport's only California nonstops are Breeze flights to Los Angeles and San Diego. Breeze does not carry surfboards.

That leaves Southwest and JetBlue as the clean options. Delta flies JAX to Austin on a 76-seat E175, where Delta Connection's 72-inch limit applies.

Four ways a log gets to Jax

1. Drive it, or put it on a train

For the Florida crowd, the pier is a short drive. Flagler Beach, home of Vintage winner Saxon Wilson, is 59 miles south.

East Coast loggers have a trick the airport cannot match. Amtrak checks a surfboard up to 120 inches and 50 pounds for $10. Jacksonville's station has checked baggage. Make sure your origin station does too.

2. Fly the airline that takes it

Harrison Roach, the 2022 world longboard champion, put it plainly to Surfline:

"A longboarder like myself really can't just fly any old airline. They don't always take boards longer than 9'0", and even if they do, they might charge an arm and a leg."

His fix is loyalty. Roach flies Qantas from Australia to LA and says it does not "charge extra for longboards." On paper, Qantas caps a board at 277 cm, which is 109 inches.

From Oahu, Alaska or Hawaiian carries a log to the mainland. Southwest flies to Hawaii from California, and to JAX from hubs like Denver, Dallas and Baltimore. It publishes no length cap for surfboards on any of it, and it waives the checked bag fee on a surfboard for Hawaii residents.

3. Borrow one, or get one shaped

Pro loggers lean on each other's boards more than you would guess. Surfer reports that many World Longboard Tour surfers ride boards their tour-mates shaped.

When boards failed to reach the 2022 Duct Tape in Cape Town, Tudor borrowed a local shaper's board, Surfline reported. He surfed it in front of the man who made it.

This year, Gavin Idone finished third in the men and second in the Vintage. He thanked Chris Christenson "for the amazing boards, support and being a great board caddie."

Board makers Ricky Carroll Surfboards and Black Rose sponsor the event. Ricky Carroll has shaped Quintal's boards since he was 15. Saturday night ran a vintage board swap at Ink Factory Brewing.

4. Ship it ahead

In 2021, Roach shipped a batch of boards ahead instead of flying them. Stab called flying boards over 9 feet "a nightmare."

A parcel carrier will not take a log. UPS and FedEx Ground cap a package at 108 inches long. USPS Ground Advantage caps length plus girth at 130 inches. A 9'6" fails all three.

So a log ships as freight. Florida's Surf Station says every board over 8'1" needs LTL freight. It quotes "$645+" to the East Coast for a 7'11" to 9'11".

From California, The Board Source ships a 9'6" or longer for $255 to an airport cargo office. Door to door costs $299.99. Greyhound's package service closed in 2022.

The weight trap

Length is not the only cap. Most airlines add an overweight fee past 50 pounds, and a log bag gets there fast.

Only 15 of the 22 longboard bag sizes publish a weight. The heaviest, the FCS Travel 2W Wheelie Longboard at 10'0", is 20.1 pounds empty. Shaper Marc Andreini says 1960s boards were "already nearly 30 pounds." Pack one in the other and you are close to 50 before you add a towel.

Harrison Roach's rule: "Always weigh your bag before you get to the airport." A cheap hand scale pays for itself the first time.

Packing a 9'6"

• Measure the board, then the bag. The label on a bag is a size range, not a measurement. The airline measures the outside.
• Fins out. If yours is glassed on, Surfline suggests wedging swim fins under it for support.
• Pad the rails. TAP's guide says tape foam pipe insulation down both rails, with a notch at the nose and tail.
• Pad the ends. "Wrap any towels, shoes, wetsuits, even swim fins you're bringing around the noses and tails," says traveling pro McKenzie Bowden.
• Nothing hard and loose. TAP says keep the leash out of the board bag. A loose hard item gets crushed into the deck.
• Mark it. Write "fragile" on the bag, and tape a tracker inside.
• Weigh it. At home, packed, before the car.

At the counter

• Bring the policy. "I even screenshot the policy on my phone, so I can have a little proof," Anne Dos Santos told Surfline.
• Book direct. Buy from the airline that flies you, not a third-party site. Then the operating carrier's rule is the one on your ticket.
• Get there early. "A smile goes a long way," says Anna Gudauskas. Agents have more room for a big bag when nobody is rushing them.
• Check every leg. A regional jet on a connection is where most logs get turned away.

Questions

Can you fly with a 9'6" longboard?

Yes, on the right airline. Pick one that caps board length rather than linear inches, or publishes no cap. Every 9'6" bag in our catalog fails every linear cap.

Which US airlines take a longboard?

Alaska and Hawaiian take a bag up to 10 feet 5 inches on mainline jets. Southwest and JetBlue publish no length cap for surfboards. United takes up to 115 inches long on its own jets. Frontier's own pages disagree, so call before you book it.

Can I ship a longboard with UPS or FedEx?

Not as a parcel. UPS and FedEx Ground cap a package at 108 inches long, and a 9'6" is 114. Longboards ship as freight, or by air cargo to an airport office.

How did the Loggerhead pros get their boards to Jacksonville?

None of them has said in public. The Florida surfers live within driving range. The rest had the routes above: Southwest, JetBlue, a borrowed board, or freight.

Sources

1. Loggerhead Classic 2026 results, divisions and heat draw: Liveheats. Dates, nights and swap: loggerheadclassic.com.
2. Purse, divisions and Quintal's "people flying in from out of town": Surfer, 6 Aug 2026. "The Best Longboard Contest In The World": Surfer, 23 Sep 2025. 2018 founding: Surfer, 27 Aug 2018. Ricky Carroll and Quintal: Flamingo, 11 Mar 2020.
3. Conditions and Quintal's "long, hot, flat summer": First Coast News via Yahoo Sports. Winners and the 1960s board rule: Beach Gazette, 30 Sep 2026. Buoy: NOAA NDBC 41117, St. Augustine.
4. Home bases: Wilson (WSL), Coleman (WSL), Conklin (Monster Children), Dean (Surfer), Lieder (Dan's Papers), Chloe Coleman (Daily Aztec), Roach (NC State), van Akkeren and Flores (Delfino), Nieblas (Carve), Rockrise, Erkeneff (Seea), Chiller (VoyageLA), Cohen (Xcel), Hoover (Hawaii News Now), Eberz (The Inertia), Culhane (WSL), Canullo (OluKai), Blomfield (KHON2), Van Hohenstein (own bio), Janes (Surfing NZ), Tudor (Civil Beat). Distances are great-circle miles to the pier.
5. Tudor and Hawaiian, September 2025: Surfer, Hawaii News Now, Civil Beat. The new rule: Alaska Airlines newsroom, 3 Nov 2025. Tudor's quote: Civil Beat, 6 Nov 2025.
6. JAX airlines and routes: Jacksonville Aviation Authority, route map, Delta's E175 to Austin. Airline rules: each carrier's own page, linked in the tables, re-read 2 October 2026.
7. Roach on airlines and weighing: Surfline, 18 Sep 2024, also the source for glass-on fins and Bowden's packing advice. Roach shipping boards: Stab, 12 Jan 2022. Tudor in Cape Town: Surfline, 12 Jul 2022. Tour shapers: Surfer, 20 Jul 2024. Idone: his post, 30 Sep 2026.
8. Counter advice from Dos Santos and Gudauskas: Surfline, 5 Jul 2024. Packing guide: TAP Air Portugal. Bag weight: Pro-Lite. Andreini on 1960s boards: Natures Shapes.
9. Parcel limits: UPS, FedEx, USPS. Freight quotes: The Surf Station, The Board Source. Greyhound Package Express closure. Amtrak: special items and Jacksonville station.

Bag sizes come from each maker's spec page. Airline rules come from each carrier's own baggage page, verified between July and October 2026. Airline rules change, and the operating carrier's counter is the final word. Check before you fly. What each airline charges · Every bag against every cap · More articles