American denied my board bag. So I built this.
I was at the American Airlines counter with a Pro-Lite Wheeled Coffin, four boards inside. The agent taped it: length plus width plus height. She called it oversize and refused it.
Here's the thing. AA's published limit for water sports boards was 126 linear inches. The standard oversize line for normal bags is 115. Agents reached for the 115 number, and AA has since made it the rule for all sports gear. A packed wheeled coffin runs about 130 linear inches, so it fails either way.
No bag maker prints linear inches. No airline lists bags. So we built the cross-reference: every major board bag on the market, measured against every airline's published policy.
How to not get burned
Check your bag above before you book. Green means the published policy fits it. Tight means you are within taping error of the cap, so pack thin and print the airline's policy page. Flies, extra fee means the airline takes the bag but charges more for its size. It saved me on the way home.
Which airlines are strict?
Delta, American, Copa, ANA and Fiji Airways refuse anything over 115 linear inches. Alaska and Hawaiian measure length only, up to 10 ft 5 in. That split is why the same bag flies one airline and gets denied by the next.