Shipping racquets

[Rumruner]

What is the best way to ship a team of ten players' tennis racquets to a tournament if the team is flying commercial airlines from the east coast to AZ

[floridatennisdude]

I'd carry on tennis bags and have players double up on checked bags for clothing. Economically speaking, you'd be paying a couple hundred bucks in bag fees. Someone has to have status (SkyMile Amex, etc) to get a bag free as well.

Shipping UPS or FedEx is more expensive to ship tennis bags individually than to check a bag for every other person.

Personally, I would downsize to a tennis backpack and bring a carry on. Count the back pack as my "personal item" and suitcase as my carry on. Put the suitcase and rackets overhead and the backpack beneath the seat in front of me.

[Mighty Matteo]

i always bring a backpack and tennis racquets onto planes and never get charged extra. i just store the tennis bag in the overhead compartment.

[g4driver]

You can bring a 9 pack Tennis Bag on Southwest, stuffed with frames and clothes and also being on a carry on roller bag.

The 9 pack Tennis Bag counts as your personal bag, then also bring on a carry on bag, and check two more bags all free of charge. I fly Southwest quite often and see a lot of tennis bags, including college teams carrying their bags on board.

That's right check two bags and carry on a 9 pack and a carry on, all included in the price of the ticket.

No bag fees, no change fees, and profitable for 40 straight years.

www.southwest.com

[West Coast Ace]

^^^ @g4driver, for a singled traveler I'd agree. But for a team all getting on the same play, there could be problems. I assume SWA is running pretty good loads these days and the overhead bins will be full. A Gate Agent having a bad day that sees a team of 10 dudes in line with combo bags, could make them do a gate check.

[gavna]

Originally Posted by West Coast Ace

^^^ @g4driver, for a singled traveler I'd agree. But for a team all getting on the same play, there could be problems. I assume SWA is running pretty good loads these days and the overhead bins will be full. A Gate Agent having a bad day that sees a team of 10 dudes in line with combo bags, could make them do a gate check.

No it's not an issue - my daughters college team flies Southwest quite a bit and 12 + of them all with 12 paks have never had a problem. Even on US Air or American they have been fine.

[rabidranger]

Originally Posted by Rumruner

What is the best way to ship a team of ten players' tennis racquets to a tournament if the team is flying commercial airlines from the east coast to AZ

Are you just shipping racquets or all of the gear? If you are just shipping the racquets, that would be pretty reasonable at FedEx (assuming they could fit it into one box).

[Cindysphinx]

I flew home from IW once and a bunch of pro players were on my flight. They carried on their racket bags. When there was a space issue, they took the sticks out of the bag and tucked them wherever they would fit.

Personally, I would never feel comfortable shipping my frames for a tournament. I guess if you really have to, you could have each player carry on two frames and ship the rest.

Cindy --who took two frames to nationals and never let them out of her sight