Looking for advice from anyone who has flown with a bouldering mat: did you just check it in as "baggage" or as "sporting equipment"? It's obviously about the size and shape of a suitcase, but much lighter, and not breakable - almost the ideal flight luggage! Common sense would suggest just booking it as normal luggage, but airlines don't necessarily sign up to common sense, hence why I'm looking for people's experiences. If it makes any difference, I'm flying with Ryanair.
Excellent, thanks for the advice. I suppose, like all of these things, it can be dependent on the actual member of staff who you get at the desk. It would seem to be the sensible thing though.
we've flown to Hong Kong and USA with bouldering mat as "suitcase". We wrapped it in clingfilm for one of the journeys, but didn't for the other. Nobody asked any questions - just remarked how light it was. Ours was also the perfect size - i.e. the maximum dimensions recommended for hold luggage.
Don't tell them it's sports equipment they may try to charge. Just say it's a sleeping mat and it will go in the oversized section at no extra cost. I even gaffer taped 2 together once and that was fine.
