Renting dive gear

[jldodd]

If you like your regs, I would take them instead of renting them. You could carry them on for free. Rental BCs should be fine, but may not fit as perfectly as your own gear.

I'll agree with this poster. Whenever I travel at a bare minimum I take my own reg / computer. Especially when diving in a foreign country, my little pea brain may have some trouble converting to meters/bar if forced to do so (likely they would have some gauges in english units but why take the chance).

Of course the other reason I take my own regs is that I have seen divers more than once puke through their rental gear... no thank you!

 

[Doc]

The computational mathematics used above to compute extra baggage charges belies the experience base~ as I was talking in a prior post about exotic dive travel.

It just made my head hurt when we got cranked for extra $$$ on each and every leg of our last trip. First when we had to spend a night in London after paying ($$$) in Chicago/NY, Re-check the next day and re-board in Heathrow ($$$), then a complete disembarkation and re-check in Africa ($$$)- then another gotcha ($$$) on the puddle jumper to meet the liveaboard.

If you can check your bags through, by all means do so. If you can't, welcome to the realm of adventure dive travel. Wakatobi (the OP) may fall into that advanced zone of jabberwocky. (depending on your connex)

 

[Gombessa]

I just think carrying all my gear is a huge pain. I'll bring my trusty reg and gauges, but will leave the rest for rental. Always hook up your rental BC to regs/tank before you leave the shop so you can test for function, leaks, and hose fittings.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

All of my warm water gear fits in carryon backpack. Including SS plate. The fins are strapped to the outside of it. Along with a 3 mil or polartech and a change of clothes. shorts and tshirt. Other useless stuff-extra clothes, wifes makeup, her extra clothes, and toiletries gets checked in a bag that weighs no more than 25 lbs for both of us. That's for a week. The OP is taking waaayyyy too much stuff or needs to reevaluate their gear configurations.

 

[5513]

We face the same problem in a trip next month. One bag per person (and my wife and daughter are going too, so that's lots of clothes). Luckily I have some frequent flier status and get three bags so I get all the gear and a bit of clothes. The other three pack their personal stuff and a carry on.

Traveling to the Pacific four or five times a year can be challenging, because they are for business and I have a lot of business stuff to take with me. So I pack light and do a big carry on.

After seeing some of the stuff they tried to rent me in Saipan I'll bring my own. Finally found a good dive shop with nice equipment, but that was the third try.

 

[hypertech]

I look at this like gas prices. It costs what it costs. The number of trips I get to take compared to the cost of the trips, the cost of my gear, and my desire to use my gear make the baggage charges insignificant.

I'm just taking my gear no matter what.

 

[sixgears]

People need to check the baggage allowance for each airline because they can be different from one another. In general, if traveling outside the U.S. people are allowed TWO checked bags per person limited to 50 lbs each. When traveling in the U.S. including it's territories, the airlines may/will enforce a restriction of ONE checked bag limited to 50 lbs which they can also charge for.

If you are a frequent flyer and have status by all means pull that trump card out!

To not be off-topic, rental gear is rental gear; it does takes a beating. Good dive ops usually cycle thru their rental equipment every year or two and try to keep them in tip-top shape. But, they are still rental gear so it's still a crap shoot. I would bring my own regulator and BCD if I could but definitely the regulator if I could only bring one item.

 

[almitywife]

last trip i got my bag down to 15kgs/30lbs. all my dive gear (inc SS bpw), 2 tees a sarong, a 1 pair of reg grundys & cossies

its hubbys camera gear thats starting to weight so much as you cant skimp on a quality bag to protect the equipment

what i did earlier this month was buy a extra seat on the plane at a cheap rate - ensured i got the extra luggage allowance and it was cheaper than excess luggage or renting

 

[DandyDon]

We face the same problem in a trip next month. One bag per person (and my wife and daughter are going too, so that's lots of clothes). Luckily I have some frequent flier status and get three bags so I get all the gear and a bit of clothes. The other three pack their personal stuff and a carry on.

Traveling to the Pacific four or five times a year can be challenging, because they are for business and I have a lot of business stuff to take with me. So I pack light and do a big carry on.

After seeing some of the stuff they tried to rent me in Saipan I'll bring my own. Finally found a good dive shop with nice equipment, but that was the third try.

If you have Elite status, ask your airline if everyone on your ticket record enjoys the same bag allowances. Continental does it that way. If I book both our tickets on the same record, my dive bud gets my privileges of 2 - 70# bags; even on separate records, I lead and hand both our passports for check-in and they generally let him get away with it.

People need to check the baggage allowance for each airline because they can be different from one another. In general, if traveling outside the U.S. people are allowed TWO checked bags per person limited to 50 lbs each. When traveling in the U.S. including it's territories, the airlines may/will enforce a restriction of ONE checked bag limited to 50 lbs which they can also charge for.

If you are a frequent flyer and have status by all means pull that trump card out!

To not be off-topic, rental gear is rental gear; it does takes a beating. Good dive ops usually cycle thru their rental equipment every year or two and try to keep them in tip-top shape. But, they are still rental gear so it's still a crap shoot. I would bring my own regulator and BCD if I could but definitely the regulator if I could only bring one item.

Yep. Overseas travel usually allows 2 - 50# each; US to Latin America and Caribbean may not.

what i did earlier this month was buy a extra seat on the plane at a cheap rate - ensured i got the extra luggage allowance and it was cheaper than excess luggage or renting

Now that will vary by airlines I'm sure. Some may allow it, but it's their call. Check in advance.

 

[almitywife]

.....Now that will vary by airlines I'm sure. Some may allow it, but it's their call. Check in advance.

my theory is if they sell the seat they shouldnt care if someone sits in it or not - as long as they were paid for the seat then its up to me and my big butt

a few divers down here are buying extra seats now. of course in a international route its unaffordable but we had $59 flights so cheaper than excess. CrapStar currently charge $15 per kg (thats $7.50 per lb) and Virgin is charging $8 per kgs ($4 per lb) for excess