I'm going on a trip back to Tahoe this winter and will be traveling on either Southwest or AirTran Airlines and I'm confused about their specific policies. SW states that "Snowboard equipment includes one snowboard and one pair of boots." I called and asked if you could pack other gear in there and they said it should be OK but the lady on the phone didn't sound completely positive about it. Air Tran simply states "Snowboarding equipment - One (1) snow board will be accepted when packed in a case designed to prevent damage to snow boards. The snow board will be accepted only upon completion of a Limited Release Tag." No mention of boots or anything else. Has anyone used SW and did they allow you to stuff the rest of your gear in their provided it is under the 50lbs limit? Also I assume the dimension limit is waived since no snowboard bag could come under that (I'll be using a Dakine low roller 165 BTW)? Same question for AirTran. All input appreciated but especially those who have actually traveled with their board with either one of these Airlines. Can't wait to get back to Tahoe, the 350 vertical of SE Michigan is killing me, but my jibbin is getting a lot better.

Pack your boots in with your snowboard bag.  You should be fine.  I am flying SW in January myself.  I was looking for their policy for that.  I am at least bringing two boards.  I'll just have one san's bindings and slid under the other in the bag.  I doubt it will be a problem.

I know SW is cool with boots but I'd really like to put everything else in there and avoid the carry-on. I'll post it if I get some more info.

I am sure packing other stuff in the bag is fine.  As long as it doesn't get over the weight limit and such.

I flew Southwest this spring to vancouver and back from philly, I took 4 decks, (2 w/o) bindings, 2 pair of boots, and all of my outerwear( 2 jackets, 3 pants, helmet, hats, gloves etc.) all split into 2 boardbags.  when I got to the airport, they put them on the scale, one was 52 and one was 47lbs.  the lady made me pull stuff out of the one bag, I had to put a hoddie into my carry on, and moved a pair of pants form one to the other, re-weighed them @ 49 and 48 and was good to go, they didn't say shit about all the stuff I had packed in there, all they were concerned w/ was the weight.

i've flown SW and they're cool.  just make sure you're under 50 pounds.  i put a bunch of shit in there including some snow chains.

I have flew with everyone from KLM to Sunwing with a snowboard bag, they all have those limits of one board and blah blah, but I have never once had it informed and anytime I have flown to board I've always had two decks, two pairs of bindings, my boots and outerwear in my board bag, sometimes I stuff more in then that, but thats the min of what I have traveled with.

yeah i just flew up to tahoe last week with two boards and they didn't look at my bag either time.  they just checked the weight and then i had to bring my bag to the TSA to check. once it's at TSA, they don't care about policies.  just weapons, drugs, etc.

I flew American before they started charging crazy amounts for bags (about 1 year ago)  I just stuffed up my snowboard bag with outerwear boots, helmet as long as it is under 50 LBS they shouldn't care at all its just a bag to them just remember to not stuff things with batteries as they will be confiscated them because of stow cabin pressurization