As someone who flies with golf clubs on 90%+ of my travel, excess baggage (and the closely related yet sometimes different ‘special baggage’) is a key consideration for me. Can’t HLO even if I wanted to.
Lifetime SG helps with oneworld flights and current *G with TK covers trips on Star. On others I have to add the cost of the extra baggage to the base fare and then compare. Based on my experience I tend not to fly LCCs as the combined cost of the cheaper ticket plus the significant extra baggage cost, then matches the cost of the ticket on a ‘better’ airline. I’ve certainly done this in Europe where I’ve flown BA and LH rather than U2/FR because of the extra baggage costs. In that case the extra baggage fee the airline charges loses them a sale. I’m sure they don’t miss me!
I have also chosen to fly J or Y+ when there is better value in that choice.
To get around Indonesia with my sticks I’ve paid a one off fee (about the cost of one flights extra baggage) using the Citilink ‘Citisport’ program and can now take them free with me for a year.
![F5F976E5-BA96-4898-B25C-69255BD2A7EB.jpeg F5F976E5-BA96-4898-B25C-69255BD2A7EB.jpeg](https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/data/attachments/310/310083-fddcc03dff4a90aa087459f7b46fafa9.jpg)
It’s a really good idea as there are options for surfboards, bikes and other sports equipment. The numbers don’t lie, since joining Citisport I’ve flown domestically in Indonesia on:
Citilink - 21
Garuda - 5 (interestingly they carry golf clubs as excess baggage for free!)
Wings Air - 2
Batik - 2 (once in their cheap J…)
Lion - 1
This leads me to wonder why credit cards in Aus haven’t jumped into the ‘free checked bag’ or ‘free extra bag’ thing like those in the US. Or have they? Is there currently a JQ credit card that gives a free bag?