Heading to Indonesia this season? Whether you’re planning a trip or you’re already here, there are so many world-class waves here it’s insane! However, to get the most out of an Indo trip, you’ve got to fly around and explore different islands. The Mentawai, Sumbawa, Lombok, Sumba, Sumatra, just a handful of islands with sick waves… But how much will it cost to take surfboards? It’s an age-old question for anyone traveling through Indo, so here’s a breakdown of the surfboard baggage fees for Indonesia’s largest airlines.
Table of Contents
Indonesian Airlines Surfboard Baggage Fees
Garuda Indonesia
- Accepts Surfboards? Yes
- Counts as Checked Baggage? Yes
- Cost: FREE
- Airline Website
Garuda is the best airline in Indo! And while the tickets are more expensive than the more budget airlines in the country, surfboards are free as checked baggage! Garuda only has routes between the most major islands in Indo, so you’ll find it tricky to get to the smaller island with Garuda, but here are some of the places they do fly to. Technically, it’s only two surfboards per bag, but they don’t often check.
Wings Air
- Accepts Surfboards? Yes
- Counts as Checked Baggage? No
- Cost: $32 Per Surfboard
- Airline Website
Wings Air, Lion, and Batik Air are technically part of the same airline group, however, the rules and costs for surfboards do change. For Wings Air flights within Indonesia (Domestic) surfboards are charged at 500K IDR Per Surfboard. ($32usd), which has recently increased from 200K, (after 31st July), which sucks. You always get asked how many boards you have inside your bag and while you can lie, they do sometimes check. The max weight for boards is 23kg and is separate from your free/purchased checked baggage.
Enjoying this post? Check out some more Indonesian surf guides such as the complete guide to surfing in the Mentawai or my recent guide to surfing Kuta Lombok.
Lion Air/Batik Air
- Accepts Surfboards? Yes
- Counts as Checked Baggage? No
- Cost: $32 Per Surfboard
- Airline Website
With Lion Air prices are the same as Wings, but the max board length is 230cm (7.6ft) with jet crafts and 200cm (6.5ft) with propeller aircraft. To make things confusing there is another rule where only five surfboards are allowed on an aircraft. So the way this works is that everyone on the plane bringing surfboards gets allocated one bag, and then if you have more, they get held back and put on the next plane. So yeah, it’s pretty confusing and this is when problems and confusion happen because it gets lost in translation.
CitiLink
- Accepts Surfboards? Yes
- Counts as Checked Baggage? No
- Cost: $18-22
- Airline Website
CitiLink is another handy budget airline for hopping between Indonesian islands. With CitiLink you have to book sports equipment. For board bags between 16-20kg, this costs 277K IDR ($18) and for 21-25kg, it costs 333K IDR ($22), and the maximum length can only be 227cm.
Super Air Jet
- Accepts Surfboards? Yes
- Counts as Checked Baggage? No
- Cost: $13 Per Surfboard
- Airline Website
For Super Air Jet flights, they charge per surfboard, and like Lion, this costs 200K IDR per board ($13). I’ve flown with them between Bali and the Mentawais and can confirm this. They didn’t check but when asked I just said I had 3 boards because I have a hard time lying, but you can get away with it. Max of 23kg and 230cm in length, which is separate from your baggage.
Trans Nusa
- Accepts Surfboards? Yes
- Counts as Checked Baggage? No
- Cost: $6 Per Surfboard
- Airline Website
With Trans Nusa, taking surfboards on domestic flights in Indo costs 100K IDR per surfboard which is around $6. So although they do charge, this one isn’t too bad. I flew from Bali to Jakarta with these guys and yeah I paid 300K IDR for a board bag with 3 boards, again you probably can lie, but either way, it’s a cheap one!
Final Words
So that concludes our breakdown of surfboard baggage fees for Indonesia. There are some other airlines that operate in Indo, but these are the main domestic carriers and usually the ones you find on Kayak or Skyscanner. I hope this post has made flying in Indo (which can be confusing) a little clearer and any questions please comment below.
