Hawaiian Airlines Changes Surfboard Policy After PR Wipeout
Travelers can now carry 10-foot, 5-inch surfboard bags on Hawaiian and Alaska Airlines flights.
Joel Tudor has shredded plenty of waves on his way to becoming a three-time world longboard surfing champion, but the San Diego resident this week chalked up a win off the ocean.
Hawaiian Airlines and sister brand Alaska Airlines announced a new policy, prompted by a gnarly public relations wipeout spawned by Tudor.
In September, Tudor had taken to social media with videos decrying a Hawaiian gate agent who wouldn’t let Tudor check his 9-foot-6-inch boards on a flight to Oʻahu. The videos went viral on social media and the story got picked up by local and national press.
The new policy means surfers flying Hawaiian and Alaska can carry multiple boards up to 10 feet, five inches long — big enough for a 10-foot board with room for padding — weighing up to 50 pounds.
“We developed our new policy to accommodate all surfers: thrill-seekers tracking large seasonal surf and bringing big surfboards on strike missions to places like Tahiti and Mexico, families looking for year-round warm water and gentle waves to longboard (Costa Rica, anyone?), or guests venturing into the far reaches of our network to explore coastlines in Australia, American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Japan and New Zealand,” a release on the airlines’ website announced.
Hawaiian spokesman Alex Da Silva said it had taken Tudor’s criticism to heart.
“We always say we value guest feedback,” Da Silva said. “And it’s not something we just say. Every guest interaction is an opportunity for us to get better.”
Tudor called the change unreal.
Tudor said Hawaiian reached out to him soon after the incident, but he didn’t respond because he had hired a lawyer. Instead, he tagged the airline in responses he made to some of the 1,700 comments on his original Instagram post, which he recently took down.
“Victories are pretty rare with airlines,” Tudor said. “This one we actually won.”
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