Carry On vs Checking Everything

…..there are very few airlines left that will allow passengers to carry rods or reels on board.  Even within North America it’s getting harder by the day to get rods and reels on board with you and we can all anticipate this getting even more difficult in the coming years.   

Everyone has their own travel methods in terms of what works and what doesn’t and how you travel with your fishing gear is a very personal thing. For me, I’m at the point now where I just check everything. I got here because, regardless of what the airline policy is, there does not seem to be any rhyme or reason to what is permitted on board and what is not. It often seems to be up to the person checking you in, rather than what the airline policy is. The last straw for me occurred while in Cancun, where the lady who checked me in at the airport said that I could bring my rod case on the flight home. I flew down with it in carry on so this just seemed logical. However, when I got to security, they stopped me and told me to go back to check my rod case. They would not let me through with my rods under any circumstances and after a very stressful and unpleasant hour of lining up to check the rod case and then nearly missing my flight, I decided right there in the Cancun Airport that I was checking everything from then on. I want my travel to be as stress and hassle free as possible and with carry-on of fly-fishing gear becoming more and more difficult, checking everything is what works for me.