As Badminton being one of the most popular sports in India, peoples want to carry badminton rackets everywhere where they go, even when traveling in airlines. But, there is lots of confusion around the internet, is it really allowed to carry badminton racket within the flight?. Well, in this post I am going to clarify every detail you should know before you bring your racket to the airport. So, keep reading until the end.
According to the news reported on November 17, 2017, where PV shindu was not allowed to bring badminton rackets with herself on the flight while she was traveling from Hyderabad airport.
P.V. Ramana, Sindhu’s father, says, “Her cabin baggage was her racquets which mean the world to her. She agreed for it to be shifted to the cargo as there was no space in the overhead locker, but she just asked the man to take care. He replied rudely, saying, why should he?”
He further stated, “A badminton racquet is about 68 centimeters in length as opposed to the 55 centimeters rule the airline has. We could not let her baggage be squashed while adjusting the cabin baggage because it contained her racquets.”
“Sindhu has always carried her racquets as cabin baggage on both domestic and international flights, including on IndiGo Airlines. So I don’t know why it was a problem this time,” says her father Mr Ramana
This news creates a lot of controversy about the allowance of badminton rackets inside the flight.
Can You Carry Badminton Rackets on Cabin Baggage?
Now in most of the cases, authorities don’t allow you to carry badminton rackets in your cabin baggage, as the dimension of the badminton racket is large compared to an allowed dimension that is 56cm. However, it totally depends on the airport authority. There are news came up where peoples are being allowed to carry the whole kit of badminton including racket within the cabin.
So, I don’t suggest you take badminton racket in the cabin while you’re traveling, as this may cause yourself facing problems to pass through the security check on boarding. However, if you look into the policies of the airline there is nowhere clearly mentioned about badminton rackets are allowed or not.
Then, What’s the Best Way to Carry Badminton Racket on Flight?
The best way to travel with badminton rackets is to keep the racket inside your luggage bag rather than keeping with yourself on cabin baggage. Luggage bag which will go into different sections of flight then cabin has no objection to carrying badminton rackets.
I personally have traveled with badminton racket keeping inside the luggage bag for 2 times while i was moving from Kolkata to Bangalore airport. All you need to take care of the weight of your badminton kit, anyway it should not exceed the limits of 20kg, or you have to pay extra to keep your luggage inside the flight.
Final words
In brief, it depends on the security checkpoint to allow or not allow the racket inside the cabin. But you can surely go with your badminton rackets inside the luggage bag. However, there is no mention of restriction of badminton rackets in any airline policies so you can try once taking your racket through the final security check, if they don’t allow, keep it inside the luggage bag later. Hope this post helps you to clarify your confusion, if you have any questions, let me know in the comment section.