Carrying a Tennis racquet on a plane?

I always recommend carrying the racquet on the plane for all reasons you mention. I researched this years ago and found varying responses from the airlines. There’s not a specific person in charge who’s knowledgeable about whether or not the hold on their planes are temperature controlled, so, like you, I always tell people to carry racquets on board.

I had a lady who went to the Bahamas and checked her racquet with her luggage. I strung the racquet before she left, and she said the strings were dead the first time she used it. My guess is that her racquet was exposed to extreme temperature changes during the flight, which killed her strings.

The extreme temperature changes from 30-40,000 feet to ground level cannot be good for strings.

Buy a smaller bag and carry it (them) on. I’ve done this many times in the past: pack clothes in my large tennis bag and carry my racquets on board in a smaller one.

Aloha Philip,

This is a great question, one that I get asked often too. I do have a helpful tip on this topic and I’ll create a video on this instead. I’ll send a notification on this thread once I post it.

As I mentioned, I created a video on this topic. It’s located in the media library. You can now view it HERE.