Us airways Usair Sports equipment fees GOUGING - 4x the industry Norm and purposely hiding them from customers at gate. Internet

Usair is gouging customers for baggage fees esp sports equipment and entrapping you into paying at the gate when you are in a rush and cant find alternatives.

They are charging 4x the industry standard amount for surfboards and poss other sports equipment like skis, snowboards, wakeboards, kitebaords.

If you are a water sports person, do NOT fly usair.

I flew one way from sju to bwi for 170$ airfare yet you charged me $200 ONE way for my surfboard!!   Its STUNNING-  i could have bought the seat next to me for less than i paid in baggage for my surfboard!  Its  smaller than most people - 6 feet long and weighs 14lbs.  This makes no sense.

I have in the past few years paid 50 and 75 on usair but 200 one way is  truly GOUGING.  Airtran on the way there charged me 50$ bwi to sju, that is a FAIR price - no complaints- I understand surfboards take special handling.

Furthermore,  expecting a fee of,  50-75$,  i handed the agent my CC and she did NOT tell me the amount charged - probably to avoid argument- she just handed it back w my boarding pass.  It wasnt until  i was in the TSA line that i looked at my pass and receipt and saw 200!!  I immediately called and they would do nothing.

Worse, in my case, the gate agent never told me the price and did not give me the choice to say no. She purposely obfuscated the cost.  I could and would have left the surfboard with a friend in PR.

she clearly did this to avoid a confrontation.

Unacceptable.