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Travel rods, reels are not a problem on American Airlines. Make sure you check-in knifes. This info is from the TSA website:
Fishing Rods / Poles:
Fishing Rods are permitted as carry-on and checked baggage. However, please check with your air carrier to confirm that it fits within their size limitations for carry-on items. Ultimately, it is the carrier's decision as to whether or not it can be transported as carry-on baggage.
Tackle Equipment:
Fishing equipment should be placed in your checked baggage. Some tackle equipment can be considered sharp and dangerous. Expensive reels or fragile tackle such as fly's should be packed in your carry-on baggage.
Actually saw a TSA guy freak out when they detected the graphite.
My jetbag is designed for 3 rods but I have been able to squeeze one more in it.
I guess I have been lucky so far - some trips were not direct flights but my rods always made it there.
This. No problem bringing equipment down. We put rods in a PVC pipe and carried the reels in our carry on. We left the stuff down there, but if you try to bring back reels with line on them, the CR airport security will make you strip them.
I'm not doubting you, but at the same time, that's ridiculous. All they have to do is put the reels through X-ray to see if there are any aberrations within the line on the spool. Clear case of power/control issues on the part of CR officials.
For what it's worth, I have flown to CR with a big tube that held about 10 rods and it was a hair over 7 feet long, since all my spinning and conventional light tackle rods are 1-piece.
What I'm wondering (and can't get an answer either) is if the planes still have those vertical coat lockers up front. I sort of doubt it, since you see people cramming their coats in the overheads these days. But for those of us who travel to fly fishing destinations, standard 2-piece fly rods in their tubes do fit in those lockers. I hate travel rods and would sure like to be bringing my fly rods on the plane with me. That said, (knock on wood) I have never lost a checked tube.
If you check a tackle box, be sure to have a TSA lock for it. The baggage boys in San Jose will go through everything they can get open. My tackle box got ripped off big time on my return flight.
I was down in CR last year and this was my exact experience. They didn't care about the rods or flies, but I had to take the spools off all my reels and put those in a checked bag. They were very nice about it and actually pulled a checked bag off the plane so I could put the spools in it. Get there a little early for your departure back to the States. Fyi, this was coming out of Liberia.