Cost to bring bike on plane

Can anyone share experience with shipping bike by air? Cost? Packaging
required? Thanks

HGL wrote:
Can anyone share experience with shipping bike by air? Cost? Packaging
required? Thanks

Boy, that is an open question. Domestic or international, what
airline, full sized or folding, written policy vs. 'counter policy',
what affiliations you have. As a first cut you should do a google
search of the archives of this group; this has been discussed
frequently.

Most airlines are hurting financially, so they are charging for
anything they possibly can. Domestic airlines are, for the most part,
charging about $80 each way for a full sized bike properly packed in a
box. There are some ways around this; various organizations have
deals with airlines where you can take a bike once or twice on that
airline wiht your membership or license. I think there is a deal with
a USCF license where you can do this on United. LAB and other cycling
organizations have had such relationships in the past; check with any
organization to which you belong.

International flights, esp. on European flag carriers, are often a bit
more lax. Many allow a boxed or unboxed bike as a piece of checked
luggage at no extra charge. Air France was that way last year, as was
KLM though KLM would not allow bikes, even with a charge, on Boeing 777
aircraft. Lufthansa and British Air were the most permissive.

You should research and get a copy of the written policy of the airline
and take it to the counter. Last year, when we went to southwestern
France on Air France the written policy was that a boxed bike was
considered a 'free' piece of checked luggage; I checked with the
airline on the phone and they highly recommended using one of their
boxes rather than one from a bike shop. We did that, but their box was
from Delta and was HUGE - bike fit in whole with just bars turned and
pedals removed. But the counter folks did not like the size of the box
and first refused then wanted to charge; it took my copy of the written
policies and a supervisor to get the bikes on the plane. A disjunct
between written policy and 'counter policy' is common and can work for
you, but usually against you.

If you do this often it might pay to get a coupled or folding bike.
We are out of town at the moment, for personal reasons, and our bikes
are here with us ... because they are coupled and it was a no cost
option. We have been riding around and exploring the area seeing a lot
more than if we had not brought the bikes. The packed coupled bikes
are easier to get around on buses, taxis, trains, etc. than are boxed
full sized bikes. Not a cheap option: mine was $400 extra on a custom
built, my wife was $500 + painting as a retrofit.

- rick

HGL wrote:
Can anyone share experience with shipping bike by air? Cost? Packaging
required? Thanks

For some time I've been collecting information on user experiences
taking bikes on planes, trains, buses, boats, etc. There's lots of
stuff on rentals, folding bikes, boxing, airlines, and railroads around
the world and how to ride in/out of about 150 airports.


I have taken the liberty of adding your note. Please let me know if
you'd like it removed from the site.

See it at http://www.BikeAccess.net

George

HGL wrote:
Can anyone share experience with shipping bike by air? Cost? Packaging
required? Thanks


Here are two *very* useful sites for you:

http://www.bikeaccess.net/

http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/travel/bagregs.htm

--
*****************************
Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO
http://www.CycleTourist.com
Everyone's journey should be different,
so that we all are enriched
in new and endless ways
*****************************

HGL wrote:
Can anyone share experience with shipping bike by air? Cost? Packaging
required? Thanks

Are you shipping the bike (UPS, FedEx, etc.) or taking it with you as
checked baggage? Where are you going?

UPS and FedEx treat a boxed bike as an oversize parcel, and charge
accordingly. The last time I went this route FedEx Ground was
significantly less than UPS. Box the bike in a hard travel case or a
corrugated plastic shipping container and pad the inside well for this
option.

If you're bringing the bike with you on a plane trip, different airlines
will treat you differently. Domestic US carriers charge large fees to
bring a bicycle ($70-100), and frequently require yo to box the bike.
Overseas carriers used to let you count the bicycle as one of your two
pieces of checked baggage, and used to waive the size restrictions.
British Airways recently changed the checked baggage allowance from 2
pieces to one piece, which makes that option a little more difficult to
use. Other airlines may be implementing stricter baggage possibilities
as well, so check the website for each airline that you expect to use,
and find out the rules and costs before you buy your ticket.

If you're taking the bike as checked baggage, the general consensus
seems to be that a hard shell case is hard for baggage handlers to
damage, an unboxed bicycle is seen as a fragile object and treated
accordingly, and a cardboard bike box is seen as a cheap cardboard box
and abused accordingly. To this I would add:

1. Get to the airport early, so the baggage handlers have time to load
your bike carefully

2. Pick an itinerary with as few changes of plane as possible, even if
it costs you a few dollars more. Every time your bike gets moved from
one plane to the next there is a potential for it to get mishandled or lost.
HTH,
mark

mark wrote:

If you're taking the bike as checked baggage, the general consensus
seems to be that a hard shell case is hard for baggage handlers to
damage, an unboxed bicycle is seen as a fragile object and treated
accordingly, and a cardboard bike box is seen as a cheap cardboard box
and abused accordingly. To this I would add:

Hard shell boxes are expensive, and you need to store during the trip
..... and that is especially difficult if you are flying 'open jaw'. We
have never had a problem with cardboard boxed bikes as baggage ... at
least not from the baggage handlers. And they are easy to obtain in
most places.

The biggest threat to bikes as baggage these days, at least for planes
from US airports, is the TSA. They seem to love to open the
cases/boxes and are less than adept at closing them. When we got to
Bordeaux last year, my boxed bike came out completely open; fortunately
everything was intact. TSA in San Francisco had opened and had
resealed with one strip of 1/2" wide tape with TSA printed on it. 1/2"
cellophane tape does not hold a box shut even under the best of
circumstances. The box with my wife's bike was almost open - they had
used 2 strips of the 1/2" wide tape, one had broken, the second was
torn halfway through. Lots more TSA horror stories with hard shell
cases incorrectly closed, etc.

- rick

On 5 Jul 2006 15:49:27 -0700, "Rick" wrote:


mark wrote:

If you're taking the bike as checked baggage, the general consensus
seems to be that a hard shell case is hard for baggage handlers to
damage, an unboxed bicycle is seen as a fragile object and treated
accordingly, and a cardboard bike box is seen as a cheap cardboard box
and abused accordingly. To this I would add:

Hard shell boxes are expensive, and you need to store during the trip
.... and that is especially difficult if you are flying 'open jaw'. We
have never had a problem with cardboard boxed bikes as baggage ... at
least not from the baggage handlers. And they are easy to obtain in
most places.

The biggest threat to bikes as baggage these days, at least for planes
from US airports, is the TSA. They seem to love to open the
cases/boxes and are less than adept at closing them. When we got to
Bordeaux last year, my boxed bike came out completely open; fortunately
everything was intact. TSA in San Francisco had opened and had
resealed with one strip of 1/2" wide tape with TSA printed on it. 1/2"
cellophane tape does not hold a box shut even under the best of
circumstances. The box with my wife's bike was almost open - they had
used 2 strips of the 1/2" wide tape, one had broken, the second was
torn halfway through. Lots more TSA horror stories with hard shell
cases incorrectly closed, etc.

- rick

--I flew a bike on BA, NCE-LHR then later LHR-BWI with no box at all.
Came through unscathed.

R Brickston wrote:
On 5 Jul 2006 15:49:27 -0700, "Rick" wrote:

mark wrote:

If you're taking the bike as checked baggage, the general consensus
seems to be that a hard shell case is hard for baggage handlers to
damage, an unboxed bicycle is seen as a fragile object and treated
accordingly, and a cardboard bike box is seen as a cheap cardboard box
and abused accordingly. To this I would add:
Hard shell boxes are expensive, and you need to store during the trip
.... and that is especially difficult if you are flying 'open jaw'. We
have never had a problem with cardboard boxed bikes as baggage ... at
least not from the baggage handlers. And they are easy to obtain in
most places.

The biggest threat to bikes as baggage these days, at least for planes
from US airports, is the TSA. They seem to love to open the
cases/boxes and are less than adept at closing them. When we got to
Bordeaux last year, my boxed bike came out completely open; fortunately
everything was intact. TSA in San Francisco had opened and had
resealed with one strip of 1/2" wide tape with TSA printed on it. 1/2"
cellophane tape does not hold a box shut even under the best of
circumstances. The box with my wife's bike was almost open - they had
used 2 strips of the 1/2" wide tape, one had broken, the second was
torn halfway through. Lots more TSA horror stories with hard shell
cases incorrectly closed, etc.

- rick

--I flew a bike on BA, NCE-LHR then later LHR-BWI with no box at all.
Came through unscathed.

My last two plane trips with the bike (DEN-LHR, DEN-FLR) have been with
an unboxed bike. Bike was unscathed the first time (DEN-LHR), fender
stays were bent the second time (DEN-FLR). I had a tight connection when
I changed planes in Frankfurt, I think the baggage guys were in a little
bit of a hurry.

TSA in Denver semed a little more professional the second time through
than the first time, maybe they're getting their act together. Hard to
tell with my limited data points, though.
mark