Airline Baggage Regulation / Flying with Bikes

bloody hell! how have they managed that?

good info mate... thank you.

Bike Box everytime.... And brown parcel tape. Never been let down yet

The best out there:

I want that.

I don't even need it, it just looks cool.

Link?

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/accessories/bike-travel-cases/product/review-biknd-helium-travel-case-39902/

http://www.gbcycles.co.uk/product/35311/Biknd_Helium_Bike_Bag

Has anyone been on Airfrance recently? I a flying from Pau to London and they allow a bike box within your allowance but up to 23kg, which is not enough for my bike, and other stuff (yeah including shoes and handbags) Anyone know how strict they are??? Thanks!

From experience of a long haul with surfboards, quite strict. They also have a bit of a reputation for damaging oversize luggage, again, mainly surfboards but make sure you pack your bike well so the baggage manhandlers can't destroy it. Can you spread your luggage across the hold bag and your carry on bag? That might be your best option if you're definitely over the weight limit.

I travel a fair amount with the bike, especially long-haul flights and here's what works for me:

1: get a good bag. A bike box is ok but does get battered and torn
2: rear mech off, pedals off, bar's as flush with the frame as you can, seat off
3: bubble wrap is your friend. I wrap the rear mech, all parts that could rub against each other and then wrap the entire bike before going into the bag
4: I've got a load of polystyrene bits that i wrap around the crank, protecting it from droppage
5: framestays. one in the rear, one on the forks
6: two decent locks for the bag itself
7: identification. I've had my bag misplaced more times than it's arrived with me, each time having a fuck-off huge address/name down the side has allowed them to find it quicker than usual

other than that, a few small offerings to the gods before you fly, burn some incense/slaughter a chicken and pray it arrives

If you're worried about the weight a surreptitious placement of a foot under the box, to bear some of the weight, when you place it on the scale can make the box appear lighter than it is. Just don't get caught!

That is stealing

Stealing what exactly?

You have stolen excess baggage allowance. I dont know how you sleep at night.

Soundly (until 6 am when my daughter wakes up).

Forget about stealing, what if your foot causes them to miscalculate the weight of the plane and they load it unbalanced and it crashes and everybody dies! All that because of your foot! Think about it.

I have thought about it and the very act of doing so made me realise the folly of your remarks. :-)

Forget about stealing, what if your foot causes them to miscalculate the weight of the plane and they load it unbalanced and it crashes and everybody dies! All that because of your foot! Think about it.

+1

Thief and murderer

theif?

theef

Is there no end to my criminality?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2012/jul/31/airline-bike-friendly

I'm flying with RyanAir on the 30th.
Taking me and my bike to Barcelona for 6 days.

I have flown with RyanAir before and am aware of how tricky they can be, but never with a bike. Only ever took my BMX years ago.

I have managed to get an Edinburgh Cycles bike bag on loan. I was originally planning on taking a card box like we used to, make as small as possible and pack the bike with tubing and foam.

I have paid for 15kg hold luggage, and was planning on getting my bike through as this. But my question is, with me now taking a proper bike bag, are they gonna try and make me pay for a bike when I get to the airport?

My bike weighs about 7kg - 8kg. It's light!

What's everyones thoughts here?

http://www.ryanair.com/en/terms-and-conditions#regulations-checkedbaggage

Sporting or musical equipment including but not limited to large fishing rods, golf clubs, bikes* (bikes have a weight limit of 30 kilos), scooters, fencing equipment, pole vaults, javelin, surfboards, bodyboards, snowboards and skis and large musical instruments including but not limited to harps, double bass and drums are inherently unsuitable for carriage by airlines operating fast turnarounds such as Ryanair. However, these items may be carried in the hold of the aircraft in addition to your personal checked baggage allowance up to a limit of 20 kilos per item upon payment of a discounted online fee of £50/€50 per item, per one way flight. If the item is purchased at the airport or through a Ryanair call centre a higher fee of £60/€60 per item/per one way flight will apply). Any sporting and musical item weighing over the 20 kilos allowance will be charged for the excess at the applicable excess baggage rate per kilo.

• Bicycles - MUST be contained in a protective box or bag in order to be accepted for travel.
  Electric bicycles cannot be carried
  

Yep, if it's obvious it's a bicycle (or bigger than the normal baggage size), you'll need to pay £60 per direction. Possibly more if you do it at the airport.

I believe the baggage size is: 81cms (height), 119cms (width) and 119cms (depth)

They are likely to fuck with you at the airport, no matter what their rules are. I recently flew with United to Mexico - their rule is that you can take a bike as part of your luggage allowance as long as you stay under 23kg. On the way out, they were a bit baffled by that, but said they would let it go as I had no other hold luggage.

On the way back, their staff were adamant that I had to pay £200 for a bike. Fortunately, I had the rules page of their website saved on my phone so could show them precisely what the rules were. They couldn't disagree, but their systems wouldn't let them process their own rules - they told me they just always take the money off people who turn up with bikes.

It was all very friendly and we reached a workaround*, but always be very aware of the rules in advance, comply very clearly with them and have a copy to hand to avoid airport robbery.

*Then USA Homeland Security broke my bike box on the way home. Fascist fucks.