Airline Baggage Regulation / Flying with Bikes

Does anyone have any experience flying Iceland air with a bike? I've flown them a number of times without any problems, but I'm a little wary of traveling with a bike and having a connection...

Has anyone ever tried to leave a bike box in left luggage at an airport? I assume they wouldn't take anything that large?

Depends on the airport but generally they'll take anything for money. Another option, and one I've used, is to stay a night in a hotel near the airport and they'll then usually let you leave a bike box until your return flight.

Has anyone flown transatlantic with Norwegian airlines and a bike before? They state they require bikes from Gatwick to be in a hard case, which is going to set me back a fair bit in cash and mass. Can I get away with a bike bag? I get the feeling they're the Ryanair of the long haul...

They are. My sister flew back from LA with them on a last minute flight when she needed to get home quickly. She didn't read all the information and didn't realise there was no food included in the price. Or luggage. Depending on when/where you're going it might be cheaper to fly with Virgin who'll include a bike in the ticket price, in a cardboard box. They even let you take a case. Really good.

Does anyone know if easyjet and limits on bike box size - site just says 32kg, but no ref. of the box size...

Not sure, but Gatwick does have a size limit - basically the thing has to sit on the oversized belt.

Which box? Even the massive Thule gets on OK.

Easyjet is generally more affordable (£35 per leg) than Ryanair (£60 per leg) for flying with...recently flew with them and had no problems and would do so again.

As for size, I had no problems with a bag like this just recently

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/tifosi-bike-bag-padded/rp-prod35557?gs=1&gclid=CLSHw__4t8cCFSLkwgodwk8Pcg&gclsrc=aw.ds

I've flown with Norwegian and had exactly this question, used an Evoc bag and it was fine - the Evoc is a rigid bag, if that makes sense? But I would expect you'll be fine with a normal bag, just as long as the bike is packed in something "official".

^Was that going to the States Dammit?

From here: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/5-tips-for-flying-with-bicycles-2015.html

^Was that going to the States Dammit?

Sorry - only just saw this, I was going to Norway.

As a note to BA - if you are a frequent flyer you get the 32kg limit on your bags, rather than 23, which is helpful if you want to put your track pump in with the bike.

Monarch to Mallorca was £25 per leg last month slung everything in my bike bag came out at £23 kgs,,,,Did Emirates to Taiwan and DragonAir to Hong Kong, tuned the bag weight a bit to 21 kgs , no problems anywhere, I think they all just want it to be under 3 mtrs total dimension

Has anyone ever had trouble taking a bike box on public transport to and from the airport to a hotel? thinking Europe mainly

No

Anyone flown with SAS and taken a bike? Wondering if I can get away with using their checked 23kg bag allowance to take my bike.

It seems you don't need to notify unless you are taking it without a bag at all?

I've packed mine in a cardboard box and just check it in at the oddsize counter.

Cool, thanks for the info. Will do that I think.

Looking into a five/six-day cycling trip from Toulouse to Marseilles in September. Would like to take two bikes by plane - probably EasyJet from London to Toulouse, then Ryanair from Marseilles back to London.

Obviously the bikes would need to be flown in bike boxes. But we don't plan on carrying the bike boxes, on our bikes, from Toulouse to Marseilles.

Any bright ideas?

I flew with ryanair from marseille to london last summer.

I didn't bother with a box, went to a home supply show, bought a huge load of cling film and bubble wrap. Took the wheels off, wrapped in bubble wrap and then cling film, put bubble wrap around vulnerable parts of the bike then wrapped it all up.

Because it's awkward to carry they can't throw it around in the same way/ put it on the carriers in the same way (so the logic goes).

Mine came back completely pristine

Ok I've booked my bike on a Ryan air flight to BCN next week. Ive had confirmed that the maximum weight is 30kg.

I plan to use a cardboard bike box, does anyone know if there is a size limit on this box? I can't find it anywhere.

thanks

Has anyone had any experience of flying with Air Transat? I'm looking at return flights to Vancouver in August / September with bike. Air Transat comes up marginally cheaper than Air Canada, Gatwick is more convenient than Heathrow, and they charge CA $30 per flight for a bike box/bag (max 32kg). Seems pretty good.
And/or any good tips for bike carriage to Vancouver? Still trying to get my head round pros and cons of getting a proper box or just rocking up and using the bike bag "supplied" (I would double check this before making arrangements.)

I flew to Seattle and got the train, worked out exponentially cheaper. And if you fly with BA bikes go free......

Interesting. According to skyscanner for the dates we want to go Vancouver is cheaper than Seattle. Plus my brother's in Vancouver, so I've got the option of storage for bike boxes whilst we're touring, if we go down that route.