Panniers inside flight bike bag?

manufactrad

Hi,

I am taking my bike on a plane for the first time. Touring around Italy for 10 days.
After reading many posts I have gone for the CTC plastic bag option.
My question is: does anyone know whether the panniers can be left attached to the bike inside the bag or do they need to be detached and checked in as separate pieces of luggage?

hdow

If you are using EasyJet they are quite clear that only the bike should go in the bag and no doubt others will do the same as they all use the same ground handling staff.

Considerations include:

1 Are you happy carrying your bike with 2 loaded panniers?

2 Will the airport staff be happy loadind such a weight? There are set limits.

3 Are you happy that they will arrive undamaged? They do stick out.

4 If they can't see clearly what you have in your panniers on your bike when they x-ray them you will be asked to unpack them in their presence.

Certainly check in your pannier containing all the tools and anything else not allowed in the cabin.

Bodhbh

The couple of times I've used the plane I've left one on with the tools, another pannier inside, and one or two other bike related bits in - then bungeed it to the rack a couple of times for good measure - but not full of luggage. AFAIK you're not supposed to do that, but I suppose the more you take the p*** the more likely they are to throw a wobbly or attract the attention of a jobsworth.

unCivilServant

From what I've seen of bike-plane rules, it's really ONLY the bike that should be in the bag (as Hdow says, this would stretch to the tools if you aren't carrying any other luggage to put in the hold). Of course, if you need to pad dropouts etc. anyway there's nothing unreasonable about using cycling shorts etc. rather than newspaper.

It might be tempting to put a whole bunch of other stuff in there--so effectively doubling your free baggage allowance if the bike is going on as an additional flat-rate piece--but I'd advise you not to. Firstly, in your own interests because taking the P is likely to get noticed and you charged extra. Secondly, in the long run for the sake of everyone else, because the airline will look askance at taking bikes as their weight goes from a planned-for 10-15kg to 25kg or whatever. The airline won't wear that, so 1) the charge for bikes will go up or 2) fewer bikes will be allowed per flight or 3) charges for baggage in general or even basic fares will go up or free baggage allowance will go down. Obviously it's not fair to bung those effects on others just because a couple of people want to carry their entire possessions in their bike bag (not that I'm accusing you of that, manufactrad)--it's not just about airline employees being "jobsworths".