Cheap flights?

greasedscotsman
greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
edited November 2009 in The bottom bracket
Just looking at flights in February to Alicante with Easyjet, they want £53.87 for me, but another £55 for my bike! Maybe I'll just book two seats, have my bike sat next to me on the plane and save myself the £1.13...

Comments

  • crankycrank
    crankycrank Posts: 1,830
    Seems to be the new trend for airlines. Rates are very cheap if you travel with all your gear in your trouser pockets. Bring a bag, bike or have something to eat and it gets expensive. Soon, using the toilet will be an extra charge. :x
  • Philip S
    Philip S Posts: 398
    And I think Easyjet are one of the cheaper airlines for bikes - we doubled the price of our Ryanair flights to Poitiers by taking our bikes (£60 return each and I think it's since gone up to £80!). Easy money for them, though - they know it doesn't hit the average customer and those it does affect are probably keen enough on their sport to stomach the extra cost.

    Now BA are charging for them as well, the days of cheap cycle holidays seem to be over. Makes me wonder how many days you have to be there before taking your own bike becomes cheaper than bike hire (althought the hire hassle factor probably overrides its cheapness).
  • pedylan
    pedylan Posts: 768
    Ryanair website goes out of its way to tell you that it doesn't really want your bike.

    "Sporting equipment including but not limited to large fishing rods, golf clubs, bicycles, scooters, fencing equipment, surfboards, bodyboards, snowboards and skis and large musical instruments including but not limited to cellos, harps, double bass and drums are inherently unsuitable for carriage by airlines operating fast turnarounds such as Ryanair."

    So they charge you for compromising their turnaround time.

    I ignored Ryanair for travel to Etape last year and took the Eurostar and TGV. Very civilised, very cheap(free for bike) and very relaxing.

    I travelled to London from Yorkshire and I appreciate that adds to the cost and time of the whole journey - made worse the further from the SE of England you are.
    Where the neon madmen climb
  • hammerite
    hammerite Posts: 3,408
    crankycrank wrote:
    Soon, using the toilet will be an extra charge. :x

    Ryanair are actually thinking of to charging for use of the toilet!! They figure that by charging for the loo less people will want to go, or go before they get on the plane/hold on until they get off. As a result they can remove 2 of the toilets - in a plane that has 3-4, and can put in an extra 3-6 seats!
  • Percy Vera
    Percy Vera Posts: 1,103
    Just wear an old pair of trousers and go in the seat! :lol:
  • nasahapley
    nasahapley Posts: 717
    Got to say I think just over £100 to get you and your bike to Alicante isn't too bad really. At least they're being upfront about what it will cost, which doesn't always happen with budget airlines (bunch of shysters IMO). I would make a remark about how your nationality might affect your spending habits, but the forum seems a bit sensitive over that sort of thing recently :wink:
  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    nasahapley wrote:
    Got to say I think just over £100 to get you and your bike to Alicante isn't too bad really. At least they're being upfront about what it will cost, which doesn't always happen with budget airlines (bunch of shysters IMO). I would make a remark about how your nationality might affect your spending habits, but the forum seems a bit sensitive over that sort of thing recently :wink:

    I'm not really complaining about the cost, maybe I could have titled the thread better. When I add up the total cost of the trip, hotels etc, it's still pretty cheap. I just thought it was quite funny that it would cost more to put my bike on the plane than me!

    So if the days of cheap flights are over, so maybe time to get one of these...

    http://www.ritcheylogic.com/dyn_prodfamily.php?k=114343
  • DubaiNeil
    DubaiNeil Posts: 246
    I've been looking at bike hire in France, and per day for a Scott road bike they want 25 Euros, so you could have 2.5 days hire for the price of taking the bike there and back!

    This obviously excludes the price of the bike box needed for shipping.... :(

    Neil
  • nasahapley
    nasahapley Posts: 717
    DubaiNeil wrote:
    I've been looking at bike hire in France, and per day for a Scott road bike they want 25 Euros, so you could have 2.5 days hire for the price of taking the bike there and back!

    This obviously excludes the price of the bike box needed for shipping.... :(

    Neil

    I've always thought it would be tremendously helpful if it were possible to hire a bike box from my LBS. I'd have thought there would be quite a few people who don't want to shell out a couple of hundred quid for a bike box they'll use once a year or less. I've got into the habit of driving down to wherever I stay in France now anyway - I quite like driving on the continent and I can take as much gear as I want! Can't really do that for southern Spain I guess...
  • Alinshearah
    Alinshearah Posts: 339
    Damm!! I thought this was another "cheap lights" thread. I don't think DealExtreme to flights :lol:
  • jc4lab
    jc4lab Posts: 554
    Think if airlines are going to charge high price for yer bike they should be more helpful and cooperative accepting it..and pProvide you with that special bag orebox they will accept no question..
    jc
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,687
    Why is a bike going to compromise turn around times any more than a large suitcase? I think the aim of Ryanair is to only have passengers going on a stag weekend / general p*ss up who can't be bothered to take anything other than their beer money.
  • hammerite
    hammerite Posts: 3,408
    nasahapley wrote:

    I've always thought it would be tremendously helpful if it were possible to hire a bike box from my LBS. I'd have thought there would be quite a few people who don't want to shell out a couple of hundred quid for a bike box they'll use once a year or less. I've got into the habit of driving down to wherever I stay in France now anyway - I quite like driving on the continent and I can take as much gear as I want! Can't really do that for southern Spain I guess...

    My club has bought a bike box and will hire it out to members at a small cost - like a couple of quid a week which goes towards a replacement if anything happens.

    If I was having to go by plane I'd seriously consider hiring. I've looked at some bike hire places in Majorca and some of the bikes are excellent, well looked after, and you get a phone number of someone who will come out to repair or pick you up should something go wrong.

    Like you Nasa I like to drive if I can, I always take far too much kit anyway. I treat the drive abroad as part of the holiday and an opportunity to see somewhere I might not otherwise see.
  • vitesse169
    vitesse169 Posts: 422
    I'm off to Cyprus last week in Feb with easyjet - only paying £36 for the bike and that's a return.
  • mrushton
    mrushton Posts: 5,182
    Places like Majorca can rent you a full DA equipped bike (cervelo) for about E150 for the week but if you have an expensive bike you want to take it. It's the old adage that you pays your money......
    M.Rushton

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