CTC bike bag

Pigeons in flight

(Actually more of a very large see-through bin bag than a bike bag!)

Hello - I have left a Condor roadbike out at my in-law's place in France and want to bring it back with me from Poitiers Airport to Edinburgh. I'm flying with Ryanair and I've noticed from their website that bikes have to be bagged now (along with the usual pedals off, etc). I've bought one of the following from Wiggle:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/CTC_P ... 360041697/

Having just looked at it, it really is just a big plastic bag! Have any of you had any experience of using this on a flight? Does it work - and do they accept it?? The terms and condition simply say 'bag' and do not define what is meant by a bag, so presumably it's ok?!

Re protecting the bike - the frame has a slight crack in the bottom bracket (alu, so probably had it), but the rest of the kit (full Chorus groupie) is in reasonable condition, so I will look to swap it over. I'll probably take the rear mech off.

Cheers

dakkar

Hi Pigeons,

I put my bike in a double matress plaqstic polythene bag(free from any bed shop) packed it as prescibed on the ctc website and had no problems flying from Liverpool to Krakow and back.

I will be doing the same in a few weeks time. Also the bag makes a great ground sheet!

Pigeons in flight

Cheers dakkar - I'll check out the ctc site.

jc4lab

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... highlight=

Snap..Just one response but may be useful..I hope you get some more replies

inkyfingers

I wouldn't dream of putting my bike on a plane unless it was in a proper padded bike bag or preferbaly a hard shell case. it's luck of the draw whether the staff at the airports you're flying to and from will treat your luggage with any care and attention but i would assume that they won't.

I hired a hard shell box from a bike shop when I went to ireland for about £20 (plus a returnable £50 deposit) and i put all my clothes in the box with the bike as padding.

simon_adams_uk

I've used the CTC bag on several occasions on flights - although no budget carriers. What I have done though is print out the web page which advertises the bag as being CTC-approved (a little bit of a white lie...) and take it with me to check-in. Whilst I've never had recourse to presenting it as proof it could save hassle with any 'that's not a bike bag' problems.

Foam pipe lagging is also very useful - as are a couple of zip ties to hold the rear mech onto the chain stay when it's removed for the flight.

HTH!