Taking the Bike on a plane

TFC1

Afternoon all,

I am doing a 5 day ride later in the year in Spain and will need to take my bike on a plane. Are there any reccomendations for a (reasonably priced) bike bag - preferably under £150. I have heard some people mention about getting a cardboard bike box from the LBS as another option, is this secure enough and does it offer any protection?

The bike is a Planet X so carbon frame.

cheers

Garryboy

Not an answer to your question, but different option - I looked at cost of bike box, cost of airline charge + risk of damage to bike and hired a bike instead...

Depends where in Spain you are headed, but I've found you can get a decent bike for c80-90 euros (plus deposit) for five days..

Worth a look?

marcusjb

There are companies that hire hardcase bike boxes (and some bike shops also do this).

I've used this company before: http://www.bikebox-online.co.uk/contact.html (their Windsor branch).

Saves the cost of buying one, plus the storage space. If I were flying out regularly, I'd buy my own. But for occasional trips, it's not worth it.

slowbike

On a similar vein ...

What do ppl do about insuring the bike for the trip?
I'm not bothered about insurance for normal use as I think it's too much money for the risk - but I'm a little uneasy about the flight - well - baggage handlers really ... despite that it's in a bike bag

bernithebiker

Garryboy wrote:

Not an answer to your question, but different option - I looked at cost of bike box, cost of airline charge + risk of damage to bike and hired a bike instead...

Depends where in Spain you are headed, but I've found you can get a decent bike for c80-90 euros (plus deposit) for five days..

Worth a look?

That's a good tip.

The likes of Ryanair and Easyjet are making it so difficult and expensive to fly your bike, and the hire bikes can be pretty good, so it's tilting more and more in favour of hiring, IMO.

Having said that, I'm taking my bike to Majorca in Feb, as I 've already invested in a good bike bag (EVOC) and I just can't bear to be without it!

Strith

If you're in London there are loads of LBS you can hire bike boxes. Alternatively I have a bike bag you can have for £40 if you want? Its one of these:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/chai ... -prod68409
Just with Brand X branding. Used it about 5 times. PM if you want a look.

sungod

Slowbike wrote:

On a similar vein ...

What do ppl do about insuring the bike for the trip?
I'm not bothered about insurance for normal use as I think it's too much money for the risk - but I'm a little uneasy about the flight - well - baggage handlers really ... despite that it's in a bike bag

airline liability for baggage loss/damage is limited by convention, mostly it's 1131 sdr (special drawing rights) per passenger, that's about 1060 quid at the moment

if you can't risk loss/damage, get insurance to cover total value of checked baggage including the bike, make sure you check the fine print for exclusions or per-item/category limits

an alternative - but i really don't recommend it - is that you are entitled to ask the airline if it'll accept increased liability at check-in, however, it does not have to say yes, even if it did, it can charge you whatever it fancies, and if you were unfortunate enough to have to make a claim, it is probably going to be a painful process

whether airline or insurance, unless you can show the bike was adequately packaged, there's the chance that payment could be refused/reduced in the event of damage, e.g. if a bike in a soft bag were damaged, there's clear opportunity to refuse some/all payment

rafletcher

Ok, I've taken my bike on a plane, in a bike bag. Never again, wasn't damaged, but the bag got ripped, they dont go well on roller conveyors. (I've also worked on installing baggage handling systems!). They (the bikes) are literally thrown about. So, if you really want to take your own bike with you, hire a bike box (or if you're doing more than 2-3 trips, buy one - they sell quickly second hand should you need to recoup your money.). My personal favourite is bikeboxalan. Certainly if you go to the Balearics or Canaries a lot of good bikes are available for hire.

pilot_pete

Another in favour of the bikeboxalan. If you search my nick you will find previous posts by me on this subject. I am an airline pilot and carry bikes every-so-often in the hold. Take it from me you want the toughest box you can get if you are putting your pride and joy in it and transporting it by air....

You'll hear plenty of 'I've used a cardboard box for 20yrs and never had a problem' stories, but you won't hear many of the sob stories about damaged bikes at the hands of baggage handlers. You will also struggle to get ANYTHING out of an airline for damage if they can wriggle out using the small print, especially the low cost operators....they are low cost because well, they keep their costs low (by charging you for every last little item outside of the small print and not paying out unless they are forced to). You want the £29.99 fare to get to Palma you have to accept that you are going to get the absolute bare minimum for your tiny fare....

I must get round to buying a bikeboxalan as I go away at least once a year and the fee for renting one has gone up and up - last November they wanted nearly £90 for the week's hire which is just getting too steep to justify renting one in my book.

Good luck

PP

bernithebiker

Pilot Pete wrote:

You want the £29.99 fare to get to Palma you have to accept that you are going to get the absolute bare minimum for your tiny fare....



PP

True, but they now charge £35 each way for your bike, so if they are making a specific charge to transport your bike, then one would hope that they would take some responsibility in doing so safely.....

I often get to watch my bike being loaded and unloaded as I often use small airports, and up to now at least, they do it quite carefully; the bike bag (EVOC) is carefully placed on the trolley, and often handed to me in person.

TFC1

Thanks for that guys. I have decided against cardboard and nuying a soft bag. My LBS do hardcase hire at £35 for a week which looks like the deal to do.

Cheers

boydster76

I take my carbon road bike over to Lanzarote once a year and wouldn't put it in anything other than a box. Some friends swear by bags but I wouldn't take the risk. I've seen how bashed boxes can get so hate to think what might happen in a bag. The only issue I have is the weight - my bike is light, and the bike box I have used is about average, but I am always very close (or right on) the airline weight limit. I guess this is where a bag has an advantage.

In the past I have taken a full sus MTB over to the alps in a pretty substantial box and been over the max weight that BA would carry (without any other kit in the box). Luckily there were very understanding check out people at both ends!

I am sure that hiring good bikes is a lot easier now than it used to be, however nothing quite beats riding your own bike!

Just a thought - I am member of my local Tri club and we have a number of bags and boxes that are free for members to use. It might be worth investigating the assets of any clubs you might belong to.

rafletcher

bernithebiker wrote:

Pilot Pete wrote:

You want the £29.99 fare to get to Palma you have to accept that you are going to get the absolute bare minimum for your tiny fare....



PP

True, but they now charge £35 each way for your bike, so if they are making a specific charge to transport your bike, then one would hope that they would take some responsibility in doing so safely.....

I often get to watch my bike being loaded and unloaded as I often use small airports, and up to now at least, they do it quite carefully; the bike bag (EVOC) is carefully placed on the trolley, and often handed to me in person.

1) The airline charge is for the cargo space the bike takes up, and the additional handling charge the baggage handling company demand.

2) Maybe at small airports (London City, Antwerp, both of which I use) you can watch loading and goods are handled carefully, but I can tell you that at Luton, Stansted, Gatwick etc etc they definitely are not. I'm not saying that they are deliberately mis-handled, but they do go on roller conveyors (the oversize baggage shute at Stansted is just that, from terminal level to lower level baggage system) and they are treated just like any other piece of baggage.

rafletcher

TFC1 wrote:

Thanks for that guys. I have decided against cardboard and nuying a soft bag. My LBS do hardcase hire at £35 for a week which looks like the deal to do.

Cheers

Good choice!

cougie

I always use a soft bag and the only damage in 10 years of flying has been a broken bottle cage.

You have to pad the bike out - you don't just throw it in a bag. If youve done it well enough you'd be happy to throw the bike down the stairs.

Hard cases are good but make sure they fit in the hire car at the other end - and secure the bag in the box. I've seen rear hangers broken off from bikes in a box but not secure. D'oh !

slap_my_bass_up

I'm having the same dilemma at the moment. I've just paid £160 for flights and 4 nights in Palma, but to take my bike on the easyjet flight will cost £140 (£70 each way!) plus I've found someone who will hire a bike box for £28 a week. Basically more expensive than the holiday.

I have a Focus Cayo and have found somewhere that hires the same bike for about half the price of taking my own. Finding a hire place that will allow me to have the bike for all 4 days is proving difficult as someone else has already booked overlapping days of my trip.

So at least if I take my own, it's piece of mind that I know the bike, it's to my size and will be available for when I want to ride it. Plus I can pack out the box with all my kit and helmet, as I'm only taking a holdall for all my clothes as hand luggage. I'm not paying Easyjets £60 luggage fee too!

boydster76

slap_my_bass_up wrote:

Plus I can pack out the box with all my kit and helmet, as I'm only taking a holdall for all my clothes as hand luggage. I'm not paying Easyjets £60 luggage fee too!

I agree, get as much in the case as possible, just watch the weight. On my last trip I think I ended up only managing to get my helmet and shoes in the box - pedals and everything else had to be squeezed in my carry on. Also, I flew out with one airline and back with another and their weight limits were (very helpfully) different.

It sounds simple advice, but make sure the tools you need to rebuild your bike are in the box and not your carry on. I now have an allen key set missing a couple of sizes and had to buy a new mini tool after my last flight back to the UK!!

TFC1

slap_my_bass_up wrote:

I'm having the same dilemma at the moment. I've just paid £160 for flights and 4 nights in Palma, but to take my bike on the easyjet flight will cost £140 (£70 each way!) plus I've found someone who will hire a bike box for £28 a week. Basically more expensive than the holiday.

I have a Focus Cayo and have found somewhere that hires the same bike for about half the price of taking my own. Finding a hire place that will allow me to have the bike for all 4 days is proving difficult as someone else has already booked overlapping days of my trip.

So at least if I take my own, it's piece of mind that I know the bike, it's to my size and will be available for when I want to ride it. Plus I can pack out the box with all my kit and helmet, as I'm only taking a holdall for all my clothes as hand luggage. I'm not paying Easyjets £60 luggage fee too!

Hiring isnt an option for me. It is a charity ride so we fly into Madrid and back from Lisbon. Plus having just forked out for a lovely new bike i am keen to take it along 8)

cougie

Not had experience of this - but if your bike fits into one of these bags - its just luggage.

http://www.rustersports.com/

No excess for "bikes" - its just a case.

de_sisti

BA charge £40 (single flight) to take your bike throughout Europe (£32 if you book on-line).
The weight limit is 23 kg, anything above that incurs a hefty weight penalty.

marcusjb

cougie wrote:

Not had experience of this - but if your bike fits into one of these bags - its just luggage.

http://www.rustersports.com/

No excess for "bikes" - its just a case.

Wouldn't you end up paying for an extra bag anyway (as it's two hold bags, one for the frame, one for the wheels)?

That may well be cheaper than the 'sports equipment' charge and, certainly if you're in business class on long haul, you can often take two bags for the hold anyway.

Two bags also means doubling the chance of a bag not making it to the destination.

littledove44

slap_my_bass_up wrote:

I'm having the same dilemma at the moment. I've just paid £160 for flights and 4 nights in Palma, but to take my bike on the easyjet flight will cost £140 (£70 each way!) plus I've found someone who will hire a bike box for £28 a week. Basically more expensive than the holiday.

I have a Focus Cayo and have found somewhere that hires the same bike for about half the price of taking my own. Finding a hire place that will allow me to have the bike for all 4 days is proving difficult as someone else has already booked overlapping days of my trip.

So at least if I take my own, it's piece of mind that I know the bike, it's to my size and will be available for when I want to ride it. Plus I can pack out the box with all my kit and helmet, as I'm only taking a holdall for all my clothes as hand luggage. I'm not paying Easyjets £60 luggage fee too!

We always rent from Berganti bikes in Palma. In fact I booked again with them this morning.

rafletcher

slap_my_bass_up wrote:

I'm having the same dilemma at the moment. I've just paid £160 for flights and 4 nights in Palma, but to take my bike on the easyjet flight will cost £140 (£70 each way!) plus I've found someone who will hire a bike box for £28 a week. Basically more expensive than the holiday.

So that's £40 a night including flights and you're bitching about the additional costs! Geez.

pilot_pete

cougie wrote:

Not had experience of this - but if your bike fits into one of these bags - its just luggage.

http://www.rustersports.com/

No excess for "bikes" - its just a case.

It might be in your mind, but I doubt an airline would view it in the same light...

PP

boydster76

Pilot Pete wrote:

cougie wrote:

Not had experience of this - but if your bike fits into one of these bags - its just luggage.

http://www.rustersports.com/

No excess for "bikes" - its just a case.

It might be in your mind, but I doubt an airline would view it in the same light...

PP

Agreed. The rules cover what is in the bag, not what the bag looks like, so however you dress it up, it is still sports equipment and therefore has to be treated under their seperate rules.

At least 50% of the times I have flown I have been asked to open the bike box so the airline can check the contents, and check that it is not loaded with clothes etc. as most airlines stipulate that it has to be sports equipment only in the box.