General Cycling Discussion - Bike travel on jet

I believe that there is an group that an individual can join
that allows shipping bike free on certain airlines. What
group is that?

The IMBA. IMBA.com

A domestic airline in Australia called Virgin Blue seems to allow free carriage of a bike on their flights. At least, they didn't charge me anything on two flights last month.

Air Canada lets you transport a bike as a part of your luggage allowance (read free) on transoceanic flights. It is good on any connecting flights that are booked together onto one ticket. Can be quite useful when using open-jaw tickets.

Open jaw tickets allow you to fly into one city and then back from another.

The League of American Bicyclists has a Bikes Fly Free (http://www.bikeleague.org/flyfree.htm) program.

Adventure Cycling also has a Bikes Fly Free program - it's only good on Northwest though, I think.

www.adventurecycling.org

Other then IMBA I also believe thet USA cycling offers that too.

Slainte:beer:

United gives vouchers for our bike if you are a licensed ccycling coach but who knows how much united will be around?
catfish

As long as your overall luggage weight including the bike does not exceed 20kg (about 45 lbs) many of the European airlines such as Buzz, Go and Ryan will let bikes travel free - if not they have a flat rate charge of US$ 40 return

I know for sure that Austrian Airlines allows to carry 1 bike per 1 passenger free of charge.

The sum of 3 dimensions of the bike shall not exceed 158 cm though. It means one has to pack it a bit.

That is how I packed 3 bikes for transatlantic flight. I used the plastic wrap, which is used for sandwiches. It is readily available in any supermarket. This is the thin slightly self-adhesive tape of about 30 cm wide and about 30 meters long in one roll.

From another thread.. Why Do I maintain my second bike. Because British Air has twice beat the hell out of my bike. They will not do that to my best road bike.. It stays off the airlines.. Maybe if I had a hard case box, I might..?

I have brought bikes on planes before. Of course I got to detach some of the parts to avoid damage as you know how careless they handle the lagguages. I think as long as your total check in lagguage doesn't exceed the limit it's ok. I do hope they have services that allow us to carry bikes without having to pack it.

I have placed my road bike on trans-Atlantic flights three times.. Eadh time the airlines chosen let it travel as regular luggage, meaning weight counted towards total allotment...
Once I considered taking my bike to Hawaii and Oahu.. I did not, the airlines would have charged me $50 on each leg of the flight.
Glad the tran-Atlantic airlines did not charge me, since both times the same airlines beat the hell out of the bike. The catch, you have to sign a waiver of their responsibility.
Glad to know about Adventure Cyclings agreement for free bike travel, since I am a member. Forgot about that.. Maybe, I might take a bike sometime to Michigan..

I talked to America West about bringing my bikes out to Vegas from Miami. They said, "Sure you can bring em. One bike per ticketed passenger, 80 dollars per bike EACH WAY!"

I could rent bikes for the entire week for only 135.00.

I left my bike at home.

Eighty dollars on America West and bet you would still have to sigh a waiver- as to guaranteeing it for damage, by their handlers?

Here is my tip to anyone flying. Invest in a bike suitcase. I shared the price with two of my club mates, which brought it down to a acceptable level. We removed any signs on it that show what the contents is. This reduces the chanches of being charged with an extra duty on some of the budget airlines. There is also enough space in the case for all my cycling clothes and other related items. The rest of my luggage goes with my in the form of onboard hand lugguge. It is that simple and I have never really had a problem traveling this way.

Every airline is different. Some charge, some don't. All have some kind of packing standards and won't accept the bike for shipment if it is not properly packed. Some have packing cartons for use/purchase. You have to contact the airlines you are considering and ask them their policies and charges.

Personally, I would not pack a bike in anything but a hard bike case. If you belong to a club ask around. Someone may have a case you can borrow or rent. I belong to a club that purchased 2 hard cases. Members can rent one for about $20 per trip.

Well I flew my bike back from the states just before christmas, I was quite worried about it surviving being thrown around on the plane, but in the end it was fine. I used a retracks soft (padded)bike suitcase type thing that I bought off the buy-sell-trade forum here, and increased the padding by putting lots of clothes round it. With my trainer in my other suitcase, I just had enough room for clothes and just made the weight limit for the plane.

there were originally two of the flight cases for sale so I'm guessing there is still one for sale if anyone's interested. Not as good as a hard case but a lot cheaper i.e. affordable for us student types...

I am still very unimpressed by the bike suitcase.

If I arrive on tour, where do I store the bike suitcase? It will not fit in panniers.

I prefer that the bike is visible. I hope that baggage handlers will handle it as a bike, when they see that it is a bike.

The good packing material is the plastic film for breakfast. It is sold in any supermarket. It is the tape of about 10 inches wide and about couple of hundred feet long.

One does not need to carry any packing materials on a tour. Just before return flight go to the supermarket and buy a roll of this tape.

Packing takes some minutes.

Dear Max,

You live in a fool's paradise if you for one momement believe that bagage handlers care for your bike.....

Get a hard case to put it in, it can handle all the abuse it will surely recieve from these high calibre individuals

Just my two cents

I recall talking to some cyclists at Bike shop in Luberon, after having my bike repaired from B . A. 's abuse.. The common viewpoint with that group- many baggage handlers intentionally treat bicycles with contempt. Sort of like our complanits of having objects thrown at us by motorists,here..

We flew on 2 major tours with 3 bikes. Once over Atlantic.

Baggage handlers, those simple souls, treated our bikes OK. By the way, many airport staff use bikes themselves, as transportation on the endless ramp.

Of course, I fixed plastic bottles inside the forward fork.

I would use a hard shell bike suitcase, if it was not such a hindrance on a tour.

I like to arrive and cycle from the airport immediately after assembing the bike.

Hey there biking buddy, where are you off to?