General Cycling Discussion - Flying w/ a bike

Just got back from CO. Thought I'd post some info about my recent bike flying experience. As some of you might know, IMB and LAB offer a "Bikes Fly Free" program on 6 or 7 airlines with their membership. The catch is, you have to book tickets through their travel agent. Last year when I was going to Moab, I tried going through their (IMBA's) agent only to find the cheapest price they could give me was $400 vs. $200 if I booked it on the airline's website (for the same exact flight on the same airline!). So, I took the $200 fare and got stuck w/ a $50 charge for the bike each way. So, I'm going to CO last week, tickets were already purchased (not through IMBA's agent), I decided to do some more research to see if anyone had any new ideas on getting their bike on board w/o paying the extra charge. Went to the very informative website Travel With Bikes (http://www.bikeaccess.net/Default.cfm) and found a note from a LAB member who had booked airfare through the website, then called customer service and explained LAB and the airline had an agreement for "Bikes Fly Free", did he need to do anything special and could the agent put a note on his reservation indicating this. So, the day before my flight, I do the same thing. Agent (Frontier Airlines) was very helpful and put the note on my reservation. On the flight out, they want to charge me $50 as soon as they know I have a bike. I tell them about the program and to check my reservation. "No problem" and I'm on my way. Return flight, the agent reads the notes on my reservation before I have to say anything and again, I breeze through w/ no problems. Success!

Friend of mine told me about a friend of his that , when flying with his bike, he dis-assembled the thing, packed it in a box and labeled the box "Art- Fragile!"

Guy at checkin asked what it was. Reply? " It's Art , man!" No fees. No questions. ;)

Tried a similar thing last time, didn't work for me, but it worked for a friend on the same flight. It's a crap shoot. Technically, they are supposed to charge you because it is an oversized package. In reality, if they find out it is a bike they will always charge you, otherwise it sounds like it is about a 50/50 chance of being charged.

It really is a toss of the dice whether or not you get nailed for oversized baggage.

I was flying back from the Philippines about a year or so ago. It seemed that every Philippino family that travels brings their whole house with them including the cupboards and fridge.

There was one family that had everything in boxes and bags all tied up with ropes. One box was broken open. The box was wet with some kind of oozing stuff and you could see coconuts popping out of the cracks. A cloud of fruit flies following the boxes was like a neon sign for the customs agents.

I thought I even heard a "cluck, cluck, cluck" from inside one of the boxes.

The customs guy asked them, "do you have any food products, fruit, or animals with you?" The answer was, "Well, uhm, Hmmm. No speak Englaise!"

I bet they had any bicycles with them too.