Touring - A flying/packing question...

When flying do you put all the stuff your taking in tha panniers and send it through with the bike, or keep it separate and take it through as normal luggage?
I can't work out in my head which is more likely to result in all my stuff with me at the end.

I have large bike and a custom built case, so I can easily hit 50 pounds. I put the panniers and some other stuff in a separate cardboard box.

When my brother and I flew from Vancouver to Glasgow we checked our panniers as regular baggage. They got to Scotland when we did, our bikes missed a connecting flight and didn't get there until 2 days later. On the trip back (from Amsterdam) the panniers where packed in the cardboard boxes with the bikes and one of them went missing. I'd carry or check as regular baggage at least enough to get you by for a couple of days especially if a connecting flight is involved.

I put my bicycle and maybe 1 or 2 other things (like my empty panniers) in the box.

Everything else goes into one very large canvas laundry bag!!

Air Canada has a 2-bag rule, but they don't have any restrictions on how big or heavy those bags are.


Oh, I do bring my Carradice on as carry-on with much stuff as I can carry in there too.

On my last few flights, I've checked the bike unboxed and put 3 panniers, the seat bag and the handlebar bag into a duffel and checked it, and carried the fourth pannier as carry-on. The duffel gets rolled up and stuffed into a pannier for the duration of the tour, and I repeat the process for the trip home.

Thanks for that. Much appreciated.