General Cycling Discussion - Effective.? Shrink wrap a bike for air travel with plastic. .

We Have just boarded a plane for travel from Barcelona to Frankfort .. While entering the airport we saw a passenger having his bike shrink wrapped by seal and Go for boarding a plane... The bike was being wrapped w/o use of a traditional bike box.. Just the bike ... The handlebars were turned , but the SPD pedals left intact.. The wrap looked really tight.. I have never used plastic wrap for luggage even.. Why Shrink wrap... I've had TSA security tear apart bike boxes and made a mess of it, leaving the box pretty ripped... And once on a Luftansa flight, the box was pushed in and several spokes ruined... Would shrink wrapping assure safe baggage handling of bikes... ?.. Anyone ever done this.. I had little time to talk to the the bike owner or the company wrapping the bike.. But, I did notice the shrink wrapping company assured the delivery with a 2500 euro insurance plan.. Damage or loss... The passenger said the company plastic wrapped his bike for 7 euros.. Your comments, a worth while service.? Think is assures your bikes security.

shrink wrap does nothing to protect the bike

go ahead spend 7 euro on protecting your bike. you will get what you pay for

if they damage it..have a lot of fun trying to collect on your insurance they sell you.

Pallet bags, i.e., shrink wrap, is surprisingly tough stuff, especially if done right. Might do more to protect, than many people think is possible.

I've seen pallets full of bottles protected from transportation companies, with no damage at all.

What really caught my eye.. the 2500 dollar insurance policy.. I can't believe its for real. Only place, I've seen a real insurance policy for airline luggage.

There is this:

With shrink or stretch wrapping, the baggage handlers know exactly what they are loading and they can see there's no protection. There's a possibility a nice square box is more likely to be loaded on the bottom of the stack in the airplane while a shrink wrapped bike might be loaded on top.

Pallet bags, i.e., shrink wrap, is surprisingly tough stuff, especially if done right. Might do more to protect, than many people think is possible.

I've seen pallets full of bottles protected from transportation companies, with no damage at all.

I deal with shrink wrap on pallets for a living. It keeps the product ON the pallet during transportation from the warehouse to the truck to it's final destination while being on the tow motor. Notice that the product on the pallet is relatively squared off. That is so it will fit together with the other pallets on the truck.

YouTube - How to Break 2000 Beer Bottles On The Job

I can't see where it would do any good to protect the bike. If anything, I can see it as a way to keep the bike "together".