Touring - Thoughts on taking a bike on a plane

I’ve rented bikes at my destination in the past and was always dissatisfied. It can take me two weeks to get my seat at the right height and angle. I don’t like riding a bike set up for someone else.

The last couple of times I’ve gone to Europe I’ve taken my own bike. I don’t take a wildly expensive or brand new bike, just one which is ‘worn-in’. I never pay to carry my bike. The bike is luggage, the panniers are carry on luggage.

The first time I followed the airlines recommendations and boxed my bike. I used one of the cardboard boxes bikes come in. I removed the front wheel and chocked the forks and did all the things recommended including deflating the tires.

The only problem is what do you do with the box? I was too tired from a sleepless trans Atlantic flight to do anything except take a cab. I was forced to take a circular tour route and left the box with the friendly lady at the B&B.

This time I flew with a different airline, one that accepted my bike in a plastic bag. No disassembly required. I biked to the airport with my fully assembled and loaded bike. I brought a bag with me. I used a bag that had once covered a single bed mattress. At the airline desk I pre-purchased another bag for $CAN5 for use on the way back. At the desk I just took off the pedals and rolled the bike into the bag and taped it.

Previously I had taped my helmet to the pannier rack and taped my tool kit (including all my sharp objects) to the frame. If I had it to do again I thing I would also tape my front wheel in the forward position as on the trip home it arrived turned in what appeared to be an awkward position. I didn’t deflate the tires, and guess what, they didn’t explode!

I wasn’t forced to drag my bike box around this time, I clipped on the panniers and easily rolled my bike onto trains to get to my starting point and biked to my first night B&B.
I think I will fly with this airline again. It’s called Air Transat and only flies direct charters between Canada and Europe and the Caribbean.

I hated it. I hated it so much I got a Bike Friday.

Every single time I took my bike abroad, I had bike problems/repairs to do. It was just terrible. It doesn't matter how much you stress to the airlines that it's a freakin' BIKE, they would still sling it around like a hamburger patty at McDonald's. The only airline where I had no bike problems was Swiss Air. Air Italia, American Airlines, United, and Air France all sucked when it came to bike care.

For my bike carrier, I always had arrangements beforehand with where to leave my bike luggage upon arrival. Still, it was a hassle getting from the airport to the destination sometimes. It's easier when you can get an airport shuttle- they'll take anything up to baby elephants onto the bus, as long as it fits in the designated luggage space.

I sometimes had problems with airlines because the personnel sometimes didn't know the guidelines for carrying bikes abroad. They tended to just want to fine me for carrying a bike, so I made sure to carry the regulations that I downloaded off the internet so they would understand that I was within the guidelines.

Overall, it was a pain in the butt. I always had to do repairs once I got to my destination. It got to be pretty expensive to ship my bike. American was the worst of them all- they didn't know the regulations, then they always told me that they were NOT responsible for any damage- of course, I would tell them right there on the spot that they were responsible, and I refused to sign anything that would waive their responsibilites should something happen to the bike. What, do they think I'm the dullest crayola in the box? Idiots.

I'm glad I have the bike Friday- I'll be able to pack the bike more carefully and make sure that I don't have damaged parts by wrapping it in bubble wrap. When I get there, I can discard the bubble wrap, unpack my bike, put the wheels on the luggage, and turn the luggage into a trailer and ride away into the sunset. Problems solved!

Koffee

Only flown domestically, but never had a problem here yet. I use the "body bag" from Ground effect, (www.groundeffect.co.nz), and pad the inside of it with my sleeping bag, air mattress and tent. In four flights the only problem I've had was a minor wheel buckle on a flight from Adelaide to Brisbane when I rushed the packing and didn't do it properly. Even then, the bike was still rideable literally right out of the airport.

The bike has never required any great disassembly at any stage, meaning that I could put it back together at the airport in a reasonable space of time and simply ride straight to wherever it was I was staying. The bag is pretty light, too, and folds down to a reasonable size. I carried it from Melbourne to Adelaide, and all the way around Tasmania with no real problems.

Only flown domestically, but never had a problem here yet. I use the "body bag" from Ground effect, (www.groundeffect.co.nz), and pad the inside of it with my sleeping bag, air mattress and tent. In four flights the only problem I've had was a minor wheel buckle on a flight from Adelaide to Brisbane when I rushed the packing and didn't do it properly. Even then, the bike was still rideable literally right out of the airport.

The bike has never required any great disassembly at any stage, meaning that I could put it back together at the airport in a reasonable space of time and simply ride straight to wherever it was I was staying. The bag is pretty light, too, and folds down to a reasonable size. I carried it from Melbourne to Adelaide, and all the way around Tasmania with no real problems.

My wife and I use Body Bags as well. We stopped using boxes as we found that boxes can be stacked flat a lot easier with other things loaded on top. I arrived in France from Australia and didn't notice my rear wheel was cracked until I'd ridden out of town. Whe I investigated it I found three cracks consistent with a side-on impact. Had to ride 35km on a collapsing rear wheel, not fun. The lessons learnt were to never use boxes, and never use aero rims! On the return trip my wife's bike emerged at the baggage area in a series of bits as the bag had disintegrated. Miraculously there was no serious damage to the bike. We have now used body bags for 4 return journeys, three domestically within Australia and one to New Zealand and have had no problems. Our only problem has been with excess baggage which has nothing to do with the body-bag as such. Amazing how there's never a problem with excess baggage on the outward journey, but there usually is on the return!!!! We use cardboard & newspaper for padding. The bags sometimes need some sewing repairs as they are pretty thin, but that's also the attraction as they don't take up too much pannier space.

Well, I have had relatively few problems with bikes on airplanes. It is a pain in the neck, but I figure if I have the hassle, i may as well make it worth it. I take the bike further apart than many. I take off the chainwheel, so the bike sits lower in the box. Take off both cranks so that parthas less girth. Take off the freewheel so the rear wheel has less girth. Unshackle the rear derailler and bungie it to the frame. Slide my helmet in sideways to help with any side impact. I often can get my panniers in there as well. In fact sometimes I travel so light that the bike, panniers, and equipment all went in and still came in under the weight limit.

I have always found the airport folks to be as helpful as they can be. Bikes freak them out and also various detector machines, since the bike is covered with remnants of oil, lubricant, cleaning fluids and such, all of which are hydrocarbons and shout out bomb! But often I have just taken my bike, boxed or not, down to the 'large baggage' area and given it to the staff. [After sodomizing a few of the blue collar baggage handlers my bike does get better treatment.] Doubt you could get this far into the guts of the terminal post 9-11, however.

Of course thanks to Mr. Bush having deputized airpost screeners, we now have 40,000 additional government hacks who never have to worry about pay, insurance, retirement, or being fired. So don't be surprised if some moron who hasn't ridden anything since a tricycle takes your stuff all apart and throws it back in helter skelter.

roughstuff

I worry about having the baggage handler take my bike out, then try to put it back in themselves. It's actually my worst nightmare- imagining them trying to stuff the bike back into the box and in the process, breaking off the rear der. or something like that. You'd think they'd allow us to come and repack it ourselves, but I guess it depends on the airport. When I go abroad, I can always repack the luggage myself, but when I fly out of O'Hare, they won't let me touch the luggage once I've checked it. Then they ALWAYS break something on the luggage or in the luggage and enclose some cryptic note saying that the luggage had been opened and checked by security and they're not responsible for what's broken. F that... if they break my bike, they'll definitely fix it, and they can certainly take that to the bank.

I certainly find that most flights originating out of the USA have no respect for the bike, whereas when I'm flying back from overseas, they treat my bike like they were handling a baby with brittle bone disease. It's incredible.

Koffee

I worry about having the baggage handler take my bike out, then try to put it back in themselves...

Koffee

Koffee, I hate to even mention this - but just so you don't get surprised. I've traveled with both my diamond frame bike and with my Bike Fridays, and I've really had no problems with either (luckily enough). But the TSA folks will open even the Bike Friday case if they want or need to. I flew to Hawaii last year, and there was no problem in Boston since they do 100% xray screens of the baggage (and all of those floating pieces of metal didn't seem to alarm anyone). But I flew home from Kona, and they hand-inspected every piece of baggage - including my Bike Friday. I was allowed to watch but not touch - although the inspector did allow me to give him some hints on getting the bike back in the case. It was treated with care, but it WAS unpacked. The TSA folks were pretty busy that night - I had just finished my tour around the Big Island (http://denise2003hawaii.crazyguyonabike.com) but there were also oodles of folks with bikes who had just finished a triathlon. No one seemed to balk at all of the bikes though!

I've also had bad experiences with bikes on planes.

I flew across the US several times with two bikes (wife's and own), and the time spent finding boxes, disassembling, getting the boxes to the airport, reassembling, and then repeating the process at the end of the trip was pretty labor and time intensive. Also, it was costing us something like $60 a bike surcharge to fly with them in the US (each way!!!).

The worst was when we used actual Delta airline bike boxes-- they were enormous, almost large enough for a tandem. They were difficult to reinforce, and a real pain to get to the airport.

As for bags, as far as I knew, they weren't allowed for US flights.

Also, the damage was just too much. As much bubble-wrap, double-walls, fiber-tape reinforcement, etc. I used, they still managed to mangle them. On one trip, my Randonee got an obnoxious dent right in the top tube as part of the trip. On another trip, my Miyata was hanging out of the bottom of the box and its chainring was scraping along the ground they dragged it to me two hours after we landed.

Ugh-- never again. I had friends who were more successful with Trisports cases-- bike specific hard cases with interior padding, etc. The case is expensive, though, and the surcharge for flying still added up.

Anyway, I'm sticking with the Bike Friday for flights at this point, though in the future I might talk myself into a Co-motion Co-Pilot Nor'wester or Expresso.

(Note: we also shipped UPS a couple of times, using bike shop boxes, with mixed results. First trip was fine. Second trip was a disaster- wife's chainring bent and my commuting bike lost completely. REI had packed and shipped it, they processed the claim for replacement, and nothing ever came of it...)

Has anyone ever had your local bike shop ship your bike UPS to its destination? This may be a good alternative.

12 members of my bike club FedExed their bikes in hardcase bikeboxes from Michigan to Texas all from the same shipping point. One bike was sent back and had to be shipped via air so the cyclist could ride on a bike tour. From Texas to Michigan, 4 bikes came home in 1 week. It took an additional 2 weeks, for a total of 3 weeks for the remaining 8 bikes to arrive home. There was not any damage to the bikes. We did use, foam, bubblewrap and pipe tubing and removed rear derailers, wheels, pedals, and handlebars. I've shipped by air 2 times domestically in a hardcase bike box with excellent results.