To the OP:

I've bicycled to and from the Philadelphia airport from the south, so I have experience. I'm not quite sure if your concerns are

(i) Leaving the bike locked at the airport for a week (my trip was 4 days)
(ii) Traffic
(iii) TSA rules

(i) and (ii) are purely local - your local airport and traffic at the times you travel will be differet from ours. (iii) says you may likely need to check baggage.

I found riding to PHL gave me more flexibility taking the train to Boston and flying back without paying for cabs or parking, or dealing with inconvenient train or bus schedule. Bicycle parking was fine but PHL was so uncoordinated it took a month to figure it out before my trip. Their official policy says bicycles may be removed after 72 hours (ruling out virtually all passengers who might bicycle); when I tried calling for more information to verify the location of the poorly marked racks or enforcement of the 72 hours, I was (incorrectly) told there were no public racks.

Eventually the airport parking/security did email me and tell me that 4 days was not a problem; they were concerned about the possibility of abandoned bicycles (on racks that had never been used!), and did tell me afterwards that he had seen my bike parked during my trip. Staff at the airport were uniformly friendly, and gave me directions to terminals, exits etc. Information staff couldn't really tell me where the racks were (very hard to find, even with a map), and had never had questions (or answers) about bike parking before.

There was virtually no traffic to the airport at 4:00-5:00 am; returning on a weekday afternoon it was normal Delaware County (PA) traffic.

(iii) TSA/Carry on vs. Checked
On the flight out of PHL I checked all the bicycle tools; this was fine, including a Leatherman tool with knife blades.
On the way back I forgot and put a 6" wrench in a carry on bag. The TSA limit for wrenches is 7", so I was OK but an 8" wrench needs to be checked, as does any blade, even the 1" pocket knife.

I expect few airports in the US have much bicycle traffic, but most will be willing to accommodate you. I would strongly suggest you call beforehand to avoid surprises or confused airport staff.

If any of your bicycle tools are medium to large pieces of metal, you may have to put them in checked luggage.

Traffic is local - we don't know your route or schedule.

What airport are you using in NJ?


AD