Originally Posted by
bikingbill
I'd say out of all the airlines, Southwest was the easiest.
Also, at Heathrow security, I recommend letting them know that it is a British Made Brompton.
Security at San Francisco and most US Airports know about these bikes. I recommend getting onto TSA Pre-Check to make things easier.
Removing the seat/post (the telescoping one) makes it easy for the bike to get thru the scanners.
The packed bike:
Mine looked exactly the same and TSA was zero problems. They spent far more time on the contents of my pockets than on the bike. No seat removal.
From those airlines, I think Southwest explicitly allows for folders. I flew Delta and it was tense and tricky. On many occasions air personnel whether from SkyTeam or other airlines was nasty for one reason or another and if I had a folder in the they would zero in on it in no time. In travel I have to juggle multiple problems and I do not want to add one more if I do not have to.
Besides haggling there is an issue of the bike in the air being put into the overhead while in a thin bag. I just hate thinking what would happen if it were to slip out of the hands or bin. On occasions I was forced to place a folder into overhead compartment storage on trains in Europe, by rail personnel. I hated it and felt it was irresponsible.