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Flying with a bike.
How do you do it? Do you cardboard box it or do you use a proper case? Why one over the other? How do you pack your gear?
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I've done cardboard box and plastic bag. Generally do box on the way there and bag on the way back for convenience. Both have worked fine.
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What are some bags that would be recommended that fit nicely into a pannier after a bike is reassembled? (besides a plastic bag)
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1-way trip: cardboard box.
round trip: S&S suitcase -- My wife and I got our first S&S coupled bikes in 2009. We've since upgraded our coupled single bikes and added a coupled tandem. Our nearest airport serves Southwest, so we generally carry our bike(s) for free. |
Creativity in problem solving is part of touring ...
I used and discarded cardboard boxes as my bike tours did not always form a loop , starting in one country and leaving from another..
Where I am now , A touring destination, some people use a hard case and pay to have it shipped to where they next will use it. Or use a cardboard box ... at the end of the season there is a service to box and ship of bikes for people who end their transcontinental tours here.. Reusing boxes and packing materials from earlier bikes built up for crossing the other way , and new bikes on the sales floor.. ... My last tour I started in Dublin , and left from Aberdeen made up a long enough box from 2, with a good amount of packing tape my panniers in plastic bags used for shipping chicken feed grains ... ... |
I bought a cardboard bikeflights box and have used it 4 times so far. I always ship to my destination, which is usually a relative's home. Helmet and shoes are usually with me in luggage though a helmet would easily fit in the box. I will get at least one more trip out of this box, but they are cheap.
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If you are flying inside the country then ship it ahead. It is usually cheaper and easier.
The exact requirements for packaging will depend on your airline.but almost all except at least boxed. I have used both hard case and box. |
I’m not one to give people crap for not searching, but this one is about as basic as it gets... |
My bike goes in its S & S case. My wife's goes in a Bikeflights cardboard box for now. Just recently became aware of this thing: https://postcarry.co/ thanks to Russ at pathlesspeddled. If it seems like my wife's bike is going to make many more trips, that might be worth having. The biggest hassle on our last trip was, after landing and assembling our bikes, realizing that we had no good way to carry the bike box out of the airport. That backpack feature on the Post Carry box would have been great.
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S&S in a soft side case, and a separate checked bag with panniers and other gear. Either store the luggage if coming back to the same airport or ship suitcase with collapsed bike case inside to final destination. |
Regardless of method, at least a few days in advance make sure you can get your pedals off. Sometimes bike shops put them on really tight and you do not want to be trying to get a stuck pedal off the bike when you are under a really tight timeline.
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Know your airline dimensional and weight limits before packing. Print a copy just in case.
I split my coupled bike between a charity shop suitcase and cut down bike box for point to point travel. Full sized wheels are beastly to manage without a special case. The wheels go in the box. My non coupled bike has only travelled by post and train. Edit: Helmet goes on the head because I want to clue the X-ray people to what odd ball junk is in my carry-on. At one airport all the X-ray techs huddled together as the pointed at me and each object on the screen. I lol'd. |
I'd suggest you search the forum for past threads. This question gets asked about once a month ;-)
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Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN
(Post 20738236)
Regardless of method, at least a few days in advance make sure you can get your pedals off. Sometimes bike shops put them on really tight and you do not want to be trying to get a stuck pedal off the bike when you are under a really tight timeline.
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https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...024e8587b7.jpg
I wonder if he ever was able to have children? |
Originally Posted by Philly Tandem
(Post 20738375)
I'd suggest you search the forum for past threads. This question gets asked about once a month ;-)
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Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN
(Post 20738236)
Regardless of method, at least a few days in advance make sure you can get your pedals off. Sometimes bike shops put them on really tight and you do not want to be trying to get a stuck pedal off the bike when you are under a really tight timeline.
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For packing, there are dozens of you tube videos. Some are not very good and do not provide a lot of protection and some are probably more work than necessary, but if you look at half a dozen of them you will get a pretty good idea of what is important and what is not.
Regarding your specific question, bike case or card board box, I suspect it is somewhat dependent on your budget. And of course, the quality of the bike box if you got a used cardboard box from a bike shop. And the weight of your bike since a hard case often is somewhat heavy which could trip an airline weight limit if your bike was also on the heavy side. I am not saying these are the best videos, but since they were produced by a shipping company, they have some automatic credibility. https://www.bikeflights.com/pack I have only flown with my S&S bike and with my folding bike in an S&S case, not with a conventional bike which I assume you have. Thus, I do not have much other advice to offer. |
CrateWork plastic box. Racks, stove and fuel bottle fit inside with the bike. But I don't fly domestically anymore. I ship with BikeFlights.
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Thank you guys for replies. I was curious about the safety of a cardboard box and whether those boxes get the same treatment by the airport crew as your typical suitcase, or are they actually being careful with it if they see its a bike.
I often go on vacation to Cuba and would love to explore the local countryside while there a bit more, so I want to bring my Trek Fx2 along one of these days and hop on when I feel like it. |
I've done both. I have a hard shell bike case but now I almost exclusively fly with the bike in a cardboard box because:
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We're planning to fly with our bikes from Copenhagen to Paris this August. The two airlines who have non-stop flights which work for our schedule are Air France and SAS-Ireland. Both require that we contact the airline at least 48 hours in advance to confirm that there will be space for bike boxes. This is concerning as we don't know what we'll do if there isn't room for the bike boxes!
Has anyone else here had experience with this new requirement? |
Originally Posted by redbagsrambler
(Post 20739474)
I've done both. I have a hard shell bike case but now I almost exclusively fly with the bike in a cardboard box because:
Same here. The trick might be to use curbside check in. I did this in Pittsburgh and there was no problem. On the return I went straight to the gate. The woman at the gate wanted to charge me something like $400 when it should have been $25 or maybe it was $50. I think she was simply pissed that she needed to move the heavy case. She pretty much started off with a bad attitude as soon as she saw the case. |
Originally Posted by crazyravr
(Post 20739335)
Thank you guys for replies. I was curious about the safety of a cardboard box and whether those boxes get the same treatment by the airport crew as your typical suitcase, or are they actually being careful with it if they see its a bike.
I often go on vacation to Cuba and would love to explore the local countryside while there a bit more, so I want to bring my Trek Fx2 along one of these days and hop on when I feel like it. -and then just cross your fingers, its a giant roulette wheel of luck depending on the individual luggage workers that day and how much they take care, or are pissed off at the world that day....its out of our hands once it disappears down the conveyer belt.... -use proper plastic bits you ask for at the bike store that come with all new bikes, fork protector in place of wheel, rd protector, foam bits -place front wheel and handlebars in a common sense manner so they dont dent the hell out of your frame, use foam cushioning intelligently -put front wheel skewer and pedals in with your luggage so they ddont get lost -I now put some foam under the fork, tape it to the solid plastic thing and fork, to add some cushion for when the box is banged down hard , reducing force going into the headtube and frame -I tape some foam to any obvious metal parts that are against the side of box (re rear wheel skewer) that will obviously receive bangs and forces into them from box falling over or from having suitcases layed on top of your horizontal bike box (seen it happen to my bike box myself, my box laid down on baggage truck, then all suitcases piled on top if it...) -cross your fingers |
Originally Posted by spinnaker
(Post 20739583)
The trick might be to use curbside check in. I did this in Pittsburgh and there was no problem.
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When I was in Milan, I was told by the gate agent the fee for the bike case would be 125 Euro, I should have only paid $75 US at the time maybe 60 Euro or so. I asked to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor came over and I explained my issue. She looked at my bike case and asked "Is this yours"? Yes. Looked at my clothes bag and asked, "Is this yours"? Yes. She then said if you can get everything in the small bag into the case everything goes for free. So there I am tearing all of my dirty clothes out of my other bag trying to stuff them into my bikes case right in the middle of the MXP airport. ;)
Both the gate agent and the supervisor was wrong. But in the second case it worked to my favor and I wasn't complaining. ;) |
We have made several trips with our bikes recently - both international and domestic. We have the Orucase Airport Ninja where you take the wheels, fork, seat and bars off. The case is just inches over the airline’s spec. So far, with Delta and KLM we have not been charged. Delta and KLM both want $150 each way. In point of fact, no baggage agent has even looked twice at the cases. When we have departed from the states, we checked the cases in at curbside checkin and tipped about $20. We then made arrangements to leave our cases at a hotel while we travel. I don’t think airlines are overly concerned about baggage size as much as they are about weight. Weight = expense for them in terms of fuel and in terms of worker’s comp costs due to injuries. Our cases, when packed, weigh in at about 35lbs - well under the 50lb interntional limit and half of the domestic limit (airline elite program) of 70lb. The Orucase Aiport Ninja is one of the lightest cases around and the protection is solid. The case weighs about 12lbs and when we add in our bikes, the total comes to about 35lbs. They work great and I’d highly recommend them. I’m retired now, but I’ve traveled a lot for business both internationally and domestic (million miler etc...). Here are some hints for making this all work: 1. The airline bike regulations are all over the map. For example, Delta doesn’t care if it’s a bike if it fits in their normal airline luggage spec. KLM, on the other hand, wants to charge you for a bike no matter what it’s in. Delta will charge you if it’s a bike and it is not in the normal baggage size of 62 linear inches. When asked what is in your case, just reply “sports equipment.” No baggage agent wants to get in a fight - they’re regular people like you (other than the occasional crank) and they really don’t want the fight either. 2. Keep the whole thing low key and pleasant and presumptive - like you have done this before and no one cares. This also means don’t show up at check in looking like you’re a cyclist. Keep the helmets on the down low, don’t dress like you are a cyclist and just avoid anything that says “bike.” 3. Tip the curbside checkin people well. They will take care of you and your bike and make it all go well for you. 4. Keep your bike case light. Weight is more important to the airlines than size. If you have to pack other stuff along, use another duffel bag or something. The cost for that additional bag is a lot less than the cost for transporting a bike in most cases. Also, if you have one of the airlines credit cards, they almost always give you an additional bag for free. 5. If you are traveling in a group, and one of the group has some sort of airline frequent flyer status, have them make all the reservations and pay for the tickets. Usually their status is then transferred to all the tickets in their traveling party on their record in the computer. Elite status gets additional bags and additional leeway compared to regular travelers. With Delta, this works for up to 8 traveling companions. We’ve done this many times on both ski and bike trips where there is a lot of extra and oversize luggage. 6. Know the airlines specific regulations with respect to baggage and bikes. Have a copy with you if need be. With the Orucase, after getting good at it by doing it several times, we can assemble our two bikes in less than an hour total and closer to 45 minutes. The cases are very easy to get through the airport and they are - based on experience - easy at getting through the airlines. They go through the normal baggage handling and work great. We have not paid an additional baggage fee for our bikes yet. |
Originally Posted by schoolboy2
(Post 20739502)
We're planning to fly with our bikes from Copenhagen to Paris this August. The two airlines who have non-stop flights which work for our schedule are Air France and SAS-Ireland. Both require that we contact the airline at least 48 hours in advance to confirm that there will be space for bike boxes. This is concerning as we don't know what we'll do if there isn't room for the bike boxes!
Has anyone else here had experience with this new requirement? In September 2017 I toured from Dresden to Budapest. All of my flights were on Lufthansa operated aircraft. I THINK, but cannot recall for certain, that I booked through Lufthansa's USA website. Similar to what you said, there was a requirement on the website's sports equipment page that I contact Lufthansa customer service prior to my flight. I contacted as soon as I saw this, and did not wait until shortly before my flight. This is what the customer service rep told me:
Now after all of that long story, my point is that the purpose of calling the airlines may be a similar situation where they want to ensure bicycle space is available. I recommend calling asap. However, get the name, contact information and time/date of your call to customer service as you may need it when you check in for your flights. Now, as I say to anyone flying with their bikes.......good luck. You may need it. |
Thanks REDBAGSRAMBLER for the insight. I'll be calling the airlines shortly.
JOHNJ80 mentioned his experience with the Airport Ninja bike case and that has piqued my interest as well. At $500 each, they aren't cheap, but considering that I'll pay bike fees to United Airlines ($400 roundtrip to Paris) plus $150 to Air France (for a two hour hop from Copenhagen back to Paris), I'd end up $50 ahead if I choose to use Airport Ninja. Hmmm.... |
Originally Posted by schoolboy2
(Post 20741385)
Thanks REDBAGSRAMBLER for the insight. I'll be calling the airlines shortly.
JOHNJ80 mentioned his experience with the Airport Ninja bike case and that has piqued my interest as well. At $500 each, they aren't cheap, but considering that I'll pay bike fees to United Airlines ($400 roundtrip to Paris) plus $150 to Air France (for a two hour hop from Copenhagen back to Paris), I'd end up $50 ahead if I choose to use Airport Ninja. Hmmm.... The downside is that you have to be comfortable with some disassembly of your bike. PM me if you have any questions. Be glad to go through it with you. J. |
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