Originally Posted by timdow
(Post 22149897)
I am using Amtrak for the return, partly because I want flexibility with the return date.
... When I rode Pacific Coast, I checked about four or five days before our tentative end point what the train prices were. If we delayed our departure from San Fransico (is it Emoryville station?) by one day, the savings were enough to cover an extra day of expenses in San Fransisco, so we did sightseeing for free for an extra day. |
Originally Posted by timdow
(Post 22149792)
I went first class for the free bags. The cancellation is a bonus. The 6500 sky miles I used were worth about $85. The bag fee I would have had to pay is $80 ($35 first bag, $45 second bag). Maybe I could get by with just the bike box, but really want the bike box to be as light as possible.
Delta does not currently offer changing the flight on their low priced tickets, but sure, everything is negotiable - they may be able to make a change if persuaded. |
We usually box our bikes and take them with us when flying. We use the same setup on trains if they require boxes. Our empty panniers go in the box, That makes it easy for the
TSA folks to inspect. All the contents from our panniers go in two light weight duffle bags. No one has ever questioned the empty panniers in the bike boxes. This is for a train trip, but it is the exact same set up for flying. We check the duffles when flying, but carry them onto the trains. https://live.staticflickr.com/4754/3...0fd3b8b9_c.jpg The TSA guy just pulled the one loose pannier out; it is our insulated " food and drinks" pannier, and is semi rigid. He did not remove anything else to inspect the box. We have always started our "flying tours" from Portland, and I usually talk to the guy as he does his job. All the TSA folks I've interacted with have been great. One guy said he'd do a better job of taping the box back up than I did, and he did:thumb: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b468b431_c.jpg |
I like bike boxes too, but I'm always scared that I won't be able to get one at the airport and getting one to the airport is a pain. I like using them on Amtrak and call ahead to make sure they have boxes. Here is my stuff at Buffalo station after riding from Boston to Niagara Falls via the Erie Canal. I removed the bars and simply pushed the bike into the box and then carried my bags onto the train. The box was $15 and the baggage fee for the bike was $10.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...031003a7e.jpeg |
Originally Posted by nun
(Post 22150646)
I like bike boxes too, but I'm always scared that I won't be able to get one at the airport and getting one to the airport is a pain.
Originally Posted by nun
(Post 22150646)
I like using them on Amtrak and call ahead to make sure they have boxes. Here is my stuff at Buffalo station after riding from Boston to Niagara Falls via the Erie Canal. I removed the bars and simply pushed the bike into the box and then carried my bags onto the train. The box was $15 and the baggage fee for the bike was $10.
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Originally Posted by Doug64
(Post 22150478)
...
The TSA guy just pulled the one loose pannier out; it is our insulated " food and drinks" pannier, and is semi rigid. He did not remove anything else to inspect the box. We have always started our "flying tours" from Portland, and I usually talk to the guy as he does his job. All the TSA folks I've interacted with have bee great. One guy said he'd do a better job of taping the box back up than I did, and he did:thumb: |
Originally Posted by staehpj1
(Post 22151067)
That is one reason that while my bike flies with me to my tours, I usually stop by a bike shop and let them box it up and ship it home if I am flying home. At the end of a long tour in a strange town I am ready to be shed of that task. Most of the time the combined cost of the packing and shipping has been $100 or so and I always felt like it was worth it at that point.
Yes, the Amtrak boxes are great! Rotate the bars, remove the pedals and roll it in. Remember to bring your own tape! |
Originally Posted by nun
(Post 22151155)
That's what I've done in the US because the shipping isn't that expensive. Internationally it gets very expensive and I've put my bike in a bike bag and checked it as baggage. The trick with that is to have somewhere to store the case after you arrive, but hotels are ok with that if you are doing a circular tour.
Some years back I loaned a friend my folding bike and she took it to Europe for a year (she had a teaching gig in Spain). I think the baggage charges she paid made it sound to me as if she'd have been better off just buying a bike there. I have also heard folks say their bikes flew for free on international flights. What have you generally paid? Have you managed to get reasonable baggage fees. Just for fun I did a quote on bikeflights.com from my house to a random hotel in London for a medium sized bike box. It looked like: Shipping$365.95 Duties, Taxes & Fees $99.00 (Why duties and fees, are they treating it like an import and adding VAT?) Subtotal (USD)$464.94 So after paying a bike shop maybe another $60 to box it up and have it ready for pick up you'd be well over $500. Expensive, but maybe not completely out of the question depending on how much cost/trouble it was to fly with it on an international flight. |
Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN
(Post 22151082)
You are lucky to see the TSA people. Only twice have I seen where my baggage went after ticketing, usually my stuff is put on a conveyor belt to some mysterious place where you never know what happens.
Maybe their home terminal is a tiny small town one or something? My home town terminal is pretty small these days and it is still the same. Baggage just disappears before inspections and is never seen again until destination unless I spot it getting loaded onto the plane. |
Originally Posted by nun
(Post 22151155)
That's what I've done in the US because the shipping isn't that expensive. Internationally it gets very expensive and I've put my bike in a bike bag and checked it as baggage. The trick with that is to have somewhere to store the case after you arrive, but hotels are ok with that if you are doing a circular tour.
Yes, the bike box in Buffalo was the first time that I used my emergency Duct Tape Thanks to the new baggage cars Amtrak purchased, the need to box bikes had diminished on many routes. |
Originally Posted by staehpj1
(Post 22151215)
I have only toured in the US so I have no experience with that. I am curious though...
... I have also heard folks say their bikes flew for free on international flights. What have you generally paid? Have you managed to get reasonable baggage fees. ... I flew to Canada in 2019, but the international fees for Canada are a less than to Europe, so not worth detailing here. It was not much different than domestic fees. When I was in Iceland, I met a couple that had Ritchey Break Away bikes and they were using bikepacking gear, they probably were packed about as light as you travel. They were from Salt Lake City, I do not recall which airline they flew but they said they each had one checked bag (no oversize fee for their Break Away bike case) and their carry on luggage. I think they put a lot of camping gear with their bikes to get the weight in the bike cases up to nearly 50 pounds. I forgot to ask about storage for their cases.
Originally Posted by nun
(Post 22151155)
... Internationally it gets very expensive and I've put my bike in a bike bag and checked it as baggage. The trick with that is to have somewhere to store the case after you arrive, but hotels are ok with that if you are doing a circular tour.
... Canada, before I flew there I asked at the hostel if I could store it there, I gave the detailed dimensions to them and they said absolutely not, they explained that their luggage room was too small. I arranged to store it at a bike shop. But when I was at the hostel they said that the case was so small, they would be happy to store it for the five weeks I was touring, apparently the manager saw my e-mail question "store my bike case" and automatically denied it without reading the dimensions. Although I did not store it at the bike shop, I went over there to thank them for the offer, spent about $150 CAD there (souvenir jersey, new helmet) to show my appreciation for their offer to help. Both these trips I stored my other soft luggage in my S&S case, photo below, it is about 2 inches thick with side panels removed, 26 X 26 inches wide and high. Normally this case can be collapsed much more but I put two Coroplast sheets in it that are 26 by 26 to give it more structure. I would prefer not to crease or fold those Coroplast sheets but if I had to I could, once creased they would still retain some of their structure. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bc68e024e4.jpg |
We have not ridden any loops in Europe. Our tours have all been open jaw, so bike cases would be a problem. We have flown Iceland Air on all our trips, and depending on the year the cost was $100-$150 per bike.
My wife's bike has S&S couplers, but by the time I take the racks and fenders off, remove the tires (700C), and other disassmbly to fit it in a 26"x26" is not worth the hassle for me. Then packing the racks and fenders in another piece of baggage is an issue. Where her couplers paid off is shipping our bikes domestically either home after a tour or to the start. There is a FedEx box size that, if not exceed, costs about $100 less than a regular recycled bike shop box. |
Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN
(Post 22151530)
Iceland, I stored my S&S case in the luggage room at the hostel, I chose to save the money and store it in the regular luggage room where others staying at the hostel had access. To have the hostel store it in a locked room would have cost somewhere between $50 and $100 (I do not recall what the quoted cost was). Nobody stole the case so the free storage worked out well. |
Originally Posted by staehpj1
(Post 22151215)
I have only toured in the US so I have no experience with that. I am curious though...
Some years back I loaned a friend my folding bike and she took it to Europe for a year (she had a teaching gig in Spain). I think the baggage charges she paid made it sound to me as if she'd have been better off just buying a bike there. I have also heard folks say their bikes flew for free on international flights. What have you generally paid? Have you managed to get reasonable baggage fees. Just for fun I did a quote on bikeflights.com from my house to a random hotel in London for a medium sized bike box. It looked like: Shipping$365.95 Duties, Taxes & Fees $99.00 (Why duties and fees, are they treating it like an import and adding VAT?) Subtotal (USD)$464.94 So after paying a bike shop maybe another $60 to box it up and have it ready for pick up you'd be well over $500. Expensive, but maybe not completely out of the question depending on how much cost/trouble it was to fly with it on an international flight. |
Originally Posted by nun
(Post 22150646)
I like bike boxes too, but I'm always scared that I won't be able to get one at the airport and getting one to the airport is a pain.
The time it happened I was flying from Portland Oregon to Bangalore via Seattle and Frankfort. The international flights on Lufthansa let me fly without a box and so the connector from Portland to Seattle was willing to as well. I used basic baggage tape, took off the pedals. I think I also taped/zip tied a wheel to the frame and put the seat in my bag as well but that was a little while ago so don't remember 100%. The bike survived the three hop flight without issue. I was going to work from Bangalore for six weeks so didn't have full touring gear and at end of that trip I left the bike behind with friends in India. I used it on visits in subsequent years and eventually brought it back ~4 years later. When I brought it back, I also didn't use a box. Instead I tried an experiment with help of people that have one of those plastic wrap for suitcases setups. We obviously couldn't spin it on the device, but with appropriate fee, the personnel were willing to try multiple layers of plastic wrap around the combined contraption. The personnel thought it was great fun and more interesting than their typical suitcase job. It was a bit of mixed success. The bike wasn't damaged, but plastic wrap was definitely a lot more frazzled after the trip. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...52ba784a07.jpg The near misses happened flying out of Denver when my designated airline didn't have a box. I was however able to get a box from neighboring airline. Once a United box for a Delta flight and a different time an Air Alaska box for a United flight that I recall. |
I think I forgot to mention this above, I usually suggest that people make sure that their pedals are not so tight that they can actually remove them a few days before they will have to actually remove them. Bike shops sometimes put them on really tight and pedals can seat themselves even tighter onto the crank arms. If you can't get them off, it is best to learn that a few days in advance so you have time to deal with it.
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Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN
(Post 22153705)
I think I forgot to mention this above, I usually suggest that people make sure that their pedals are not so tight that they can actually remove them a few days before they will have to actually remove them. Bike shops sometimes put them on really tight and pedals can seat themselves even tighter onto the crank arms. If you can't get them off, it is best to learn that a few days in advance so you have time to deal with it.
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Originally Posted by mev
(Post 22153580)
I
When I brought it back, I also didn't use a box. Instead I tried an experiment with help of people that have one of those plastic wrap for suitcases setups. We obviously couldn't spin it on the device, but with appropriate fee, the personnel were willing to try multiple layers of plastic wrap around the combined contraption. . |
Originally Posted by boomhauer
(Post 22145996)
why don't you buy the bike from the place you start? I've done it. It works.
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