I have spent hours trying to find an economical disposable bike box that I can take as checked baggage when i go on tour. The commercial bike shipping companies (bike flights, ship bikes) have nice boxes, but they are expensive and require a near complete disassembly of the bike. Even with that my 60" touring bike barely fits in. I had some luck buying boxes out of England. Even with the international shipping they cost about $45 and required only minimal disassembly of the bike - i.e. removal of the front wheel, front rack, pedal and handlebars). Recently, and quite by accident, I discovered that United Airlines sells a great bike box for only $35. It is larger than the English ones, making it, in most cases, unnecessary to remove the front wheel. In addition, United Airlines, waves the oversize baggage fee and charges it as a checked bag ($35). However the entire package (box and contents) must not exceed 50 lbs. or an overweight fee will apply. I have used it several times with any problems.

What's wrong with the cardboard boxes that you can get for free from any bike shop?

This is good news, but a bit confusing trying to follow the story. Maybe you could have left off the preamble and just commented that United has a big, affordable bike box and great baggage policies.

What are the actual dimensions of the box, and the weight of the box?
Do you have to order/reserve ahead of time?
Is the checked bag fee both domestic and international?
Is the fee per itinerary, or charged for each connecting flight?

Now maybe tell us if you were permitted to put additional gear in the box alongside your bike. If so, how much could you squeeze inside?

I have had great luck in Europe and the USA with free bike boxes from bike stores. I have never paid for a box.

I would also shop the airlines for a roll on program. I was able to fly Lufthansa once to Scotland without boxing. I simply brought the bike to the counter unboxed. I did have to train the USA counter representative about the roll on program. 20 minutes or so later, she learned the program and the bikes were rolled on.

I was unable to find the bike boxes on United website. It would be nice if we have a web page link to follow.

This being the touring forum, keep in mind that touring bikes often have chainstays a bit longer than road bikes. Thus, you may need a box a bit longer than other type of bike boxes. I waited for a bike shop to call me and tell me when they had a box big enough for my size bike. Got the call, went and got the box well ahead of time. About a week before my trip, went to pack the bike in the box and the box was a few inches too short. The box was for a slightly larger road bike size than my touring bike size. I ended up taking my folding bike in an S&S Backpack Case on that trip, no other bike shops in my community had a box the size I needed for one of my touring bikes. Fortunately, that trip was a van supported trip and I could substitute a different bike with no difficulty.

If the box causes you pain, cut off the box. There are two types of bicycle tourers, those shackled to the box, and those emancipated from it.

Warning: The United Airlines bike box is 119 linear inches, at least the one we got at San Francisco International Airport was. 115 linear inches is max for United and many other airlines, as stated on the Websites.
We got a United box one at SFO and brought it home to pack for our trip to Hokkaido, Japan. I got paranoid that even if United took the box at SFO, the airline once we got to Japan, ANA, might not take it, as they also note 115 linear inches as max. So I chopped 4 inches off. Good thing I did: When we got out of customs at at Haneda Airport in Tokyo to transfer to our ANA flight to Hakodate, the friendly but legalistic staff with tape measures informed me that the box was "giri-giri," just at the edge.
United doesn't advertise its boxes online. I found out of their existence only once I called the help line to figure out what the max size was. The phone person said some airports have the boxes but that we needed to go to the airport to find out.
At SFO, the International terminal has a nice bike disassembly/assembly station that also sells bike boxes, according to the SFO website.
Another option: Amtrak. They sell boxes for something like $20.
But as another posted, bike shops often have them for free.

Amtrak boxes are enormous, you can leave both front and rear wheels on the bike in their boxes. Photo of my bike as it came out of the box with both wheels on, below:



My frame is tall enough that I had to remove handlebar, could not just turn it sideways.

If you try to cut down a box size and need to make some new folds in the cardboard, it helps if you first put a crease into the cardboard exactly where you want to fold it, I have found a dull pizza cutter to be perfect for that. But a sharp pizza cutter might cut the cardboard.

When I needed a box for my recent tour, the first bike shop I happened to walk into had just unboxed a Rad RadRunner e-bike. I took the box off their hands. It was fantastic. I had never thought to look for e-bike boxes before, but the next time I need a box for my touring bike I am going to first target shops that I know to sell e-bikes.

E-bikes are heavy, so the cardboard is especially thick and stout. E-bikes have integrated racks, so their boxes are wider than boxes for human-powered bicycles often are. The result is a box that is super easy to pack, has room for all your touring accoutrements (racks, fenders, etc) and whatever extra gear you want to throw in, and is strong enough to offer great protection and make it through multiple flights.

The (external) dimensions of my box were 59" x 13" x 33.5". The length was short enough that I did still have to remove my front wheel (and front fender and front rack), but it was so wide that packing those removed bits in (with plenty of padding all around) was super easy. I was able to shove the box into the back of a small SUV taxi (Ford Escape, with rear seats folded down), which I probably could not have done had it been long enough for me to keep the front wheel on.

It had cutouts for handles that were already reinforced. That made it easy to drag around (and because it was so thick I wasn't concerned about tearing up the bottom), and to lift in and out of cabs.

The disadvantage to this type of box is that, if you are planning to pedal to the airport and pack up there, I think you'd really struggle to transport it. It is thick enough that you can't really roll or fold it up the way you can with some more typical bike boxes.

The other disadvantage is the weight. I didn't weigh it empty, but it was decently heavy. If you are already worried about pushing up against your airline weight limits, this sort of box isn't going to do you any favors.

The final disadvantage is that you might feel like you need to go cleanse your soul after walking around town with a box advertising one of these new-fangled electric motor scooters. But you have the box so that you can go on a bike tour, and there's no better soul cleanse than that.

Thanks, good to know about United boxes. I often fly United with my bike because they don't charge extra for the bike.

There is nothing at all wrong with boxes from a bike store, except they are often much smaller that the boxes United Airlines sells. My touring bike has a front rack, a back rack and fenders on both wheels. I also carry three water bottles. With the United box all I had to do was remove the front wheel and pedals and turn the handlebars 90 degrees. With boxes from the bike shop I had to remove the front wheel, saddle, pedals, handlebars and racks. Depending on the box, sometimes I had to remove the derailer.

it's even better without boxes

Back in the day most airlines supplied Amtrak size boxes that only required pedals off and bars rotated. My list includes the now defunct Continental & NWA plus Delta, United, Alaska, British Airways, & Air New Zealand. Air Canada at one time supplied just a big plastic bag.

It was quite convenient ... cycle into the airport, roll the loaded bike right to the check in counter (no Smarte Carte required), ten minutes of packing and you were good to go. That BIG box was even transferred to a small commuter aircraft for me once.

For 40 years of bike touring that's all I did. Not once did I squeeze it all into a bike shop box which had to be acquired at a remote location and then transported to the airport. I'm retired from touring now but sad to learn here at BF that the BIG airline box is no longer widely available?

Just came back from a trip. I took a folder and Amtrak. My buddy tried to bring his 700c touring bike in a bike box from Oakland via Southwest and he was rejected. He's an experienced traveler, so I'm pretty sure he had it all pre-arranged before getting to the airport. He had to re-arrange his flight, bring his boxed bike home, and arrange for a rental.

Has anyone had this happen to them?

cannot answer as not enough information provided.
WHY was his boxed bike rejected?

was it too large? too heavy?
did it require pre-booking?
what actually happened?

I am not trying to diagnose this particular problem - I'm asking to see if others have been similarly rejected, i.e., people who have done all of the required steps in getting ready to fly with their bike and been rejected.

There are often times where our ability to travel with our bikes is at the discretion of the travel agent or official that we happen to be dealing with at the moment and not the published rules.

On this particular trip, for example, I had no problems traveling to the start via Amtrak. On the return, however, I was told by the train conductor that the only way that they'd allow my folding bike on the train was if it can be stowed in the overhead storage. This wasn't official train policy - it was his interpretation of the policy. And in that hectic moment of boarding a train before it left the station, his interpretation of the policy was the most important thing. It was 5:40AM, so perhaps we were both tired. Thankfully, he let me on and did not bother me when he later saw my bike not in the overhead but rather folded into the corner as I had done on my outbound trip. Otherwise, I'd either have to extensively disassemble the bike to stow it overhead or he could have tossed me off the train at the next stop.

I have not had a train conductor start making up the rules, but the nearest Amtrak station to my home used to have a manager (and sole employee for that location) that would make up rules all the time. On one trip, I got to the station two hours early, asked for a bike box. He said I had to wait, he had an important conference call. An hour and a half later I asked him about the box. He looked at his watch and said he had authority do deny me getting on the train because I had to be there 45 minutes in advance if I had to check luggage. I reminded him that I had asked him for the box before his "important conference call", things went down hill from there.

The Amtrak overhead compartments are huge, I think your bike would have fit just fine. Amtrak carry on luggage size limit is almost as big as an airline checked bag size.

I agree with Saddle Sores, there must be more to the story on his bike box being rejected. If it was an airline other than Southwest, I suspect it might have been a small regional airline with small plane that the box would not fit in. But I do not think Southwest has any small regionals under contract like that. I used to travel a lot for work and had to bring lots of tools for work, etc. Some smaller regional planes, especially the turboprop planes have small doors and small luggage compartments. They could be problematic, sometimes we had to ship stuff separately to the motel near the work site.

I haven't in quite a few flights. It is a little surprising to me because I would have then brought up the Southwest Airlines policy e.g. https://support.southwest.com/helpce...tedSportsEquip and ask to better understand the reason for the rejection.

The closest I came to this was flying from Denver to Cartagena Colombia via Atlanta. My flight was via Atlanta. On arrival in Denver, Delta didn't have bike boxes but I was able to get a box from United instead. Delta also wouldn't check the bike box/luggage all the way through since my layover was more than five hours (I arrived in early evening and departed 11 hours later, early next morning - and had booked an in-concourse hotel "Minute Suites" with that assumption). So I slept on the floor in the International Concourse. The next morning, the Delta agent wasn't sure my bike box (70x40x10) would fit through the doors of their 737-800 (48x36). I could look up the sizes like I've written here and knew I had flown a same-sized United box on a 737-800 before. However, the gate agent wanted to wait until they could get someone to go out and measure the cargo doors. When they couldn't get anyone to do that, they eventually gave up and agreed to check the bike with the proviso that they would call me if it didn't fit.

I also had an example on a Russian train from Samara to Penza. However, that was more situation that not every train coming through had a separate baggage car - so we went on the passenger car (coming from Tashkent) and the bike came a few hours later on the next train.

My friend was flying to Buffalo, NY so there may have been a transfer and a smaller plane involved. He's flown countless times domestically and internationally with bicycles and unicycles and this is the first time this has happened to him. Luckily, he was able to rent a bicycle from the same place his wife rented a bike. But it was clearly a hassle and involved spending more money for rideshare and flight changes and a bike rental to not ruin a vacation.

It was a blessing for me, in a way, because he rented a flat bar bike and I could sit protected in his draft. I call him "Freight Train" because he just chugs along for miles and miles.

He's now considering a 700c bike with couplers.

Southwest has always been one of the more restrictive carriers with regard to bicycles likely because of their budget airline nature. Their policy stated at their website is quite confusing ...

folding bikes
conventional bikes

Translation? ...

Folding bike in hard case ... 62"/50# limit - free as checked bag
Conventional bike in cardboard box ... 80"/100# limit - $75

80" L+W+H is pretty small for even a bike shop box.

It is time consuming to pack and unpack a bike with couplers. And then there is case storage too.

Besides S&S, there also are Ritchey Breakaway bikes that use a downtube coupler. The top tube has a seatpost clamp, the rear triangle has a separate seatpost clamp, thus the seatpost acts as a coupler on the Ritchey Breakaway bikes.

I got a Breakaway bike shortly before Covid, but have not flown with it, mine is badged as a Raleigh. I talked to two Breakaway owners before I bought mine, their case is slightly over 62 inches but one of them said he had only been charged the oversize fee once, the other one said that he had never been charged the oversize fee. Airline personnel are more concerned about weight and the case is close enough to the 62 inch criteria that apparently they only rarely get out the tape measure.

If your friend gets a bike with couplers, I would suggest that he or she take many photos the first time they unpack the bike, that way they have a detailed photo history of how it had been packed. This will aid them the next time they have to pack the bike.