hfbill

I'm contemplating a biking vacation on the west coast and, since I can't take enough time off from work to ride there, I'll have to fly and ship the bike. I haven't run the numbers yet, but wondered if anyone out there has experience shipping their bike, or traveling with it as luggage on the plane. My gut tells me it would be better to ship the bike to the place I'm staying at or perhaps a bike shop on the other end vs trusting the airlines, which they've given me very little reason to do over the years. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks - bill

staehpj1

If you can fly with a bike friendly airline like maybe Southwest, I'd fly with the bike as checked baggage to get to the start of the tour. It is generally cheaper (assuming a bike friendly airline) and it is nice to just ride out of the airport.

For the trip home I often have a bike shop pack and ship the bike. It is just more of a hassle to deal with packing the bike and getting it to the airport when in a strange town. At the end of the tour I am usually happy to be able to drop the bike off and not worry about it.

krobinson103

I'd be interested in that information though from an international perspective. Need to get my Soma from South Korea to New Zealand with no damage and not paying a fortune. Its about 13kg or so setup so I imagine if I could get it into a bike box, and then send if checked baggage it might be ok. But, I worry about damage. The other way would be to box it and send it home a month early via ship.

hfbill

The concerns I had about checking the bike is that it wouldn't be there when I got there, (like they do with my luggage half the time), that something on the bike would be broken in transit, or just the hassle of reassembling the bike at the airport. I'm curious how you dealt with the airport reassembly. Also the roads around many airports (like San Jose or SFO) usually aren't very bike friendly. Thanks for the response!

staehpj1

I never found assembly at the airport to be a big deal. I just move to a quiet corner near the baggage area and assemble. It has never been a problem at all. I ask where to leave the empty box and they generally take care of disposal of it.

I have been in or out of a fair number of airports on my bike and generally they are not that bad. It has never been a huge deal at any of the airports I have used and they included some large urban airports (Denver, Seattle, Portland, San Diego, and so on) . Most often I rode out of the airport but sometimes I have rolled the bike on to the light rail. You mentioned San Jose and SFO... If you find riding there to be a problem and if I remember correctly you can use the BART train. You can just roll the bike on to the BART.

hfbill

Thanks for the info!

indyfabz

I used bikeflights.com last month and had a good experience. $73 from Philly to Missoula, MT via FedEx. That was for a wildly overestimated weight of 90 lbs. including heavy touring bike, racks stove and empty fuel bottle and included the $5 extra charge for local bike shop pickup. Shipping time was 4 days. The airline wanted $175. The bikeflights web site it easy to use to get a quote so you can check into it without having to commit. And their customer service was excellent. I had a few questions before I purchased. They answered my email in about 30 min.

I have also flown with my bike twice in the last three years and several other times in the past. No problems, but both times I did not have to assemble to bike at the airport. You can usually check with the gate agent to make sure your bike has been loaded on the plane as luggage is typically scanned as it is loaded.

Personally, I like not having to deal with getting the bike to and from the airport. With the money I saved by shipping last month I paid REI $40 to assemble and tune the bike and still saved over the airline cost. If you pay a LBS to assemble your bike they will almost certainly be happy to hold your box for you. Just make sure you make an "appointment" with the shop as some can get very busy.

BigAura

When I flew to Seattle, I shipped my bike and all gear ahead to a FedEx center near the airport It was $88 vs. the $200 for baggage. It arrived before I left and I flew carrying with only my sea-to-summit tiny backpack. I walked over to the FedEx facility where they were nice enough to let me assemble my bike. The only negative was that walking around outside the terminal area is rather pedestrian unfriendly.

nun

I've travelled with my bike across the Atlantic and I've taken it as baggage. I pack it in a soft sided bag made by Ground Effect called the Tardis

Ground Effect - mountain bike clothing.

The advantages of the Tardis are that it's light, only weighing 3lbs, and folds up to the size of a phone book so it can be carried on your bike, posted easily or left in a locker or at a hotel. So far I haven't been charged any baggage or bike fees by airlines because they just think it's a big bag.

Philly Tandem

Here's an unsolicited plug for a bike shop in California to pack/ship: REI in Monterey. I had them pack and ship a tandem for me a few months ago and I was hugely impressed by their customer service and how well they packed the bike. They charged me $70 to pack the tandem, which was very fair considering the really good job they did. I think for single bikes they charge $50. While I usually prefer to frequent LBS' for my bike needs, for something like this I liked having the back-up of a national chain in case anything went wrong.

staehpj1

That varies widely with airline. I usually find that if I pick a bike friendly airline it is cheaper than using FedEx. Since my local airport is a Southwest hub I can generally manage that.

I boycott airlines that overcharge for bikes and IMO $200 is grossly overcharging. If at all possible, they don't get my business even when I am not flying with a bike.

sstorkel

Roads around SFO are a nightmare. I agree with the suggestion to hop on BART and get off at the joint BART/CalTrain station in Millbrae. Or ride either train service all the way to San Francisco if your aim is to ride from San Francisco to L.A. or something like that.

San Jose isn't nearly as bad as SFO. When flights arrive traffic is bad, but dies down pretty quickly. Rather than attempting to use the car-clogged main exits from the airport (Airport Pkwy, Skyport Dr), I would stay right on Airport Blvd and loop around "behind" the airport toward Coleman Ave and De La Cruz Blvd. Heading north, Central Expressway is heavily traveled but has a very wide shoulder once you're away from the airport. There's generally much less traffic on weekends, especially on De La Cruz Blvd.

If you don't want to deal with Airport Blvd, and I wouldn't want to, you could probably catch a shuttle bus to the short-term parking lot which is located behind the airport along Martin Ave (just off De La Cruz Blvd). You can also use the public transit busses to transfer between the airport and CalTrain or VTA Light Rail. I can't remember if the VTA Airport Flyer busses have bike racks, but the busses don't seem to be used much so I would think you could probably bring a bike inside if they don't have racks.

In terms of shipping, the only service I've used for my bike is Amtrak. It's extremely cheap ($15 for LA->SF) if you're traveling with your bike. Sending just the bike is more expensive but still reasonable as I recall. I've had good luck shipping larger, though never a bicycle, items via Greyhound Package Express. Items need to be well-packed in order to survive the experience; bus drivers aren't any more gentle than airport baggage handlers. They don't do door to door delivery. You drop your bike off at a Greyhoud depot and it must be retrieved from the destination depot. The receiving depot will call you when your item arrives, so you can ship your bike out a before you leave and be sure that it's arrived before you board a plane.

indyfabz

+1 on REI if one is available. The Missoula REI packed my single for $40. Another nice thing is that they are often open later than some bike shops. When I flew out to start my trip, one of my flights got cancelled and I got re-routed. Instead of landing at 12:45 p.m. I didn't get in until 5 p.m. Took me another 45 min. to get a cab from MSO to the campground, which was two blocks from REI. Had I used the same LBS I had used the last time I started a tour in Missoula, I would not have been able to get my bike that day.

Machka 

This site might help give you some idea of how much it could cost if you took the bicycle with you on the plane. Some airlines are expensive, some are not.
Airline Baggage Regulations For Bicycles

Scroll/skim through the first bit down to the chart nearer the bottom.


However, it is a very good idea to check the actual website for the airlines you're interested in. Airlines change their policies regarding bicycles fairly frequently so there's a chance that site above could be out of date ... and it is always best to get the information right from the airlines in question.

Also note that it is a good idea to double check the regulations within the week before you travel ... just in case the regulations have changed again.


Personally, I have only ever flown with my bicycle (never shipped it), but I have flown with my bicycle many times both domestically and internationally.

fietsbob

Local shop is an ACA Member , they get boxed bikes regularly, labeled assemble, or do not assemble .

Fly to PDX + TriMet + the POINT bus to the Coast , gets you within 2 blocks of the shop.

staehpj1

I am curious what shop you are at. I kind of wonder if I might have met you in Astoria.

fietsbob

for last few years there is only 1 .. 1089 Marine drive ..

staehpj1

Yes I stopped in there in 2011. Nice shop and they were very helpful.