Bikes on planes

Hi Paul-
This is my very first post on this forum so I'm sure I'll get flamed unmercifully...
I did a LOT of research before my last trip (October) to Switzerland. I wanted to take my own bike this time.
Ultimately, I put my carbon frame road bike in a Pika Pack soft case. I did so with a lot of fear about the outcome
I have to say. It went perfectly however and the the bike arrived in both directions without a scratch. I was also able to get it
in a taxi and rental car with no problems and put it on my shoulder and carry it through airports.
The whole package came in "underweight" and on the flight out of JFK to Geneva, I paid nothing extra. Unfortunately, the travel agent made some kind of reservation for the bike and I paid about $150 for the return flight.
I was advised by a pro to tell them at the counter that the bag contained "sporting equipment." That worked perfectly at JFK.
Happy Trails!
Max

Paul, rather than buy a hybrid bike and take it with you, have you considered renting a bike in Europe? Lots of places rent hybrids by the day or week. Rather than worry about the expense of shipping containers, airline fees and lugging a bike around with you on public transport, you may be able to have a rental bike delivered to you.

Max, good first post. Not sure why you expected to be "flamed" here on your first post...plenty of time for that later 🙂 Welcome to the forum.

dhk2 said:

Paul, rather than buy a hybrid bike and take it with you, have you considered renting a bike in Europe?  Lots of places rent hybrids by the day or week.  Rather than worry about the expense of shipping containers, airline fees and lugging a bike around with you on public transport, you may be able to have a rental bike delivered to you.  Max, good first post.  Not sure why you expected to be "flamed" here on your first post...plenty of time for that later 🙂  Welcome to the forum.Â

+1 on all counts. I think you could spend less renting bikes than buying bikes just for the trip paying the fees for the bikes on the airline.

Thanks very much maxroadrash and dhk2. The rental does seem more sensible, especially after looking at the price of the Pika Pack x 2. Sometimes you just need someone who knows how it is to tell you. We are hiring bikes to do the Otago rail trail in January so we’ll follow the same pattern when we get to Germany later in the year. Many thanks boys. Safe riding. Paul

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by dhk2 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Max, good first post. Not sure why you expected to be "flamed" here on your first post...plenty of time for that later 🙂 Welcome to the forum.

dhk2-
Thank you for your response and welcome! You are correct in that I shouldn't have expected to be flamed. One of the reasons I signed up here is that this seems to be the most mature cycling forum I've visited.
Max

Stupid travel agent looking for a commission so now we know. I like that just pack it up and tell them it's sporting equipment. Might be easier just to rent something while you are there or even buy something cheap. Whatever makes you happy I guess. It just seems like a lot of effort for such a long trip.

Can you actually take a bike on a plane with you? I've seriously never seen it done before.

Europe is generally bike friendly, at least Western European countries are. I don't have much experience with how things are in Eastern Europe. But you should be able to rent a decent bike at most Western European countries, and even be given a map and some spots to visit by the bike rental shop.

I am pretty sure you can bring bikes on the planes with you. There shouldn't be much of a problem at all. It's like bringing your car with you on the plane, you'd just have to pay an extra fee. It could tend to get a bit pricey depending on the airliner though.

I'm sure you can bring foldable bikes with you as luggage on airplanes. There must not be any restriction for that.

You need to pay some extra fees to carry a bike. After all, why will they restrict the bikes? There is no reason to do that.

I really do not know anything about this. What I do know is that I called a certain company to ask about my guitar and they told me I have to pay another ticket like it was a person sitting next to me. I guess it depends on many things but I was in economy class and in a normal company and plane. I guess if they might charge you something but you should call a company you want to use and check out what conditions they have.

Back in the day, you could take a bike with you as checked baggage without any fee on virtually all airlines. As of last Summer, Air Canada, British Airways, Singapore, and JAL were the only ones that did not charge or at least according to my review. Most airlines nail you for $150 each way although I think Southwest and Alaska only extract $75 each way. I have managed to argue my way out of the $150 fee with United a couple of times because of the wording on the baggage agreement and I play dumb and the Agent is usually confused too. You pay the $150 if the bicycle is more than 50 pounds and 62 inches. I just say, this makes no sense....I'm under 50 pounds.....if this were a Cello, it would be free. They sometimes laugh and agree. One even enered it as a musical instrument. I notice a new sentence in the baggage limitations clause.....50 pounds OR 62 inches. Some riders have told that gent that the box holds conference training materials and avoided the fee. My small foldable BikeFriday flys under the radar screen.

Bikeflights.com will ship within the US for around $50 and delivery to your hotel or home is a big plus.