Tell me about taking a bike on a plane

[Firmo]

I have managed to get consent from my missus, so I'll be taking the bike to Spain in May to ride the Via de la Plata :D

What puzzles me a lot is transporting the bike, so I have a few questions I hope you can help me with.

1. Major airlines state that the bike box must contain only a bike. How strict are they with this? Would they object to me sticking a frame bag / other luggage / other stuff in this box (providing it stays within the 23Kg weight limit)? ...Has anyone got any experience with this? (FYI I will be travelling with EasyJet)

2. How easy will it be to discard a cardboard bike box at the other end (Seville)?

3. (I'm sure Jameso can answer this one) How easy is it to get a bike box in Santiago de Compostela?

Cheers!

[Chew]

Flown with a bike to the Alps and America.

1) For the states I crammed as much as I could into the bike box as possible without being overly cheeky. Frame bags, tent, bottles, clothes, etc... This was with KLM and the box was well under the weight limit ~18kg.

2) Easy. Just find a bin large enough to take it.

3) No idea about the specific place, but email a few bike shops in the area and tell them what you're doing and you need a box and someone will help you out.

Main thing is packing the bike up well enough to be protected in transit. Best to see if you can blag some axle spaces, wheel protectors and box from your local bike shop (beer/doughnuts work very well) and go crazy with the bubble wrap

[Farawayvisions]

Bike packed for flight.jpg (43.29 KiB) Viewed 2511 times

Hello Firmo
I guess you've been doing an awful lot of sucking up recently. Well done!

We're just back from Morocco. We used plastic bike bags from http://www.ctcshop.org.uk/ (about 12 pounds each) and a roll of parcel tape. These are acceptable on airlines. I have a derailleur around which I slotted a milk carton (empty of course). I took the chain and pedals off and life is easy as I have a Connex link on the chain. The CTC website shows you how to pack the bike as well if you're as clueless as I was. Sally (my bike) made the return journey unscathed. I left the bags with a cheap hotel that I planned to return to so I could pack the bike again.

[Mpolo]

the ctc bags fold up small and easy to leave somewhere or post to the hotel at the end of your trip

[RobMac]

the ctc bags fold up small and easy to leave somewhere or post to the hotel at the end of your trip

Do airports have lockers?

[Joe]

Like farawayvisions I took my bike on a plane via easyjet with the see through bag (idea being they know it's a bike, they treat it like a bike) It arrived fine and I carried the bag with me although I'm sure I could've left it somewhere. I'd do it this way again, I'd be too worried it'd be hard to find a box before the flight.
Joe

[drain]

Hi Lee, replied to you on FB - lots of similar comments here too, must be true! ;-)

[BenS]

Watch out for luggage being marked as 'limited release' - this probably will not be pointed out to you when you check in but it is an airline's way of trying to weasle out of any liability they have because they claim that the bike was not packed correctly. We used a CTC plastic bike bag flying our tandem back from Thailand and the airline managed to bend the forks and ding a couple of tubes, for which they then accepted a maximum liability of ~£90 because the luggage tag was marked as such. Politely enquiring where I should serve the small claims court summons eventually got the money out of the airline as a 'goodwill' gesture, but it's probably a game to avoid playing if you can.

[Farawayvisions]

Interestingly, British Airways marked our bikes as 'Priority Luggage'.

[Giacomo]

This is an interesting discussion, I was also wondering the best way to take a bike on the plane.

I have read that the plastic bike bags are plenty enough protection, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to hand over my pride and joy in a thin plastic bag... Really?

[Farawayvisions]

sally on the conveyor.jpg (62.31 KiB) Viewed 2432 times

Here's another pic. This time Sally goes on the luggage belt at Heathrow safe in her CTC bag. My sis in law is a serious IronWoman Triathlete and she was the one who advised me to go with the CTC bags. Her bike is MEGA expensive.

[BenS]

.... in a thin plastic bag... Really?

To add to what I wrote above I reckon even a hard case would have been broken by whatever they did to our bike to bend it. Padded bags offer a bit of protection but encourage baggage handlers to throw them around not thinking of the contents where as a CTC bike bag doesn't have handles that can be grabbed so easily and the contents is recognisable as a bike

[DoctorRad]

I've heard that the bags that double-or-larger mattresses get delivered in will do very well. I picked up a couple from a friend the other day, and they seem a bit thin, so maybe double bagging is the way to go.

My approach (only used twice, but both times with success):

1) Get lots of releasable zip ties (B&Q etc)
2) Wheels off, deflate tyres
3) Zip tie one wheel at the side of the main triangle, the other on the other side at the side of the rear triangle
4) Dropout spacers front and rear
5) Chain off, outer chainring protected with pipe lagging
6) Optionally take the handlebars off and zip tie to the other side of the main triangle as the first wheel (the cables should just about reach)
7) Pull rear mech forward and zip tie to chainstay, then protect with milk carton or pipe lagging.
8) Saddle all the way down, or take is off and put in luggage.

Back in the days when I used this technique, it wasn't necessary to bag the bike as well, so it just went like that with zero problems - four flights total.

On the two flights where I've put it in a simple bike transport bag - with many of the above precautions, but without the bike identifiable as a bike - the rear mech hanger got bashed so that the rear wheel would no longer drop into the frame, the bike had various other scrapes and scratches, and the bag was ripped through in a couple of places.

It really does seem as if they can see that it's a bike, it tends to get much better treatment.

[Farawayvisions]

I've put together some guidance which may help someone travelling on a plane for the first time with a bike. I use a CTC plastic bag and will soon be heading to Holland for a short camping trip for my birthday.
Most of you already know these things but just in case there are some new people. Here it is.
http://wp.me/p3yZa1-13D