Transporting bike by plane

tracto

Hi Guys,

found a thread on this topic from last year but it didnt really give me the answer I was looking for so gonna try again...

Myself and my "best" friend are travelling to Austria to do the Ironman there this summer. I just rang up aerlingus and it appears the 6 bike slots on the plane have already been filled. They said the flight the previous day has spare spots but that we'd be charged 35€ for changing our flights on top of the excess baggage allowance. I have travelled abroad for races a number of years ago and have never had any problems even when there are 20 other triathletes on the flight. I just turned up with everything in my bike box, paid a fee and away the box went. Is that still the case? The guy on the phone assured me that they would only be taking 6 bikes but surely if its all packed away then whatever is in the box is irrelvant?? Would it be foolhardy to just show up in the airport on the morning of my flight and expect everything to be fine?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Tracto

big mce

Hi,

8 of us went to France last year, flew into Geneva with Aer Lingus, all bringing Downhill Mountain bikes. Even though they state they only bring 3 bikes if you have paid extra for the "sport equipment" they still bring it. I told the girl checking in it was golf clubs!!

stryker171

I don't want to give false hope, but i brought my bike from australia in a bike box and had no hassel at all. As long as it is under the weight limit then as far as i know there is no size limit for any suitcase being checked in.

hunnymonster

Tbh it appears to depend on the mood of the check in person as much as anything. One thing that worked for me last tlyear was perservence on the aer lingus customer service phone line. I think inwas bike no 9 on the flight to Zurich last year

ZZJ

I'm flying with my bike on a KLM ticket, which the first leg on a Aerlingus/KLM code share.

I have booked my bike in with KLM (€55 euro each way paid at checkin) and the status of my bike for the 2nd leg is "confirmed", however the status of my bike for the first leg (the code share the aerlingus) is "Pending".

I booked this flight for me and my bike last November through KLM. I have rung KLM again and they said they have requested that the bike in hold from Aerlingus but have not heard back, they have done it again (two weeks ago).

I have tried contacting Aerlingus, but this seems impossible without a booking reference.

I just do not want to end up with my bike in the airport not be able to bring it or else be charged something ridiculous.

Anybody got any experience of something like this? Any advice?

Izoard

Quite a few people at IM CH shipped the bikes, so no requirement to bring them on the plane. Seemed to be less stressful all round....

sconhome

It is well worth looking at sending it by courier. They'll pick it up at the door and deliver it to your door on the other side.

A few years back a group of us went to the ITU Worlds in Hamburg and all the bikes were shipped by DHL. Absolutely hassle free and no struggle with taxi's when you land.

PWEI

amphkingwest wrote: »

It is well worth looking at sending it by courier. They'll pick it up at the door and deliver it to your door on the other side.

A few years back a group of us went to the ITU Worlds in Hamburg and all the bikes were shipped by DHL. Absolutely hassle free and no struggle with taxi's when you land.

How much does it normally cost for that? Did a tri in Muinch two years,would like to do it again this year.

sconhome

I honestly don't remember. We did look at the cost of planing the bikes over with us, but by time we factored the costs of taxis etc and having to mind the bikes every step of the way it made sense.

If there are a couple of people going for the same race you could club together to negotiate a deal with a courier. You could save a few bob by dropping bikes off individually to the dispatch centre, ship to digs, have collected when done, ship back and then collect from depot again.

I did collect all the bikes from Swords after we got home and then the gang picked up from my house in their own time.