Flying with bike with Aer Lingus 15kg limit?!?

stephencaul

Flying with Aer Lingus tomorrow 23rd July paid my 40 Euro - is there a limit of 15kg. The bike is packed in the case and the weight is 26kg :-(
1.) Will I get hit for excess weight?
2.) Flying to Marseilles, anyone any experience of what they are like there?

Thanks

mr spuckler

i know ryanair is 30kg for a bike, would be surprised if aer lingus is less.

actually, on recollection i rang aer lingus because i couldn't find it on their website (i'm flying to milan with AL and back with RA), and am pretty sure she told me 30kg

Mint Sauce

stephencaul wrote: »

Flying with Aer Lingus tomorrow 23rd July paid my 40 Euro - is there a limit of 15kg. The bike is packed in the case and the weight is 26kg :-(
1.) Will I get hit for excess weight?
2.) Flying to Marseilles, anyone any experience of what they are like there?

Thanks

Is the bike case booked under Luggage, or as a bike?

Not sure if a bike bag/box is allowed under normal luggage due to shape/size. Am sure one of the regulars will confirm.

Dermot Illogical

mr spuckler wrote: »

i know ryanair is 30kg for a bike, would be surprised if aer lingus is less

I checked that last year and they were much less. Ryanair were surprisingly good value. 50e each way and more than enough weight allowance to carry bike with plenty of odd items packed in with it. My bike and a bag/box would never have made it under the Aer Lingus limit.

From the AL site "The maximum weight allowable for carriage of sports equipment is 15kgs/33lbs. "
http://www.aerlingus.com/travelinformation/baggage/

uphillonly

They often don't weigh it because they sometimes can't fit a bike bag on their check-in scales. They tag it and you take it off to the special luggage area where it might be weighed.

I'm guessing it's a lot more than the bike in your bike case making it 26kg unless you have a Flying Pigeon - that stalwart of old China.

Diarmuid

My bike bag was about 20kgs when I flew with it twice this year with Aer Lingus. They didn't mention anything. Maybe pushing it over 20kgs might invite some questions but you might get away with it.
Officially the limit is 15kgs with Aer Lingus

crosswords

You'll be fine on the outbound, but you could get caught on the way back.

Smile and be nice.

rollingscone

Buy a new bike based on advice from Weight Weenies!

sbs2010

2 weeks ago on way to Etape my booked bike case weighed in at 27kg at the Oversize bag drop counter.

Check in Lady told me limit was 15 but in general as a courtesy they let 20 go. So she wanted €15 x 7 kg right there. I took some extra stuff - shoes, mini pump, clothes - out and got it down to 22kg. So had to pay €30.

On way back in Geneva it weighed 21 and nothing was mentioned. Met 2 guys there checking in their bikes and asked how they got on in Dublin when flying out. They were at 25kg+ on the way out and had no problem.

Bottom line is you could be unlucky and get hit for €15 per kg over 20kg.
Or be very unlucky and get hit for anything over 15kg.

Wishbone Ash

uphillonly wrote: »

They often don't weigh it because they sometimes can't fit a bike bag on their check-in scales. They tag it and you take it off to the special luggage area where it might be weighed

I took a bike to the US recently. I was conscious of weight so going outbound I just put the bare bike in the bag and carried all the rest (helmet, shoes, pump, saddle bag, tools, water bottles, etc.) in my ordinary luggage. The didn't weigh the bike.

On return I put everything into the bike bag and the oversize luggage check in had a scales. I was sweating it for a bit but they didn't mention the weight.

(When I got home, there was a note inside saying it had been opened and searched by security).

07Lapierre

Flying from Dublin is fine ( they dont weigh the box). Its the return journey and the airport staff that u have to worry about.

C3PO

Flew Aer Lingus to Faro and back last month without issue (bike bag weighed 27 kgs!). But the Aer Lingus limit is officially 15 kgs!

Chips Lovell

AFAIK the wording on the site is kind of ambiguous, but I don't think the 15kg applies to bikes. Certainly never had a problem with them.

duffyshuffle

Flew last week, 15kg is the advised limit, they weighed it twice but were grand, it was 21kg, before he weighed it I said it was gonna be over and he said it should be fine but they have to weigh them as some people have been bringing 30-40kg bikes.. So you should be fine, coming home from Tenerife they didn't weigh it but was a bit nervous of some fees!
In Tenerife before a different time they weighed it and said t was too heavy so I had to take some stuff out which I did till they were happy, then on the way to the oversize drop off I just put it all back in and it was fine :-)

hypersonic

flew home from Zurich at 19kg when I picked up the box it was covered in big red overweight stickers!
Then got stopped by customs and had to spend 15mins explaining why I didn't have proof of purchase for a 4 year old bike, I thought she was taking the piss, she was 100% serious!

stephencaul

Mint Sauce wrote: »

Is the bike case booked under Luggage, or as a bike?

Not sure if a bike bag/box is allowed under normal luggage due to shape/size. Am sure one of the regulars will confirm.

Booked as a bike.

Seanie_H

Flying out of Dublin all five of us were over 20kg. One of the staff said it was 15kg for the bike and 5kg for packaging.... Brilliant logic on working out how to apply that easily. Anyways, we were on a charity cycle for Temple Street and they let us go.

All but one of us packed under 20kg on the way back, think it was 24kg that he tried with and went through torture in Schipohl to get away with it. They were very awkward.

Murphy's Law will apply.

Cookie_Monster

15kg limit for sports equipment is madness and a complete ripoff

yer man!

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I took a bike to the US recently. I was conscious of weight so going outbound I just put the bare bike in the bag and carried all the rest (helmet, shoes, pump, saddle bag, tools, water bottles, etc.) in my ordinary luggage. The didn't weigh the bike.

On return I put everything into the bike bag and the oversize luggage check in had a scales. I was sweating it for a bit but they didn't mention the weight.

(When I got home, there was a note inside saying it had been opened and searched by security).

As it's apart of the free allowance, it's treated as a normal bag for all US flights so it could weigh up to 23kgs before incurring charges.

Wishbone Ash

Just wondering, how do the MTB lads manage? Surely they would be a good few kgs more than a road bike?

C3PO

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Just wondering, how do the MTB lads manage? Surely they would be a good few kgs more than a road bike?

A big gang of us go on a "religious pilgrimage" to the Roc D'Azur Marathon Race near Nice every year.
There's always at least 20 of us on the Aer Lingus flight so the 1st 10 book a "bike" and the rest just book "Sports bags". There is a 10 bike limit on most Aer Lingus flights, less on some, but it's clear in their bumf that when they talk about bikes they mean a bicycle with wheels being wheeled up to check in! This is never a problem!
The bike bags will typically weigh between 25-30kgs - bikes, gear, track pumps etc! To date we have had no problems in either Dublin or Nice with weight limits but my guess is that sooner or later we're going to get a very expensive shock!
On the other hand we always have at least one person being stopped and their Co2 canisters being removed from their bags!
It is an area that Aer Lingus really need to look at - a 15kg limit is just not reasonable!

loinnsigh

I hired a bike box for the Etape a few weeks back. I was flying with Aer Lingus, and rang them to check the weight limit beforehand - was told 15kg. When I got the bike box home I weighed it and it was 12.9kg before I had put anything in it. So you're talking 22kg with just the bike, so a potential €95 excess baggage charge each way. Great. So I rang the bike shop and they had a lighter semi-rigid case that was only 6.7kg. (Not sure why they didn't offer me this one to start with.)

At DUB nobody questioned the weight (it was only about 16kg so I would have been surprised if they had complained).
At Nice Airport on the way home they couldn't fit it on the scales so they just asked me 'is it below 20kg?' I said yes and brought it to excess baggage. I'd guess they could be sticky if they wanted though.

I agree 15kg is a ridiculous limit for a bike - Ryanair allow 30kg. Will book Ryanair in preference to Aer Lingus where possible in future when travelling with a bike.

danotroy

I says here that 23kgs is the limit for sports equipment. does this mean that my bike and box can be a combined weight of 23kgs rather than 15Kgs as this thread suggests?

Diarmuid

danotroy wrote: »

I says here that 23kgs is the limit for sports equipment. does this mean that my bike and box can be a combined weight of 23kgs rather than 15Kgs as this thread suggests?

Looks like it

OldBean

Any time I've travelled with Aer Lingus from Terminal 2 with large (and heavy) equipment I've always been sent to the Extra Oversized luggage check in at the other side of the terminal, where the staff have no connection to Aer Lingus, so there's no way they can really do you for weight.

nak

My bike box was weighed in Dublin Airport and was 24kg, no extra charge, weighed in Geneva, same there. Called Aer Lingus beforehand and they said it was 15kg, told them that was unrealistic. If checking a suitcase you're allowed 20kg!

The staff at oversize in Aer Lingus said that they have to weigh and label the cases for the baggage handlers, didn't seem to care about the weight limit on the website.

nak

OldBean wrote: »

Any time I've travelled with Aer Lingus from Terminal 2 with large (and heavy) equipment I've always been sent to the Extra Oversized luggage check in at the other side of the terminal, where the staff have no connection to Aer Lingus, so there's no way they can really do you for weight.

In T2, we were sent to the left of the Aer Lingus check in area where they had a scale for oversize luggage. Then got sent to the bag drop.

rab!dmonkey

I've flown DUB-LYS, direct and via LHR and CDG with a bike three times now - bike box at 32 kg each way every time - and not once have I been asked to pay any overweight fee. The clerk at the check-in desk is the only one who cares about the airline limit, and in my experience they're not interested in trying to weigh something which won't easily go onto their conveyor belt. They just tag it and send you off to oversize baggage. The guys down there are only interested in making sure it doesn't go over the 32 kg limit for baggage handlers: they won't accept it if it does, but they're not on the airline payroll and they won't be collecting fees for them. My bike weighs ~20 kg (never actually weighed it) so I have no hope in getting it under any airline weight limits.

OldBean

nak wrote: »

In T2, we were sent to the left of the Aer Lingus check in area where they had a scale for oversize luggage. Then got sent to the bag drop.

Ah. There's another one at the other side of the elevators, I think beside the Delta check in, that I've always been sent to, and there's never been a scales or Aer Lingus staff nearby. The gear I bring is smaller than a bike box, but maybe a bit more awkward, I assumed they'd send bikes to the same place.

Civilian_Target

As stated above, Aer Lingus used to allow up to 23kg for bikes.
And last time I was in Marseille's Terminal 1, there was a bike stand and assembly area in the arrivals hall, as there is also in Nice Terminal 1

The Ging and I

There WAS a bike stand assembly area in Dublin airport just inside the car park/ shop area on the right hand side. Is it still there ?