Bagage fees for bikes

godtabh

Bagage fees for bikes

Saw this on twitter and thought it might be of some use to people here

Seaswimmer

Good info.

Just something else to be aware of...

Some airlines will take your bike with pedals removed and handlebars turned and no need for a box or bag.


However this does not necessarily mean that the airport will accept it in that form even if the airline does. The airport may well insist on a bag or box. This has caught me out a couple of times.

Qualitymark

Seaswimmer wrote: »

Good info.

Just something else to be aware of...

Some airlines will take your bike with pedals removed and handlebars turned and no need for a box or bag.


However this does not necessarily mean that the airport will accept it in that form even if the airline does. The airport may well insist on a bag or box. This has caught me out a couple of times.

Also (sob) doesn't mean your bike will arrive intact.

Wishbone Ash

And beware when travelling on a flight from the USA. Even though the bike is pre-booked and paid, they will try to add an additional fee for a "Large Sports Item". This additional fee can be $200. It requires a lot of patience and sometimes screaming and shouting to deal with some of their robotic check in staff who seem to have trouble with understanding what a bicycle is never mind explaining that it is already paid for.

Koobcam

I've travelled a fair bit with the bike over the past 3 years and it still amazes me the difference in policy among the different airlines. For anyone travelling to China on British Airways, it seems that they charge less than Air France/KLM, though you have to pay the penalty of transiting through Heathrow terminal 5 (I'd rather pay the extra baggage fees). British Airways does indeed treat the bike as a 'normal'piece of baggage, so you'd get it on the plane for free as long as it was sub 23kg and not way too big, though if you were travelling all that distance, it's likely you'd want to bring some clothes and other things, necessitating a bag, which makes the 'normalisation' of bike cases redundant. For Air France-KLM, even if you were travelling premium economy or business class (which both carry the bonus of a 2x23kg baggage allowance), you'd still have to pay extra if it was a bike. However, if you want to bring a gun, fishing equipment, golf clubs or even a surfboard, grand, that's free. You'd think that a Dutch airline would have a favourable bike carriage policy, but sadly not in the case of KLM.

One important thing to note when travelling with your bike is where the excess baggage fee is actually paid. If you pay at the check-in desk, there's always the chance that the person printing out your boarding pass will forget to actually charge you the excess fees- this has happened to me a couple of times. Once you've the boarding passes in your hand, and the luggage tag is attached to your bike, if you haven't been charged, walk away. In a lot of cases, you have to go to another desk to pay, then come back for your boarding passes (In T1/2 in Beijing for example), so it wouldn't work in that case.

Harrybelafonte

Qualitymark wrote: »

Also (sob) doesn't mean your bike will arrive intact.

That's my only bit to add to this... Check your bike before you leave the airport. Seriously!

Wishbone Ash

The weight limit bit has always intrigued me. I've never known check-in staff to weight the box in any airport. They just put the tag on it and send you over to the over-sized baggage area where the staff don't ever seemed to be too bothered about weight (considering that it's already paid for and checked in).

Koobcam

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

The weight limit bit has always intrigued me. I've never known check-in staff to weight the box in any airport. They just put the tag on it and send you over to the over-sized baggage area where the staff don't ever seemed to be too bothered about weight (considering that it's already paid for and checked in).

I've had my bike weighed a few times at the check-in desk. It's usually a tiny bit over 23kg as I tend to put tools and a few other bits in the case, but its never been an issue. One trick a friend of mine has is to load the bike case up with stuff that would otherwise go in normal luggage, basically on the basis that no one gives a feck about the weight of the bike case, so you might get away with an extra 5-6kg that way. Or you could bring a sneaky extra small bag of stuff, weigh and tag the bike and then put the extra stuff in before you hand the bike over to the oversize section.