Ryanair - Bike Lost - Any experiences?

If you are doing something similar the best deal is to get an Interrail ticket. For over 26 years of age it starts at €218 for any 3 days in a month and you can just pay a surcharge for the Eurostar/TGV etc.

loyatemu wrote: »

did you consider coming back with Ryanair? :pac:

Yes, for about 0.003 seconds.


Ryanair same day travel was about €320 + €60 for the bike + €20 to DHL to ship the battery. Or thereabouts.

I wasn't being separated from the bike after all that. I would have taken it to bed with me when I got back, I was that happy to get it again, but such things are frowned upon.

BTW I had a 3 hour layover in Cologne train station from about 2.00 am to 4.50 am. Well worth doing if you're interested in people watching, some seriously 'interesting' people there. Or just down the road is the equivalent of Temple Bar. An Irish guy showing up with a bike at 3 a.m. to a bar is guaranteed to get people chatting to you.

droidus wrote: »

It would be a shame if Ryanair didnt know you'd gotten it back and then processed the claim anyway.

A real shame.

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Do Ryanair know you found it yet?

So, final chapter in this saga: Ryanair paid me out yesterday; €1399.81.

Once they said in July that they had given up on the bike then it was legally up to me to salvage it if I wanted, this is allowed in insurance payouts as the bike was considered 'lost'.

AHS the baggage company are aware that I found it, not sure if they informed Ryanair, they seem to have very poor communications with each other.

They can claim the money off me if they wish and I am happy to pay them back, but my own recovery bill will amount to €1400, so no point them trying.

Incidentally the stuff in Munich airport is auctioned once it's marked as unclaimed or lost for 365 days, there's a video (in German) of it here.

It's held in a beer tent (look at all the beer on the tables) and this is in Landshut, about 40 Km from the airport. Oddly enough the auctioneer is the father of a comedian called Michael Mittermeier, my ex-GF in Germany used to share an apartment with him around 1990.

glasso wrote: »

for e-bikes and other stuff with large batteries going fwd I would not risk it.

strange that the comms is so bad that there is no system to get the info back to the airline that is was refused.

From reading up on German forums people send the battery by DHL to their destination a couple of days in advance, they hold the battery for 14 days, they have 24 hour boxes sites like Parcel Motel all around Europe.

About €20 each way, depending on the destination. Some airports let them through, but not officially. 160W is the max permissable size at the moment.