Probably the biggest headache while cycle touring over seas is transporting the bikes – something which I seem to have done a frustrating amount of recently.
As if packing up all your equipment into a small container wasn’t bad enough, airlines often make it no easier to determine how a bike affects or is affected by luggage allowance. It would seem often that people working for airlines are unsure of specifics. Clearly bikes need more promotion!
One thing that I find incredibly frustrating are airlines’ attitude towards bikes. Tell them that you want to carry golf clubs, and thats no problem. Even skiis are usually welcome. Bikes however, can be met with sharp intakes of breath and uncertainty (and almost never any weight leniency).
Since finding accommodating airlines can be a pain, I’ve listed all the airlines below who I’ve flown with, and what they allow in regards to bikes. Airlines tend to have very specific rules for bike boxs (usually linear dimensions), which in my experience not one person at the check in knows or cares about. As long as it’s within the weight limit, and a standard bike box (like the free ones from bike shops), they’ll take it.
And although individual airlines might not care if you’re one or two kg over, one important thing to remember is that most airlines won’t take any one item that is over 32kg, usually to protect the health and safety of those handling the baggage. Jack found this out recently for himself when trying to check in at Heathrow….
But with the bike and extras all packed away into one box, and a pannier and handlebar bag slung over one shoulder packed to the top with clothes, sleeping bag and anything else heavy, it’s certainly all possible.
The information no doubt changes minute by minute, so its always worth doing as much research as possible before hand.
The main website I have found to be most useful for searching for flights is Skyscanner.net, as they show many budget airlines that sites like lastminute.co.uk and opodo.co.uk do not.
These are just my own experiences – there are links at the bottom of the page for those in America, as well as other British cyclists’ experience…
London to Tokyo- JAL
JAL don’t offer any allowance additional to the standard 20kg in ecomony, though they had no problems with taking bikes which were suitably packed.
This was the first time I had flown with my bike, and so I was rather paranoid about box sizes etc. There were no problems at all however, when flying my road bike and panniers with them to Tokyo.
Damascus to London – BMI
BMI are probably my favourite airlines for flying bikes – they make it very clear what they offer in terms of allowance, and have a specific rate for taking a bicycle on board.
It cost a very reasonable extra £30 to take a bicycle on board, which is in addition to your standard 20kg ecomony class allowance.
London to Mumbai/Calcutta to London – Air India
Air India offer a very generous 46kg baggage allowance for international flights (max 32kg per item). Initially it wasn’t clear at all from their website that this was the case, and took a couple of calls to verify. Again, they had no problems with bikes as long as they were within the weight limit, but it might be handy to have in writing the weight limit agreed. Checking in at Calcutta airport the lady was rather surprised by this allowance, and had to double check with her manager.
London to Singapore – Sri Lankan Airlines
Sri Lankan Airlines were a big headache when I flew with them, but I have a feeling a just had a bad experince. There was no entertainment onboard (the system was down), the plane was delayed by 3 hours, and… well I was pretty jetlagged and cranky! But their 30kg baggage allowance meant that again, the bike and bits could all be fit into one bag with a pannier slung over one shoulder to take up the extra weight. Jack found that his booking only showed the limit as 20kg, so again check, and if possible make sure that you have your allowance in writing from them.
Singapore to Cairns – Jetstar
Jetstar is actually a budget airlines, but the one advantage of booking with them is that they offer fairly flexible baggage allowances. If you want to take more than the standard 20kg, you can specify exactly how much you want to take with you (all, of course, at a price), choosing between 5kg, 10kg and 20kg. Buying an extra 10kg of excess baggage cost 120 SGD (about £60), which given the relatively low cost of a ticket meant flyiing to Ciarns with a bike was reasonable.
These options can be a bit tricky to find on the website, but are all very clear when you start to book a flight (and can be seen long before you enter any payment details or confirmation).
The drawback seems to be their slightly hidden information, and lack of any contact method if you’re in the UK….
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Useful Links:
CycleTourer.co.uk (All manner of info on flying with bikes)
Real Geeks Ride Bikes (US Info)
Airline Luggage Regulations (not really used)
iBike.org (US Info)
GFOnline (Global Info)
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