in case some day some agent decides that a bicycle in two bags is still a bicycle subject to a fee, as unlikely as I think this is.[/quote]------------------------------------
this happened to me by a delta check-in woman last year. her reasoning was faulty, but she went ahead and undid my prepaid baggage tickets, to charge me for a bike, when both of my bags were under the standard size. then her computer wouldn't do the deed, she stalled, her co-workers looked on with looks that said she was doing the wrong thing. i asked for a print-out of the bike policy, and then she disappeared to get that------and my two hours of pre-boarding time was dwindling down to nothing. a co-worker finally said he'd run the print-out up to the gate and meet me there.
so-----i was unable to even approach justice due to her managing to run out the clock. it was a really, really sour experience.
peggy

Maui5150 wrote:

Biggest concern, especially these days since you are no longer allowed to lock luggage, etc., is the amount of theft and lost/damaged luggage has NEVER been higher.

Do you have any evidence of this, links etc. or is this anecdotal?

I have flown somewhere around 1,000,000 miles and never had a single problem. I have nicer luggage (in construction) so that may be part of it. I have only flown with my bike once and that was overseas, from JFK to Instabul to Abu Dhabi and back.

The only personal stories I can share is luggage that gets misplaced and shows up late. I also know someone that had the TSA take something or believes the TSA did.

---

-- Aaron Davidson

Guess you have not been paying attention:

http://infoluggage.com/...se-for-lost-luggage/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/...linsurance.insurance

http://www.usatoday.com/...lost-bags-usat_x.htm

http://blog.irvsluggage.com/...e-increases-in-2010/

http://www.smartertravel.com/...-bag.html?id=4300633

Every year it gets worse and worse.

And these:

http://www.upi.com/.../UPI-81441311623217/

http://www.khon2.com/...X-EqAEw28oh9hxw.cspx

http://hotair.com/...-nationwide-problem/


just for a FEW examples.

Just got back from SanFrancisco with the bikes. We flew Air Canada going down, got charged $100 for each bike. Came home with WestJet, got charged $21 for each bike, just the standard extra piece of luggage fee.

Leaving Canada they simply x-rayed the boxes, coming home they were opened and searched and swabbed, but we were allowed to watch as she did this. She was careful and had obviously done this to many bike boxes before. When she was done I handed her the locks and she locked everything back up.

Wow, thanks for the links, I have not been paying attentio, but then I've never lost anything.

I thought I would chip in here with a post, but got delayed because I was, err, flying. I'm Wongstars travel sponsor and mentor for flying with bikes. I've flown on more than 100 flights with a bike, but don't these days much since I can't stand the stress anymore of wondering what will be there when I get to my race desitination. Plus there are loads more options like http://www.triteamtransport.com/ and since I've moved to Austin, loads of local races and even more next year with the added High Five events and the HITS series.

There are Airline policies, there are Airline staff, some implement policy, some don't, and some make it up as they go along.

Over the years I've had:

• Wrecked rear derailluer in a Scion MK1 hardshell box after watching it get pushed out of the front storage on a 737 and falling 75ft to the floor
• Broken rear frame even with a spacer, when shipped in a cardboard bike box
• Had my bike sit in LAX for 3-days and only arriving in Edmonton 12hrs before the 2001 ITU Worlds
• Stood and waited for the TSA inspection for 2-hours at MIA, when transferring between flights from London to Tampa, eventually I got the AA Station Supervisor to go talk to the TSA and the flight was delayed as I wouldn't board without the bike
• Had a massive blow-up with AA at Austin Bergstrom after they wanted to charge for an empty bike box as if it was a bike; I used to keep a training bike in St Pete, FL and after eventually being able to check the empty box for free, got to St Pete, packed the bike and travelled back with it for free as checked bags without question, go figure.

Mostly, if you use non-standard luggage, cardboard or otherwise, you SHOULD be asked to sign an airline limited release form. This, they believe, limits their liability in the event of loss or damage. If you are travelling with a bike and depending only on the airlines insurance, you are generally SOL no matter what you tell them is in the package, $2k bike or $50 art supplies. At the point you check your bike in, they don't keep a note of what you tell them, and if they ask you to sign a limited release form, it doesn't say whats in the package.


Over the years I used to post all sorts of comments, pictures and updates to my blog, but I have less time these days. Here was something I wrote last year that you might find useful, most of the tips seem to be covered here anyway http://triman.livejournal.com/234767.html

and here are some other blog entries http://triman.livejournal.com/tag/flyingwithbikes

and here is my Scion box packed from back in the day.
http://pics.livejournal.com/triman/pic/00030bkb
I'm going to have to get back into it again as I've entered Challenge Roth in Germany and am working on getting Wongstar to come race as well...

Alright... I'm building my own cardboard house for my bike. So I have a few questions for you:

- Why shape the boxes? From what I understand about linear inches, the airline, if they measured, would measure the bounding box of the shape (i.e. the smallest rectangular box that encloses the shaped box). And a rectangular box would give more room for padding/other items.

- If I am wrong about linear inches, I'd love to know!

- How did you make the wheels work? I have an 8" wide bike box here to play with... The wheels fit in 28 x 28, but I can't stack them down to 6" (they stack to 9"). What did you do?

- I read on travel sites that United has a 55 linear inches limit on the second checked bag but can't find it on United's page. I hope so, because I don't know how to make a 28" diameter wheel fit into a 55 linear inches box. Edit: It is Air France policy apparently. I'd assume more companies will get there over time. Others (AirTran) have a 61" limit.

Thanks a lot!