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Traveling with bike
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Hi Everyone, I'm traveling to a race at the end of next week so I have to pack my bike up in a travel case. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience traveling with your bike recently. The reason why I ask is two fold: 1) I know there are new security regulations that went into effect recently with regards to air travel and that your luggage can be searched at any time without your knowledge, and 2) with regards to the current events throughout the world and our country's high level of terrorist alert.

Any info would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
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Re: Traveling with bike [jbhurdlez] [ In reply to ]
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Dont seal the case / or lock it and for godssake dont take CO2.

Make sure they can get in to the case otherwise they'll throw a fit.

Aside from that you just take your chances but there should be no issues so long as you dont jam it shut or put anything in that might be an issue.
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Re: Traveling with bike [jbhurdlez] [ In reply to ]
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Hi,
I travelled with my bike within Europe a couple of times last year and a friend just came back from a cycle trip using my bike box and had no problem.

Generally I leave the box unlocked (as I do with my luggage) so that if they want to search it they don't need to break the lock. I do put some tape over the opening though so I can see if anyone has been in it.
I have also been asked to open the box at checkin once but that wasn't a hassle.

I live in England so YMMV. My next trip is Wildflower so I will get to see what happens when I go via the US.

Cheers,
dt.
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Re: Traveling with bike [davet] [ In reply to ]
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Its changed a lot here as of the first of this year.

I flew in and out of Gatwick at Xmas and will be in Manchester in May and flying out of the UK is infintely easier than it is here now.

If you are flying in here and changing to go on to wildflower you need to ensure you have plenty of time for your connecting flight now as you need to get your luggage, clear Immigration and customs and then line up and check in, then line up seperately and check in your baggage and they had not got this down very smoothly the last time I flew which was Chicago and Newark and Denver.
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Re: Traveling with bike [jbhurdlez] [ In reply to ]
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I've had my case searched at Heathrow, O'Hare, Tucson and Phoenix, all in the last 3 months. The best job was at Heathrow the worst Phoenix. The only reason I knew it had been searched at LHR is because they cut off the blue zip ties I had used to secure the lid with red ones. At Phoenix I actually had to physically help them put the wheels back in and close the lid b/c they could not figure out how to do it. They tried to stack the wheels on top of each other. Then they could not put the top on correctly. At O'Hare same thing, I had to tell them step by step how to put the wheels in, "no, not that way the other way just like you took them out". "No the helmet does not sit on top of the downtube but fits nicely right where you picked it up from, in between the water bottle cages". All times, except Heathrow, I asked if I could watch them take the case apart b/c I did not want them to damage my bike. They seemed agreeable. My only concern is if damaged, who pays for the damage the airline or the TSA? If you would ask them that question and post back the answer as I'm confident the overwhelming majority of us will be flying a bike at least once this season.

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Last edited by: desert dude: Mar 27, 03 19:02
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Re: Traveling with bike [desert dude] [ In reply to ]
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I think I can safely say without asking anyone at the DOT or the TSA that if they F**k up your bike tough luck.

You cant file a claim with the Airlines as they no longer pay or are responsible for the security and the government dont have to ask your permission to go through that bag and I can safely assure you that if they damage something trying to get compensation out of them would be like trying to get blood out of a stone. Be fun trying though.

At heathrow and gatwick they have searched 25-30% of all checked luggage for years and people are none the wiser.
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Re: Traveling with bike [jbhurdlez] [ In reply to ]
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I flew from Vancouver Canada to LA on to New Zeland recently for IM NZ, my wife also raced so we had two bike cases and a suit case each. We did not encounter any problems, other than the bike boxes were xrayed and swiped (swab over the clasp and the swab run through a machine - looking for bomb making residue I guess) The cases were not opened. The only addtional step we had to take was coming back from NZ into LA, we had to take the boxes to security at the check in desk (we already had boarding passes through to Vancouver)



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Simple Simon
Where's the Fried Chicken??
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Re: Traveling with bike [SimpleS] [ In reply to ]
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The folks in NZ are much better than LAX. At least in NZ they asked me to move things around and put the top back on the case. I found that generally with a bike, if they are going to open it, they'll do it when you are there. If they don't seem to know what they are doing, tell them you would like their names and to call a supervisor (especially in LA!) I've not had the bike case searched in SF.

clm
Nashville, TN
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