Have not seen anything about this

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Follow me on Twitter @CK21TRHC
I use what I love: ISM, Blue70, Trek, FLO

Friend of a friend showed me FB pictures of an Argon that was totally crushed by airline.

It looked like a car had run over the front end. The bottom of both forks were sheared right off. I can't imagine how that type of damage could be caused on a flight.

Not caused during flight.
Caused during ground handling.

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Advanced Aero TopTube Storage for Road, Gravel, & Tri...ZeroSlip & Direct-mount, made in the USA.
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What I would like to know is what kind of cases the damaged bikes were in.

Apparently the race director knows about it and they have been scouring the bike shops and asking local mechanics if they know where bikes can be rented. Nothing available at this point.

Not joking. They should institute a one time Aquathon division so these people can still race.

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

doesn't matter if they were run over - no hard case is designed to withstand that, most cases are only constructed to withstand compression and penetration impacts, and even then it would be fairly minimal, none are designed to meet shipping container / packaging standards such as those used for dangerous goods (which would be excessive and inappropriate)- I'd be curious as to how many manufacturers, if any, send there cases out to packaging labs for testing and what the results are

interesting that most commercial products have their shipping / packaging tested, I've never seen anyone publicise their testing of bike boxes - standard tests for shipping would be stack, vibration, crop and where appropriate pressure - loads of labs in the US and globally do it

I didn't even consider that they were run over...I'm paying them $30 a bag and they're running over luggage out there!!?? Now my question is are the airlines reimbursing the bike owner(s) completely for the bikes and bags, and how will it take for a check to arrive? I was considering buying a nice case and starting to fly to my races and not drive, but this makes me want to reconsider.

Not likely. They pretty much say you fly a bike at your own risk.

That's crazy. Running over a giant bike case seems negligent to me, but then I've never worked as a baggage handler. I guess bike insurance is the only solution.

Not saying I wouldn't try to get something out of them. I have just heard that it's pretty much impossible.

I've no idea what happened to these but for commercial and hazardous packaging tests, containers, boxes, bottles - whatever you can think of, are stacked, dropped and vibration tested and for liquids pressure tested

Having spent a decade working in, for and around packaging labs, observing standards committee's and dropping, stacking and pressure testing literally tens of thousands of containers I don't think that there is a single bike box out that a good lab won't get to fail at a really low level, so the best you hope for is something that is compression proof and that you simply don't get an awful drop on to a weak point - which is the whole point of the testing - which is why the marginal improvement of BBA over lets say a Biknd is that it will be more penetration resistant due to material

I'd really be interested to see a packaging lab test the best bike boxes to destruction but it means that they probably need at least 3 of each type to do it and they're not going to buy those

I'd guess that the most common impacts to a bike are someone driving something through it, or it being stacked loosely or at the bottom and I've flown a lot of miles with the biknd and am happy that unless something catastrophic happens for which I'm insured its suitable for my needs

as for the airlines - you sign a waiver, I'm guessing you get nothing, maybe replacement value of case but I'd be surprised if they don't turn round and say its oversized, heavy and therefore not their problem

It's an unfortunate reality of travelling to races...one girl in my squad had a race in Mauturius with two flights to get there, Melb-Perth then Perth-Mauritius. Her bike came nearly three days later via dubai and Johannesburg.

Apart from taking all necessary precautions (packing it properly, also keeping the bag as light as possible i.e. no added gear seems to help) you just need a bit of good luck.

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http://twitter.com/willrc91 --- instragram.com/willrc91

not really, i've seen - and there's video out there, of handlers throwing stuff from the hold on to the deck without a conveyor in place, stuff falling off conveyors, stuff falling off the trailers, packages getting jammed up on conveyors, of course the odds are slim but it happens

I got off a A380 and a 777 yesterday / today, so I had 4 pieces of luggage travelling for 14 hours on two flights so each bag is handled multiple times, there are 400+ people on the A380, passenger volume at Dubai is about 120k / day, each carrying 1-2 piece of checked bags - the odds can be pretty low and you're still getting significant numbers of damaged packages - its like that old experiment if USPS was only 99.9% accurate how many pieces of mail they'd lose per day - its millions - this is the same, likelihood is low but its not zero

random - I just got back from there this morning - it was amazing

Lovely place....wish I didn't race so badly there haha..

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http://twitter.com/willrc91 --- instragram.com/willrc91

The sad thing is that due to the Montreal Concention 1999 the maximum liability is roughly $1500 unless you declare a higher value and pay the airline for additional coverage on top of all the other charges :/

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Rodney
TrainingPeaks | Altra Running | RAD Roller
http://www.goinglong.ca

I'm not sure that its reasonable to expect airlines to cover damage to fragile and valuable items thats why we have home and travel insurance

given what they do, sticking a fragile expensive item in the hold of a vehicle that will be man handled and transported by mechanical devices somewhat long distances - how could they accept responsibility for it - the infrastructures the airports not the airlines, i've long decided that i'm grateful to receive any bags at this stage

Agreed, the loss or damage is rarely the airlines fault. Baggage handlers are employees of the airport and are generally at fault.

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Rodney
TrainingPeaks | Altra Running | RAD Roller
http://www.goinglong.ca

I always say, www.bikeflights.com is the way to go, no airline drama and usually less expensive.

As far as I'm concerned, when I pay $150 for my bag to go on a plane I don't care who's at fault when my bike case/bike is mistreated. I paid the airline, and I gave it to the airline, they've taken responsibility for it. That's why they charge $150 to begin with, because there's a lot more risk to taking that piece of luggage than a suitcase.

Not true - I'm not defending them but the fee is for labour and space, not to guarantee no damage and I'm sure it says as much on the waiver

I take a picture of the bike packed inside the case before I close the case. Then I take a picture of the agent taking the case when I check in the bike. If oversize baggage handler takes the case by hand, as is the way in some smaller airports, I take a picture of that too. For what that's worth.

Then as soon as I get the case back, I open it and inspect for damage right there at the baggage claim. Easier to file a complaint there, then later from a hotel.

Andrewmc wrote:

Not true - I'm not defending them but the fee is for labour and space, not to guarantee no damage and I'm sure it says as much on the waiver

I am generally one who criticizes airlines pretty hard but I kind of want to know the source of this thread. First of all, "airlines" is plural, and athletes are coming into Zell Am See through multiple airports. So we have a situation of many airlines x many airports. What is the source of this? Some random guy on facebook claiming 50 lost bikes? Did anyone validate this number,

Having said that, overall athletes don't help themselves and often tend to blame the airlines. Yes, airlines do stupid stuff with our gear, but there are many things we can do to improve the odds in our favour:

1. If you can, don't arrive 2-3 days before the event. That is prime time when all the bikes are coming at the same time, especially an event like a world championship where most bikes are flying in not driving. Ideally arrive a bit before that....bike volume is lower. If you can arrive the day before (not usually possible) that works too, but cuts it tight so it can be 'all or nothing'
2. If you can make sure all connections are 90 minutes, but ideally 2 hours
3. Athletes put all kinds of stuff in the bike case and weigh them down. They get insanely heavy. If I was a baggage handler, I'd probably personallly push most of those "tanks" off the edge of an A380 before throwing out my back first
4. Some of you will kind this controversial, but I have generally observed the baggage guys to handle soft shell cases better. They are shaped weird and you can't pile stuff on them easily with everything on top staying secure....more like everything on top falls off, so the soft shell ends up on the top or on the side. The hardshell bike case ends up at the 'base' of the luggage pile
5. Remove your rear derailleur from the frame, but you can keep it attached to cabling/housing.

Anyway, my 2 cents worth. At this point I have travelled with a bike going on 30 years and the baggage guys have been kind to my gear when I have followed the items above. When I don't I've had bad things happen in terms of not getting my stuff on time, but thankfully not had any bike part ever destroyed. At this point, I'd estimate I've done in the order of a 500 legs (call it 125 trips) with a bike of some sort (that works out to around 5 trips per year with bike between biz and personal). From my experience, you guys can follow some of this, you'll have played the odds better in your favor. In the end, we can't control the system that our stuff goes through, so its a matter of figuring out how to get the best out of the system, playing the odds etc. No point blaming the airlines since they are not going to lose anything when our bikes get lost or broken. We lose every time (it's the same scenario in a bike vs car crash....the biker can be right, but the biker still loses more than the car driver)