between this and them scanning our junk maybe we should just ride our bikes to vacation

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

3 words: Tri Bike Transport...when available.

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

I hear you. But I really like having my bike with me. I will just always need to fly SWA. It was a screw up by me.

I am going to see if I can change my return ticket.

I flew AA on Sept 15th and it was still $100 each way. They shuold honor the price at the time of booking, other airlines have done that for me after raising fees, even Delta as bad as they are honored a price at the time of booking.

MC

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http://www.mctriguy.blogspot.com

At this point, paying for bikes on planes is kinda a fact of life - but not something easily swallowable if they take the money but can't get the bikes to your destination.

.

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"I ain't never been nothin' but a winner"
Paul "Bear" Bryant
Roll Tide!!!!

Man this is true, it started November 1rst. After I got really angry at the ladie at the counter and asked for her manager she handed me a crap ass copy of the new policy. I was flying from Miami 70.3 to San Juan and couldn't believe the rip off I was about to be a victim of. I'll never fly with my bike again and I'm strongly considering never using AA their customer treatment is bullshit... I ended up paying 125 on my way there and 150 back because of the new policy, that's a bout 100 bucks more than I paid for my own ticket..that's crazy right there!!!

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http://www.easyendurance.wordpress.com

I used to fly AA for work every week and have tons of miles and it is cheaper for me to pay for a flight on Southwest and for my bike than to use a free flight and pay for my bike on AA about 75% of the time. The only time I use my miles is when I am traveling without my bike which isn't very often.

3 other words: Ritchey Break Away.

Ian

PS. to the sticklers out there, I'm pretty sure Ritchey calls their bike a Breakaway (one word) but I was riffing a pre-established theme.

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Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

Southwest charges $50 each way... that's hard to beat.

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Ryan Riell
Head Coach/Founder
Break Through Multisport Inc.
http://www.BreakThroughMultisport.com
Ryan@BreakThroughMultisport.com

I called AA and they confirmed that the luggage fees we pay are whatever they charge on teh day of travel. The fee and day of booking doesn't matter.

Makes no sense to me, but who am I to say???

.

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"I ain't never been nothin' but a winner"
Paul "Bear" Bryant
Roll Tide!!!!

Word!



Bicycles
One non-motorized touring or racing bike. Handlebars must be fixed sideways and pedals removed or pedals and handlebars must be enclosed in plastic foam or similar material. Bike must be in a hard-sided case built for bike transport or a bike bag or box. Bikes not in a hard-sided case are considered.
$150 charge, regardless of the number of checked bags.
Exception: If bicycle and container are less than 62 dimensional inches and under 50 lbs., the bike is charged the applicable baggage charge for the 1st checked bag.
70 lbs
126 inches
- Acceptance conditional on aircraft size and load conditions
- Exception: If a bike is less than 62 dimensional inches and 50 lbs., the above conditions do not apply

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_____________________________________
DISH is how we do it.

FedEx to a local shop. For half the price of taking it on the airlines (except SWA) it's built and tuned when you arrive, and you can usually store the case at the shop requiring a smaller rental car. I've done this several times and it works great. Have to ship early, though.

Or there's this:

I've done this too and it works better.

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Brian Grasky
Grasky Endurance: World Championship Triathlon Coaching; Professional Training Camps
RETUL fitter, Biomechanist, USAT Level 3 Coach, USAC Level 2 Coach

Word! ???

I don't understand. I am aware of their policy I just did not realize they increased the fee from $100 to $150. This looks to be after I booked.

I did the match using a $200 round trip fee not a $300 fee. I would have made other arrangements.

I have over 2 million miles with the airline and an executive platinum. I will be following up with them to see if I can get it taken care of.

Word! Was in response to like having a bike with oneself. If you have status, you should not have to pay for the bike transportation. No matter if one has status or not, it is a rip off to charge $150 one way when the airlines know that many of their travelers don't check in bags nor do many travel with bikes. It is not right and they know this.

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_____________________________________
DISH is how we do it.

I have been frustrated with rising prices to fly with my bike for years. I too used to fly AA for work on a regular basis and have a bunch of stocked miles. I invented the Hen House by Ruster Sports to combat the airlines policies. Since I travel with my bike 15 plus times per year, I needed a case that would meet the airlines 62 linear inch requirement.

The Hen House is tried and trusted. I have been using it for nearly 3 years now. I have never been charged excess luggage fees. I always get to travel with my bike. My bike has never been damaged.

Check it out, it is worth a shot. If you make just two flights on AA, you've already saved yourself some cash.

www.rustersports.com

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

I was just checking SWA's policy, actually - isn't it only $50 if it is over 50lbs or 62 inches, and free otherwise if you don't have two other checked bags? I was planning on using them to bring an old bike back from home in CT after Christmas...

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Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. -Enzo Ferrari

i think tri bike transport is always the second easiest option. the easiest is when you drive to the race yourself and throw your bike in the back of the car. obviously, that's not always an appropriate solution. so that defaults to tri bike transport. that's just about always better than packing your bike in a box and letting the airlines have at it.

but that's not always a solution either, depending on what race you're going to. TBT doesn't (yet) go everywhere. i'm really surprised, however, that nobody ever talks about defaulting to another solution: amtrak.

my wife wanted to take her mother to tucson, from ontario, ca, last week. which she did. she was wondering whether to fly or drive. i suggested amtrak. my wife never even considered this before i mentioned it. they drove 10 minutes to the amtrak station, paid $32 each and took the train directly to tucson. they were picked up at the station by the car rental company. yes, the trip was longish, time wise. about 8 hours. slightly longer than it would've taken to drive. but, bikes are either free or cheap to transport on the train, you can walk around while you're on the train, there's the dining car, lots of amtrak trains have a wifi, you can get your own private room if you want.

obviously this, like all the other options, is limited in its utility. but it ought to be a part of the set of discussed options.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Amtrak is a good idea... Tim Luchinski used to take Greyhound to races. I wonder what their bike fee is?

I just brought my bike back from the Miami 70.3 on American Airlines, was charged $100. I expected it to be $150 but was only $100, not sure why. I sent it down UPS, they charged me $94 then tried to charge me an additional $60 once it was in transit (saying its an over-sized item, which I of course provided measurements for in advance) I fought with UPS and won the money back but I didn't want to deal with them again so I just took the bike on the plane with me.

You are incorrect on this. I am executive platinum as well. Everyone pays for bike transport - they actually call it athletic equipment transport. If one has status, up to two regular sized and weight bags fly without a fee - bike carriers are not included.

.

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"I ain't never been nothin' but a winner"
Paul "Bear" Bryant
Roll Tide!!!!

Can one get away with just using those two bags when travelling to races or training camps? If having to check a 3rd bag in addition to the ones carrying the frame and wheels you'll still get charged a lot. On American it's 100usd for a 3rd bag and there are airlines who charges more for checking a 3rd bag than the fee for bringing a "standard" bike box.

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BA coaching http://www.bjornandersson.se

do we just need to make bikes a bit smaller so they fall below the threshold of pissing off the transport industry or something?

back to 650 wheels?

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

Bjorn,

There are a couple of options.

You can typically carry-on the wheel bag as your one carry-on bag. It is oversize for a carry-on but fits in the overhead bin of most standard size commercial planes. It will have to be gate checked if you fly on a regional jet. This will still allow you to take one large piece of luggage and the frame bag as checked luggage.

The second option is to fully pack the frame bag and wheel bag with all your excess luggage. There is plenty of room in the wheel bag and frame bag to bring most everything you need for a race or training trip. Any extra luggage can be brought in a standard duffel or carry-on bag such as a roller board suitcase. I have found this solution to work extremely well and I have never felt I was bringing too little equipment with me.

I have never been denied carrying on my wheel bag, but if you do carry-on the wheels I suggest you pack only your wheels (even though there is ample room for more luggage). This keeps the bag to a very small dimension with the use of the compression straps.

www.rustersports.com

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

They'll keep raising prices as long as people are willing to pay them...