Already a Diamond on Delta, so hopefully not much more.

I'm only a silver on Delta and my bike flies for free.

I used to fly my bike regularly on multiple airlines until they all started jacking up the bike fees. At that point, I figured out how to have fun vacations/racations without needing to fly with my bike. Although never say never, I don't see me going back to flying with my bike.

I'm silver this year and my wife is gold (she's almost always with me when I fly with the bike) and it's rare that I get the bike for free. I have yet to fly with it since the policy change though.

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blog

Most of my flights with my bike have been to international destinations and the bike has flown free as part of my baggage allowance. Eidelweiss, Icelandair, SouthAfrican Airways, etc. I'm glad to see the main U.S. carriers reduce their gouging of customers. I hope to be using Delta next year since they have a direct flight to Amsterdam.

Seems like going back to the old days when bikes went as regular luggage. I always prefer taking my own and have an awesome case. Which race you doing in AMS?

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Gary Geiger
http://www.geigerphoto.com Professional photographer

TEAM KiWAMi NORTH AMERICA http://www.kiwamitri.com, Rudy Project http://www.rudyprojectusa.com, GU https://guenergy.com/shop/ ; Salming World Ambassador; https://www.shopsalming.com

Gary - with my running days behind me, I'm going to Miami this Nov to qualify for the ITU Aquabike worlds in Almere next Sep. I think USAT Nationals and ITU Worlds are probably the only two races with a big enough aquabike field for age group competition. All the other races I looked, aquabike is just a single division for men and women.

Ah, sound like fun. Holland is such a warm and friendly place. So easy to enjoy.....

See you in Miami.

our next poll is locked and loaded. or cocked and loaded. (i'm so confused!) it's similar to what you're saying here. the poll question:

"If you are loyal to an air carrier (e.g., United) that does not subscribe to a bicycle friendly baggage policy, would you, will you (or did you), change to another carrier with a bicycle friendly policy? Please answer this as realistically and honestly as you can."

it'll go up in a day or so, after this poll has enough responses for statistical relevancy.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I pretty much only fly Southwest. Plus, most of the races I plan to do, I can drive to.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

x2.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Yes, I will and I have. I fly United regularly but no longer when I need to travel with my bike. It’s not worth the extra fees.

Thanks Dan. Perhaps a result from a poll like this will make a few more airlines think about changing their policies regarding bike fees.

I usually fly a lot with united since we have explorer cards and get free or reduced fee flights. So hard to say.. mostly just drive to races anyway though, trying to fly as little as possible these days.

Or the exact opposite will happen <slightly pink>

I'll probably stick with my current loyalty and frequency of taking a bike for travel. I usually fly United. I liked Southwest when they served the nearest airport to me.

Most recently bike build is a salsa fargo with S&S couplers and two wheelsets, works so far for all the singletrack I am comfortable riding with 27.5+ tires, and 29ers for gravel. So far I have ridden that bike in Utah, Tenerife, and Australia. All at no additional cost for the luggage.

For road or tri, I have an armored hen house case, and actually used that to take my fatbike to cabo a few years back. We'll see how long these policies stay in place.

For me, whether I take a bike, it depends on the trip. I actually used spinlister for the 1st time a few weeks ago. I was in SF for 3 days, and really only wanted a bike to ride across golden gate bridge to sausalito. spinlister was easy, convenient, found a decent road bike for a good price. I can see looking at spinlister options again. Packing a bike, at least for me, is at least an hour, and the same for unpacking and assembly.

I've just stopped flying to Nth America on Nth American airlines.The only times I get caught out and have to pay for my little gem of a bike box is on budget or regional airlines if that is the only option available and they won't recognise codeshare allowances.

This box was just over 30 flights in before I retired it and got another one..

Not a fan of how this is worded. I have status with United, but I will absolutely take American/Delta when flying with a bike. This does nothing to change overall "loyalty" and work flights, but it will shift my travel habits when I need to bring a bike somewhere (to avoid United's $150 fee)

Most folks are going to be captive to one major airline in their hub (Denver - United, Atlanta - Delta, Dallas - American, etc.). I could see it maybe shifting allegiances in cities like Chicago (ORD) or Los Angeles (LAX) where customers are choosing between a bike friendly airline vs. United. However, this is such a small percentage of the traveling population that I doubt any meaningful thought/policy changes will be dictated by it

it wouldn't be slowtwitch if we didn't have a complaint about the wording of the week's poll ;-)



were this a survey - and i may well decide to escalate this to a survey - we'd drill down to what you're saying here. if you live in chicago you're probably a united flyer. if you're in dallas you're american. hubs have a lot to do with the allegiances we have, and our allegiances are often thrust upon us rather than choices we make. i might be "loyal" to an airline not because i like it, but because of circumstances and economics. we have an imperfect tool with our snap poll.

right now i'm having 3 discussions, deep in the bowels of various offices: with delta, with united, and with TSA. i have a TSA interview next week. united's stand is interesting, because you don't often see one of the 3 major carriers bucking the other 2. your position here is the rational one. but for a lot of people - me included - there's something very powerful at play that draws me toward an emotional decision. here is what i wrote united yesterday: "someone who travels 100,000 miles a year may only travel 5,000 miles a year with his bike. But, that bike policy, that alone may cause him to change his loyalty. It’s the principle. It’s a strong driver."

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Interesting, appreciate the background. I'll definitely be interested to hear what comes out of those discussions.

And "our allegiances are often thrust upon us" is probably the most accurate statement about the major carriers I've ever heard haha