Heading to Nice in June for IM. Almost booked a flight on Delta, but when I checked their luggage policy my Trico Case is too big. (Add all the dimensions together and it exceeds their 80" rule). Even if it was accepted, it’d cost me $350 round trip for a 20lb bike.
Any airlines still bike friendly?
FedEx international.
Fedex is $442 Each way.
Naa, you need to have someone with a FedEx account check it out. UPS.com would quote me $200+ to ship a bike, from the company account it was under $100 insured for $10k second day to IMLP.
UPS was $450 each way.
Don’t know anyone with a hookup on an account. Plus I don’t want to have to deal with trying to schedule a pickup in France post race.
Lufthansa!!!
If that isspelled right. Last fall I flew my bike to Italy for free. Plus the service was the best i’ve had on a flight in a long time.
+1 on luftahnsa. no charge for the bike box. I think I was charged on the flight back for extra weight. I can’t remember what extra junk I had in the bike box. That was in 2006 though, things might have changed.
Can’t figure out what Lufthansa’s policies are:
http://www.lufthansa.com/online/portal/lh/us/info_and_services/baggage?l=en&nodeid=1769603&cid=1000390#ancN65576
Trico bike box exceeds their luggage restrictions, but not sure if their restrictions are after two checked bags or not…
Go with a European carrier… Depending British Air is free for a bike case… I didn’t run the numbers on yours, but, in general, European carriers better understand the importance of traveling with bicycles.
If you can get away with just hand luggage and your bike box as your only check in luggage I’ve flown Cathay Pacific and Garuda with no extra charge.
I see no reason why the same trick wouldn’t work with most airlines.
I usually fly British Airways as the bike has always been free with them. Not had a problem so far anyway, including flights to/from Australia where I was pushing the weight a bit!
I just flew to and from Spain (from Pittsburgh, PA) with my Trico case. Total cost, $100.
That was on Continental. Their policy is right on the web page and they have a flat fee of $100 for the case as long as it’s under 70lbs. Continental has a checked bag fee ($15 and $25 for the first and second bags) but I think that may not apply on an international flight. I was all set to be told it was $100 per leg (I had 3 flights to get to spain and the same back) or that it was $100 on top of the checked bag fee but the lady at Pittsburgh said nope, $100 flat fee, which I paid at the check in.
Then, in Malaga Spain, when I checked in to return they never charged me at all for the case. I didn’t ask why as I figured I didn’t want to throw more money away but I also was prepared to have to pay at baggage claim in Pittsburgh when I picked it up but I didn’t have to pay at all. The flight we took from Malaga to Madrid was operated by Aeuropa but we bought all our tickets through Continental.
I was also very careful and weighed my case each time after I put the bike and extra gear in it to make sure it was under 70lbs. They didn’t weight it in Pittsburgh, but they did check it in Spain before I returned.
Not sure if they fly where you need to go but at worse you should be looking at $100 flat fee each way with them. Very happy and satisfied with my experience with Continental.
2X for BA. It’s been a few months but last I checked, they were free.
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I was also very careful and weighed my case each time after I put the bike and extra gear in it to make sure it was under 70lbs. They didn’t weight it in Pittsburgh, but they did check it in Spain before I returned…
All the people that complain here are the ones that pack 70 pounds for the flights that are limited to 50 pounds and 80 pounds for the 70 pound airlines.
If you follow their rules it no big thing.
Took the recommendation for British Airways–for starters, their website is probably one of the best airline websites I’ve used and they’re extremely sporting equipment-friendly. Fare is only a couple hundred higher than the lowest fare I found on Kayak.com, but no charge for bike box means I’ll save coin and the harassment I’d get from some overweight slob on the curb outside of Delta.