Hey all-
Headed up to Mont Tremblant in a few days, and will be flying Air Canada.
I originally chose to fly with them because of the “$50.00 Bike Handling Fee”, but after doing a little more looking- it looks as those my Scicon Bag may surpass their dimensions which equate to a $100 fee.
Wanted to see what other people’s experiences were with them-were they sticklers with the dimensions?
Thanks!
I took my bike on an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Frankfurt and no one checked the dimensions. I don’t have a bike box so i got a cardboard box from my LBS. The cost was 50$ and i tried to pay cash. The counter lady didn’t know what to do with cash since most people pay with credit card and when I got to the gate I discovered she had stuck the cash between the pages in my passport so it was free!
Depends which airport you fly out of … I almost always have to pay flying out of yyz. And if you’re flying back via Montreal, with dozens of others with bikes, you’ll probably get pinged. But smaller airports often charge only as a first bag.
I’ve never paid more than the $75 total, though. Even with a ton of extra stuff weighing down the bike bag.
Gotta love the Canadian hospitality!
I’ve only ever been charged $50 by AC, however, my bike bag wasn’t too over sized and it wasn’t over weight… they’ve never measured it for me though either.
Just smile nice and be friendly or pre-check in and go straight to baggage drop.
The fees don’t add up.
You either pay bike or you pay oversize, never both.
I flew Ontario to Montreal, then on to Philadelphia. Fee was $50. I was using a Pika Packworks, which is soft sided and oversized.
The trouble I had was that the 1st segment was a national flight and my bag wouldn’t fit through the smaller scanner they had (was told it would have been fine in larger one used in international terminal). This meant I had to disassemble the packing for a hand search, with various pieces going through the machine separately. This was a bit of a pain, and in the middle of the scanning area I didn’t take enough care in repacking my bag. Something shifted (water bottle, Ithink) and I arrived in Philly with a broken spoke.
Therefore, for my next trip I bought the AHH, which is not oversized and has the firmer HDPE protection. No troubles with Soutwest (free) or American (2 x $25 b/c my boyfriend checked the wheels as his bag).
When I have flown on Air Canada with my Scicon bag I have been charged the extra bag fee and the bike fee so about 75$ total I think
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Recently flew West Jet Toronto to Calgary with a rental hard case. Secured boarding pass on line in the 24 hour window before flight. Checked 2 pieces of baggage, one suitcase was $25, the second (bike box) was $35. When checking in had to go through oversized baggage where they opened the box for inspection but didn’t have to pay anything extra.
When I have flown on Air Canada with my Scicon bag I have been charged the extra bag fee and the bike fee so about 75$ total I think
This was my experience. They charge $25 for the checked bag fee and then $50 for a handling fee. Their website makes it appear as though it’s $50 to fly with a bike but in reality they charge you both of those fees making it $75.
My experience as well between Canada and the US.
Between Canada and Cuba there was no fee because of some sort reciprocal agreement between the 2 countries (according to the customer services agent). No idea if that is true, but I wasn’t charged for my bike in either direction.
I took a regular cardboard box and it was fine but one of my flights was an air Canada flight but it was operated by United so they charged 200 but I got my money back in the end. Air canada is probably one of the best airlines for a bicycle. I highly highly doubt it if you are flying in a commercial jet but when I took a small charter plane they measured to see if it would even fit. Long story short take your box it’ll be 50