Hello,
I’ll be flying for IM WC in October, from Zurich to Kona. Need your guidance & experience-based advice.
1) Flights / airlines
I’m flying on a single ticket issued by Swiss Airlines:
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Zurich → Frankfurt (Lufthansa Airlines)
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Frankfurt → San Francisco (Lufthansa Airlines operated by United Airlines)
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San Francisco → Kona (Lufthansa Airlines operated by United Airlines)
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Kona → Los Angeles (Delta Airlines)
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Los Angeles → New York (Delta Airlines)
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New York → Zurich (Swiss Airlines)
San Francisco (on the way to Kona) and New York (on the way to Zurich) will be the airports where I will change between international and domestic flights.
Swiss Airlines refuses to reserve the bicycle slot for all connections collectively. They can only reserve for the last connection on the return journey.
a) Let’s say I call all other airlines and request bike slot separately. Do I check-in once or once for every airline or once every connection?
b) Let’s say I call all other airlines and request bike slot separately. Do I pay once or do I pay multiple times? How many times?
2) Speedmax packing
I’m flying with Speedmax SLX Disc. I have two bags: the big one (Canyon Bike Travel Bag | CANYON CH) and the small one (https://www.canyon.com/en-ch/gear/accessories/transport-and-travel/bike-transport/bandw-bike.box-ii/10006552.html). If I pack into the big (as I do on a regular basis when flying in Europe), the bag will be at least 26kg and the sum of 3 dimensions would be borderline non-acceptable. This can get very expensive. If I manage to pack into the small one (for which I need to remove the basebar), then I can squeeze it under 23kg total.
a) Has anybody from you attempted packing your Speedmax Disc into a smaller bag, with removing the basebar? I’m aware of 3 different screw types (top cap, stem, headset cap), but are the brake hoses long enough? I called Canyon, but there’s no guidance on removing the basebar from their side (it’s basically not recommended). I really wouldn’t want to re-do hydraulics in Kona, but even more I wouldn’t like to pay 4x 500 USD extra, just because the bag is oversized for Delta and United Airlines.
- Other
Have I missed anything?
Cheers,
Michal
Your bike should be checked through to your final destination but check with counterperson to confirm.
Checked out the Canyon bike bag and I’d strongly suggest buying or renting a hardshell case like a Bike Box Alan Aero Easyfit to protect your bike and for ease of use, very little disassembly required. Have seen and heard of many bikes getting damaged in similar soft cases especially with as many transfers as you’ll be doing.
The Canyon bag is a soft shell, but has a metal frame along all edges and between. It also has hard panels that slide in to fill some of the soft space between the framing.
I have been flying with this case since early last year after years of using a hard case, and feel the hard structure is sufficient to protect all the important areas of the bike. It’s a smart design.
The only other case I’d consider is the Alan box which also doesn’t require handlebar disassembly. But that one will push the weight up. Premier is off the list for me, since the extensions won’t fit on a larger bike without disassembly.
i travelled with lufthansa to la with a solid bike case.the only limit was the weight (the limiter for the weight is the local union)
i had the repack ad leave some stuff at home which was a pain in the ass.
I rode my bike 4 months in california and for sending the bike back, i used a forwarder service (door to door service)…this was about 400 Euros but no hassle…
if i would start in Hawaii, i never would use airline service:
when i arrived in LA i passed customs…than proceeded to the luggage…did not find my bike case…the guys from the airport just trew it in the pick up area where everybody could just have taken it…luckily my cousin spotted it and took it…this has been reported many many times by other athletes…
dismounting the cockpit is no big deal, just try it, there is nothing you can break…
it took 1.5 weeks for the bike to arrive in Germany…customs did not check it, as i put alot of smelly stuff inthere 
this may be an option.
by they way, i would refuse the ticket if swiss airline refuses to clear the transport.
they need to workout the details…i know, they do not want to…but if they offer biketransport, the will have to handle it.
Thank you guys for your answers, appreciated.
Let’s clear out some things:
1) On boxes / luggage cases
I won’t get Bike Box Alan, because I already have 2 bags: small hard shell and bigger reinforced soft shell. In Europe I normally travel with the big one for Speedmax, no problem ever (like BigBoyND mentioned, it’s quite solid). I will attempt disassembling the basebar from the Speedmax and pack into the smaller bag under 23kg, for checking-in purposes. Hard shell comes as a positive side effect.
2) On checking-in
Particularly helpful were your comments about checking-in once, thanks OG Pokey & rockairlabs. That was also confirmed by both Lufthansa and United Airlines: I’ll check-in luggage in Zurich, and they’ll handle it through Frankfurt, through SFA until Kona. From United Airlines I have it in written, from Lufthansa over a recorded phone call. Interestingly, United said that Lufthansa crew will deal with payment etc. which makes me hope that I wouldn’t even pay for United Airlines’s bike bag. If I do, then they still follow the Lufthansa rules upon check-in (weighting & measuring once).
3) On registering a bicycle
Both Swiss & Lufthansa allowed to pre-register the bicycle online, for their connections. Good for them. United Airlines wrote on chat, that I don’t need to pre-register, just simply check-in with Lufthansa. Delta is the worst - there’s no contact form nor online option to pre-register. I should show up at the Kona airport and attempt checking-in. Only then I’ll know if and how much it will cost me. Side joke: when using their calculator for added baggage, there’s no slot available for sub-23kg bicycle (USD 110), but there’s a slot available for 23-32kg bicycle (USD 285 USD). Nasty.
4) On cancelling the ticket with Swiss because they don’t want to register bicycle for entire journey
I booked flights with Swiss before I was qualified, very cheap (CHF 850 / USD 1000 p.p. both ways) and almost as short journey as possible. Then they cancelled one connection and we needed to re-book with the other airlines. I really didn’t want to cancel it 
5) On bicycle transport companies
I checked a few, but the lowest price I saw was >1200 USD. For mainland US it would probably work well, but Europe to Hawaii is difficult (and expensive).
Based on my experience flying to Kona from Europe (Milan via London and Seattle. Tickets issued by British. Last leg operated by Alaskan) in 2022, this is what I observed:
- airlines accept the bike and will get it to destination. It’s just not guaranteed it will get there with you
- flights to Kona were not a problem. Bike got there fine
- in Kona for the flight back they definitely checked the weight. Everybody was scrambling to get stuff out of their bike bags at the airport.
- on the return flight even though they took the bicycle at check-in, it actually didn’t leave Kona at all for several days. I picked it up at the Milan airport a week late. (I think there was an option for home delivery but would have added extra time). On the return lots of people leave on the same day or two, there just isn’t enough space for all those bicycles on planes. On the way to Kona people arrive spread over many days.
- the most annoying thing with travelling through the US is the way they do security checks on bike bags. You’re not present, they open the bags, go through stuff, might not pack it the same way you did, they leave a card. Best tip is pack light, don’t overload the bag with stuff.
- lots of people use soft bike bags. Yes a hard one provides better protection but my observation is soft bags are way more popular. Especially Scicon and Evoc.
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