I’ll be at 70.3 WC in Marbella in a few weeks. Probably way behind the curve but I’m just booking flights now.
It seems difficult to travel with a tri bike in a bike bag (Scicon) around Spain. Iberia air and the long distance trains won’t take it unless fully disassembled into a small box. And I’m reading horror stories about Lufthansa ( Warning about taking bike on Lufthansa ). I’m travelling from Seattle in the US and I’m not too familiar with the European airlines.
What airlines coming in/out of Malaga are bike-friendly? Within Spain (I’m hoping to visit at least one other city) I’m assuming I will just need to rely on bus + MD trains, and I will need to fly home from a city that does not require an Iberia transfer.
Is there a good bike shop in Marbella that I could ship my bike to instead? Are folks just going to rent bikes? Curious to hear what others have figured out.
Iberia’s policy seem pretty standard for bike boxes: “They must be non-motorised and have one seat only. Electric or e-bikes are not permitted.
Before you check in your bike, please fix the handlebars sideways, remove the pedals, let the air out of the tyres and then place the folded bike in an appropriate travel box or bag.”
I’m flying Iberia into Malaga and out of Madrid (on a British Itinerary) and BA told me it shouldn’t be an issue.
I flew Alaska to Seattle to Amsterdam to Malaga on KLM last year for Olympic-distance worlds with my bike in a Bike Box Allen. They recommended making a bike reservation with KLM, which I did last minute. Flight from Amsterdam to Malaga was on a small Spanish airline. My bike did not make it from Amsterdam to Malaga with me and the customer service in Malaga airport was not easy to navigate, but my bike arrived at my hotel the next day. I was able to make the bike reservation on KLM through their website and then had to make a few phone calls.
We are flying American into JFK. From there we fly British Airways into London then on to Malaga. We do fly Iberia out of Malaga to Madrid and again on to Chicago. We flew Iberia out of Nice in 2019 when British Airways went on strike. I did not have any issues flying with my bike then. Don’t expect to this time either as I am using the Scicon bike bag.
My concern is that it says the handlebars need to be removed and placed sideways. I don’t do this with my Scicon bag, never heard of an airline making requirements for how a bike is arranged inside a bag/box. Maybe this aspect isn’t enforced?
This seems to indicate they just don’t enforce the “handlebars must be disassembled” rule.
I flew with Iberia with a BBA Aerofit from Dublin - Madrid - San Juan Puerto Rico end of August. I booked the bike as special equipment online with ticket. I had no issues. Weight 25kg. No extra charge.
I am using the return leg of that flight to go from San Juan (PR) - MAD - Malaga on 1 November. There was no option to book the bike on line as part of “manage trip” so you have to call them up in advance. I called them last week gave the dimensions / weight and they confirmed 24 hours later that the bike is accepted. Pay fee when checking in.
Am going to Morocco after Marbella so nephew is taking bike back to Florida. The best flight I could get for him was Delta. Malaga - MAD - Atlanta- Tampa. Delta are very bike friendly. No pre booking and just treat the bike as an extra bag.
+1 one for this. I’m flying into Madrid on Emirates (very generous 30kg luggage policy and bikes are fine - you just need to call and let them know) and driving an SUV down. Going to take 3 days to get there and enjoy the drive.
Fantastic, Madrid is literally the one city on the planet that American Airlines restricts to 110cm maximum dimension for luggage (definitely too small for a TT bike bag).
If you’ve got an option to fly SAS via Copenhagen then they are not bad, KLM usually reliable with bikes too as others have stated. You’re more likely to have a delayed suitcase with KLM than a bike based off my experience.
I don’t think that approach helps much in my case. There are no direct flights from Seattle to any city in Spain, so I will need to transfer no matter what. Might as well just fly all the way to Malaga.
Malaga airport is currently a total disaster, seems that most of the flights coming in from around Europe today could not fit enough bikes.
My flight from Amsterdam was predominantly Ironman folks + friends/family judging by apparel and conversation. The majority of our bikes were left in Amsterdam.
A flight from Paris arrived after us, same story. Most of the bikes left in Paris.
There are multi-hour long queues of folks at the baggage counters trying to figure out how to get reunited with their bikes. The staff is doing their best but are understandably overwhelmed.
This happened 2 years ago on my Frankfurt to Helsinki connection arriving Wed of race week. My bike was stuck in Franfurt. Eventually it got there on Friday. I really should have been home most of this week, but I told my wife, if I go to Marbella, I arrive no later than Monday morning and likelihood is my gear makes it, but if not, it has all week to catch up, but its too aggravating showing up on Wed and Thu and worrying about bike in transit. I am glad I did. Had a few nice rides in the Andalucian countryside (not on the course as a I am staying near Malaga till Thu)
