IM Malaysia and bikes on Air Asia

Triathlon Forum
1

I am considering doing IM Malaysia and have a few questions that i was hoping someone could help me out with.

  1. How is the race compared to other IMs? Is it well organised? how is the atmosphere? and
  2. Are you able to take bikes on Air Asia? They claim they don’t carry bikes but I bought my tickets before i found this out and am hoping that it isn’t true.

Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

sTony

2

a friend did this race back in 2004, he brought his bike and i think he took air asia.

very well organized he said – he finished in 15+ hrs yet the aid stations were always stocked with drinks/food and ice

3

I’m just back from Tokyo via Bangkok for the Laguna Phuket Triathlon and I can’t imagine an Asian airline that wouldn’t accomodate bikes.

We went through the new Bangkok International Airport and I saw a lot of bikes coming and going not just for the triathlon but for touring cyclists as well. It seems like flying with a flight case is relatively common on the Asian airlines I saw such as Thai Airways, JAL, Cathay Pacific and even the smaller ones.

On an unrelated note I saw the one and only operated Airbus A380 Super Jumbo at Bangkok this morning- or was it yesterday morning???

4

tom,

on a different note…a friend did the race in phuket over the weekend. someone died during the swim he said. this true?

5

I did IM Malaysia this year and it was a great event, well organized and a fantastic location. It went to the top of my favorites list along with IM Brazil.

6

Thanks for the info. I have never had any problems myself but the Air Asia website specifically says the largest thing they will carry is a set of golf clubs. I didn’t think they’d be too strict but i’d hate to get to KL and find i couldn’t get my bike up to the race.

Cheers
sTony

7

Dennism and OldHand&Feet,

Thanks for the positive feedback. I look forward to getting over there and doing it!

cheers
sTony

8

Tony,

I did this race this year. I flew on Air Asia and they will take your bike box just the same way as any other airline. The only catch is that the luggage allowance is very little. U are alotted 15 kg (33 lbs) per person (checked in luggage) and anything over that 15 kg will cost u about USD$2 per kg. Figure that your bike box (with bike) will weigh in the neighborhood of just under 50 lbs (23 kg). So, u will be paying for 8 kg’s worth in extra costs on top of your ticket. Don’t forget that whatever else u have for checked in luggage will also be charged since u are already over the 15 kg limit on checked baggage.

One trick that they allow is that if you are travelling with a group, they will allow u to pool together your total weight of your group. Lets say that u are flying with 5 people in your group, then your baggage allowance for the group will be (15*5) = 75 kg. Get it…? This is what i did and i managed to get there and back without paying any additional surcharges.

9

Paul,

Thanks for the info, am going up with two others (non tri people) so will ‘borrow’ some of their allowance.

Cheers

sTony