Hey, myself and my partner are traveling to Kona for the 70.3 in a few weeks, what I am looking at doing is sending my bike back to Australia as I am continuing through America after the race.
Can anyone point me in the direction of a good and hopefully cheap freight company, doesn’t matter how long it take to get home as long as it makes the journey! Cheers
United States Postal Service.
I’ll try to be a bit more constructive than the last comment. Clint why don’t you contact a couple of the bike shops in hawaii and see what they can organise for you. Might be best for them to strip down and pack in a cardboard box and ship it back that way. They would also more than likely have some contacts and accounts with decent courier companies.
Cheers mate, I’ll have it picked and ready to go, that’s the plan at the moment I’ll see bike works etc the day I get in and hope they can sort it!
A courier company would be ridiculously expensive.
So United States postal service would be the cheapest option?
USPS is usually the least expensive.
It looks like Australia has some package size limitations that could cause your bike shipment to be very expensive.
So United States postal service would be the cheapest option?
It is ironic that we all complain about airline bike fees when I’ve found that often airline cargo options for shipping bikes come in lower than the standard UPS, FedEx, etc. options. I’ve used AK Airlines Air Cargo services a number of times for shipping bikes back separate from an ongoing trip. The only issue is that they require drop off or pick up at their airport warehouse.
Hawaiian Airlines appears to offer similar services between HI and Brisbane or Sydney. Perhaps Quatas and other airlines offer expanded destination choices. If you have someone back home that can pick up your bike, this would work well for you. There may be short term storage options or freight forwarding partners available to help too.
https://www.hawaiianaircargo.com/ship/ratesandestimates/serviceroutes/international
Using a 50# bike/bike box total on HA’s general freight rate sheet it looks like $125USD from KOA to SYD or BNE: https://img.s-hawaiianairlines.com/~/media/cargo/files/pdfs/tact_rate_intl.pdf?version=cb7b&sc_lang=en
I’m reading the minimum rate as inclusive of the 23kg. If for some reason their interpretation is $125 + 23kg it looks like around $170 max.
Hope this helps!
That looks like a good deal.
That’s great info, thanks so much! I’ll be chasing that up today
So United States postal service would be the cheapest option?
It is ironic that we all complain about airline bike fees when I’ve found that often airline cargo options for shipping bikes come in lower than the standard UPS, FedEx, etc. options. I’ve used AK Airlines Air Cargo services a number of times for shipping bikes back separate from an ongoing trip. The only issue is that they require drop off or pick up at their airport warehouse.
Hawaiian Airlines appears to offer similar services between HI and Brisbane or Sydney. Perhaps Quatas and other airlines offer expanded destination choices. If you have someone back home that can pick up your bike, this would work well for you. There may be short term storage options or freight forwarding partners available to help too.
https://www.hawaiianaircargo.com/ship/ratesandestimates/serviceroutes/international
Using a 50# bike/bike box total on HA’s general freight rate sheet it looks like $125USD from KOA to SYD or BNE: https://img.s-hawaiianairlines.com/…=cb7b&sc_lang=en
I’m reading the minimum rate as inclusive of the 23kg. If for some reason their interpretation is $125 + 23kg it looks like around $170 max.
Hope this helps!
Are you a TSA known shipper? Airlines can’t accept cargo for passenger aircraft unless you’ve been accepted as a known shipper. Just curious if you went through the process.
Yes on known shipper through my business. I forgot about that aspect for those not using the option regularly:(
I guess that rules me out for that option. I will see Hawaiian air when I get there and ask the question. May be forced to pay disgusting amounts through another company
Sorry. See if HA has a recommended freight forwarder they work with regularly. There is one here that works with AK Air as well as freight only air cargo flights.
It may be cheaper and easier to hire the same bike you ride in Australia while you’re in Hawaii.
That was the original plan however 2 weeks of hire plus wheels was $500 usd. And the only setup that bike works had that would suit went straight away
Hmmmm. Try putting a wanted ad on the Classifieds forum while you sort this and see what comes up. It might work.
Here’s a freight forwarder option: http://www.dhx.com/whatweoffer/airfreight.aspx
It’s probably worth filling out a quick quote to see potential pricing.