Flying advice needed

[steveindenmark]

I have flown with my bike a few times but it has always been in a bag, not a box.

I may take it in a box to Mallorca next week and would like to know what the rest of you do with the boxes if you assemble the bike at the airport?

How do you sort out a box to bring it back?

I will fly with Ryanair and the bike max weight is 30kg, can I add panniers to the box?

I will also be taking cooking gear for coffee. I am taking it that I cannot pack the gas canister, so where is the best place to look for one?

Steve

 

[Linford]

Wouldn't it make better sense to just hire a bike out there by the time you have paid for the flight and all the hassle of moving the box around?.

There is a bike hire co a very short bus ride from the airport which I will probably use when I go in Nov

http://bergantibikes.com/index.php?p=localizacion

 

[steveindenmark]

Not really Linford.

Road bikes are not my preference. I have recently bought a Koga World Traveller 29 and thought I would take it for a ride out. It costs about £90 return on the plane, and the bike is just right for me. I doubt if I would save too much hiring a bike down there for a week, and you never know what you will end up with. It seems a shame to have a nice bike like the Koga and not use it.

Steve

 

[Karl Burgess]

Hi Steve,

I'm just about to book with Ryanair and wondered if you had any issues with the your bike weight? Their online policy seems to be worded that 20kg is covered by the fee, but any extra will be charged as excess.

There are lots of conflicting comments on this around forums, and Ryanair just keep replying to my email with copies of the 'ambiguous' policy. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

 

[Deleted member 26715]

If you already have a bag why not use that?

Alan...

 

[andym]

I'm just about to book with Ryanair and wondered if you had any issues with the your bike weight? Their online policy seems to be worded that 20kg is covered by the fee, but any extra will be charged as excess.

There are lots of conflicting comments on this around forums, and Ryanair just keep replying to my email with copies of the 'ambiguous' policy. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

From http://www.ryanair.com/en/terms-and-conditions#regulations-checkedbaggage

Sporting or musical equipment including but not limited to large fishing rods, golf clubs, bikes* (bikes have a weight limit of 30 kilos), scooters, fencing equipment, pole vaults, javelin, surfboards, bodyboards, snowboards and skis and large musical instruments including but not limited to harps, double bass and drums are inherently unsuitable for carriage by airlines operating fast turnarounds such as Ryanair. However, these items may be carried in the hold of the aircraft in addition to your personal checked baggage allowance up to a limit of 20 kilos per item upon payment of a discounted online fee of £50/€50 per item, per one way flight. If the item is purchased at the airport or through a Ryanair call centre a higher fee of £60/€60 per item/per one way flight will apply). Any sporting and musical item weighing over the 20 kilos allowance will be charged for the excess at the applicable excess baggage rate per kilo.

The wording seems pretty clear to me.

£50 gets you up to 20kg and any more you have to pay an excess. 'Any passenger exceeding their personal checked baggage allowance will be charged for excess baggage at the rate prevailing on the day of travel. This is currently £20/€20 per kilo (or local currency equivalent)'.

I will fly with Ryanair and the bike max weight is 30kg, can I add panniers to the box?

I will also be taking cooking gear for coffee. I am taking it that I cannot pack the gas canister, so where is the best place to look for one?

Are you sure it's 30kgs and not 20? (see the text above).

Gas canisters will depend on the brand. If it's Gampinggaz you have a fighting chance of getting one in a supermarket/campsite. If it's an EN screw-on type then a specialist shop - Decathlon may well be your best bet (assumng they have a shop in Mallorca).

There's bound to be a thread on here about the availability of gas canisters in Europe. In fact I am absolutely sure there is (psmiffy is the guru on this topic so if all else fails do a trawl through his posts).

 

[Karl Burgess]

From http://www.ryanair.com/en/terms-and-conditions#regulations-checkedbaggage



The wording seems pretty clear to me.

£50 gets you up to 20kg and any more you have to pay an excess.

You appear to have repeated the sentiments from my first paragraph no? Agreed, it appears to be 20kg, BUT- only bikes are highlighted as having a 30kg limit, which at least 'suggests' a different limit (ie. why bother with the statement- are 100kg surfboards okay?). This is further supported by their Table of Optional fees, which again list sporting goods as 20kg maximum and bikes as 30kg maximum (under the same fee), hopefully that'll be pretty clear to you also.

In addition, there are significant anecdotal statements on the web in support of 30kgs being correct. Frustratingly, Ryanair staff will not even reply with a one-liner to clarify.

 

[MarkF]

Hi Steve, I always use boxes, I like to get all my stuff in so I only take on hand luggage. At Malaga, Seville and Bilbao an airport employee arrived to clear up everything before I'd even finished assembling my bike. Popular airports are used to cyclists with boxes.

At the other end I just email shops prior and collect. Only once has a bike shop wanted to charge me, that was in Barcelona last year, they wanted to charge 10 euros to dismantle and pack up the bike, rather than just giving me a box. I don't have a problem with that but I just used another shop.

 

[steve52]

i recon i could fly with my bike too,strap it to my para glider harness and yehaaaaa

 

[steveindenmark]

Guys Ive been and come back no problem.

Steve

 

[Karl Burgess]

Guys Ive been and come back no problem.

Steve

Many thanks Steve.

 

[andym]

You appear to have repeated the sentiments from my first paragraph no? Agreed, it appears to be 20kg, BUT- only bikes are highlighted as having a 30kg limit, which at least 'suggests' a different limit (ie. why bother with the statement- are 100kg surfboards okay?). This is further supported by their Table of Optional fees, which again list sporting goods as 20kg maximum and bikes as 30kg maximum (under the same fee), hopefully that'll be pretty clear to you also.

In addition, there are significant anecdotal statements on the web in support of 30kgs being correct. Frustratingly, Ryanair staff will not even reply with a one-liner to clarify.

Ah right I see the problem.

If it is 30kg for bikes and 20 kgs for everything else that would be the inverse of Easyjet who have a 20kgs limit for bikes and 32kgs for all other sports equipment. It's a funny old world.