Flying with Brompton in B&W foldon.box S

[ExBrit]

Has anyone tried flying with a Brompton in the B&W foldon S box? I like the fact it is lighter and folds up when not in use, but I'm concerned this compromises protection. Lateral rigidity is only provided by those metal slide-on bars that look like they would fold in a light breeze.

Thanks

 

[berlinonaut]

No personal experience but sharing your scepticism. You should also be aware that the IATA rules for luggage specify 158cm for the sum of all three sides as a maximum for standard luguage. According to the manufacturer the box is way over that:

67,5 + 71,0 + 35,0 = 173,5 cm

So potentially you'd have to pay extra. The normal hard case is also over the limit but only slightly - often enough people managed to get away with it. The Polaris folding bike pod semi-hard-case is within limits (but often a bit hard to get hold of and not as robust as a true hard case): https://www.polaris-bikewear.com/polaris-eva-folding-bike-pod-black-one-size.html

There are also a lot of good soft-bags and countless strategies how to fly best with a Brompton.

 

[cougie uk]

I've seen American riders flying with Bromptons in the overhead lockers.
Do Americans have different dimensions for luggage than the UK ?

 

[steveindenmark]

I've seen American riders flying with Bromptons in the overhead lockers.
Do Americans have different dimensions for luggage than the UK ?

Yes they do. Ive never heard of it in Europe.

 

[ExBrit]

I've seen American riders flying with Bromptons in the overhead lockers.
Do Americans have different dimensions for luggage than the UK ?

There are only a few aircraft with overhead lockers large enough for a "naked" brompton - the 737-800 has been mentioned.

 

[u_i]

I've seen American riders flying with Bromptons in the overhead lockers.
Do Americans have different dimensions for luggage than the UK ?

I have done it as a try during one trip and do not plan to do it again. You need to dangle the bike with sharp sticking out metal edges over heads of other passengers. In my perception you may succeed few times without a mishap but eventually it will end up badly. It is absolutely not worth the risk.

 

[steveindenmark]

Has anyone tried flying with a Brompton in the B&W foldon S box? I like the fact it is lighter and folds up when not in use, but I'm concerned this compromises protection. Lateral rigidity is only provided by those metal slide-on bars that look like they would fold in a light breeze.

Thanks

I do not have a box. But I wrapped my Brompton in a duvet cover and cling film to fly it from Bulgaria to Denmark. It was easy and I encountered no problems. Can you pedal with your box when it is on the rear rack1]

z

 

[berlinonaut]

I've seen American riders flying with Bromptons in the overhead lockers.
Do Americans have different dimensions for luggage than the UK ?

They do have friendlier airlines I'd think. Personally here in Europe I'd not dare trying to get the Brompton on board of a plane (apart from the question if it would be a good idea anyway) and the space available in the cabin prohibits it anyway.
On the other hand: When digging around the net for information before buying my first Brompton ages ago I stumbled over the webpage of a flight courier whose job it was to transport small items like important documents worldwide and on short notice using normal flights. He very much enjoyed his job as he saw the world - with the downside of having to travel with only cabin luggage due to more speedy on- and offboarding. One day he discovered the Brompton and this was a gamechanger for him as he said. He took it with him on all of his flights and all of a sudden he could discover the towns he visited easily in the very limited time he had available. It must have been in the mid 2000s when I found his story and even back then his homepage looked pretty oldfashioned - so I guess the story probably happened in the 90ies.
Clearly things changed to the worse with cheap airlines, stricter lugguage restrictions and airport security becoming much stricter after 9/11/2001.
If you search for relatively recent stories bromptonmafia are a good starting point as is the hashtag #bromptononboard. It seems to be mainly a US domestic affair and Southwest being the airline most open to it. Twitter and instagram show a lot of pics in that regard.

 

[ExBrit]

I do not have a box. But I wrapped my Brompton in a duvet cover and cling film to fly it from Bulgaria to Denmark. It was easy and I encountered no problems. Can you pedal with your box when it is on the rear rack1]

View attachment 646720 z

I wouldn't want to fly with that in the USA. The TSA would not even try to put it back together after inspecting it.

 

[u_i]

Like many other people I travel with a checked-in Vincita bag. It has been available under different model numbers and has been cheaper without the garment bag that I personally had no need for - my Brompton with tools was heavy enough to get up to the airline limit. The advantages of that bag include trolley wheels and pull strap that allow it to roll so that you even forget that you have that extra bag and the ability to attach it to the bike when you need to relocate on the ground.

 

[steveindenmark]

I wouldn't want to fly with that in the USA. The TSA would not even try to put it back together after inspecting it.

They rarely inspect them in Europe. They X Ray them.

 

[u_i]

They rarely inspect them in Europe. They X Ray them.

I had my carry-on luggage decomposed to millimeter size details in Europe. Spending close to an hour to put my luggage together happened. When I had the bike outside of Europe, though, it did not attract much attention beyond a casual inspection - I think their similarity to wheelchairs simplifies the assessment. A friend flying out of China had her newly acquired electric bike stopped because the battery went over the airline limit.

 

[steveindenmark]

I had my carry-on luggage decomposed to millimeter size details in Europe. Spending close to an hour to put my luggage together happened. When I had the bike outside of Europe, though, it did not attract much attention beyond a casual inspection - I think their similarity to wheelchairs simplifies the assessment. A friend flying out of China had her newly acquired electric bike stopped because the battery went over the airline limit.

I usually fly with my bikes in a home made bag made of spinnaker cloth. In about 30 flights I have had to open it once and that was the only time I had iti n a cardboard bike box. In fact thats the only time I have had a bike damaged.
I thought you could not fly with lithium bike batteries?

 

[u_i]

I thought you could not fly with lithium bike batteries?

That was when electric bikes were still on the novelty side. The limit that the security used was the one that a lithium battery could have for air travel and they checked it after they realized on X-rays that the bike had a battery in its tube. The bike stayed in China waiting for the next opportunity to cross. On that opportunity, I was called for help and we pulled out the battery and decomposed it into individual cells taken in batches by few people traveling along in our party. We reconstituted the original battery at the other end. These days I would just record the structure of the battery, get cells at the other end and combine them according to the original.

 

[ExBrit]

I usually fly with my bikes in a home made bag made of spinnaker cloth. In about 30 flights I have had to open it once and that was the only time I had iti n a cardboard bike box. In fact thats the only time I have had a bike damaged.
I thought you could not fly with lithium bike batteries?

You still can't fly USA with lithium bike batteries because they exceed the 100 Watt hour limit. I was hoping to add a Switch package to my Brommie for my ride around Ireland but it looks like I need to just get fitter.