The old "bikes-on-flights" chestnut

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dragon72

Guru
Location
Mexico City
What are the latest costs and issues involved in flying with a bike with easyjet/ryanair/ba etc?
This was discussed a while back when BA stopped their free carriage of sporting equipment and I still couldn't get my head round what the policies are with them or easyjet... Is it counted as excess...?
I used to fly with BA because of the ease of the bike going for free. Alas those days are histoire.

Would you be so kind as to shed some light if you have recent experience of flying avec velo. It would be nice to have an up-to-date record of experiences.
 

rualexander

Legendary Member
You could have a look at the individual airlines websites, the information you are looking for is usually fairly easy to find in their sections on baggage.
 
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dragon72

dragon72

Guru
Location
Mexico City
Thanks for the reply. I have checked out the websites, but the policies are a little confusing still and I have found that, in the past, what airlines say on a website doesn't always equate to what happens in the terminal building...
I'm just looking for people's first-hand experiences, rather than the coporate line, I guess...
 
Took my mountain bike out to germany in may as i was there for 5 weeks working... I flew with lufthansa and they charged me 65 quid each way the robbing f**kers... wouldn't mind but im an aircraft fitter working for airbus and i was going out to fix one of their aircraft...
 

rich p

ridiculous old lush
Location
Brighton
Flew with Easyjet last week from Gatwick to Lyon and Toulouse to Gatwick. £36 return for the bike and hassle free.
 
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dragon72

dragon72

Guru
Location
Mexico City
Flew with Easyjet last week from Gatwick to Lyon and Toulouse to Gatwick. £36 return for the bike and hassle free.

riccardo, how did you pay for the bike? When I tried to book a flight on the website there was an option for 20kg of luggage, but no bike option. Did you declare and pay at the airport? Did you phone? Howjadoit?
 
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dragon72

dragon72

Guru
Location
Mexico City
Sorry Rich,
Found it now on Easyjet. I was being blond.
£18.50 per flight for a bike on Easyjet flights. Let's just hope I don't exceed the 20kgs for my other luggage with my camping kit!
 

rich p

ridiculous old lush
Location
Brighton
Sorry Rich,
Found it now on Easyjet. I was being blond.
£18.50 per flight for a bike on Easyjet flights. Let's just hope I don't exceed the 20kgs for my other luggage with my camping kit!


You can carry all the heavy stuff on as hand luggage as long as it's not a huge bag. They never check it for size and weight is not an issue.
 

Echolalia

Veteran
Flew SAS from Russia to London last summer, no fee, just had to take pedals off and the people at St Petersburg airport could not help enough. Had to ring London office SAS and book bike onto plane though.
 
What are the latest costs and issues involved in flying with a bike with easyjet/ryanair/ba etc?
This was discussed a while back when BA stopped their free carriage of sporting equipment and I still couldn't get my head round what the policies are with them or easyjet... Is it counted as excess...?
I used to fly with BA because of the ease of the bike going for free. Alas those days are histoire.

Would you be so kind as to shed some light if you have recent experience of flying avec velo. It would be nice to have an up-to-date record of experiences.

I have never bothered with contacting the ariline,other that BA, who do thier own luggage handling. I try to find out what service company provides the airlines ground handling, and contact them and ask thier advice, as often in my case they have been happy to allow the bike to travel just unboxed with just handlebars and pedals removed. In the south east asia which is my main interest area, a small present (£) will get your bike on board FOC other than the present LOL.
 

Ravenbait

Someone's imaginary friend
I'm flying out to Galway with Aer Arann on Wednesday (supposed to be competing in the Galway Tri on Saturday, so it's the race bike I'm taking, even though I can't compete any more because of a foot injury). I just told them I was taking a bike when I booked my tickets. £30 each way, which is pretty steep, but it's in addition to the 15kg checked baggage allowance (now 20kg) as long as the combined doesn't total more than 32kg.

Sam
 

ChrisBailey

Well-Known Member
Location
Hampton Hill, UK
Has anyone had any experience of putting a bike on a Ryanair?

I flew to Bergamo (Ryanair call it Milan) recently, £40 each way for the bike.

Having used BA, Easyjet & Ryanair in the last year, the only real issue I can recall (apart from Ryanair being easily the most expensive) was the queues at Stansted to get the bike tagged (long queue once) and then through the large baggage section (another long queue) and this was at 5.30am.

All present the same nerve racking experience about the bike arriving safely at the other end. That end is normally much much smaller and building the bike or repacking at Lyon, Belfast, Geneva, Cork & Bergamo was always much easier than the London airports. The joys of flying your bke. No major issues to date though.

At Lyon there was a group preparing for the Marmotte, all appeared to have substantial bike cases, as oposed to my lightweight (carry on the bike) bag, and as such their hassle was transporting the bike case, not the bike transportation itself.

Hope this helps.

Chris
 
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