Airline People- help me fly with my bike

A few years ago, I used to put my "model airplane" in a bike box.
$25 each way ("bikes" were $75-ish).

Obviously, the rules for oversize has changed in the ensuing years, but the basis might be consistant…"Bike" falls under a header with a price, "model airplane" is not listed [HTML_REMOVED] they must be resorting to "misc" oversize.

Of course, the real problem comes when things go missing [HTML_REMOVED] your model airplane suddenly gets declared as a $$$$ bike.

I got hit with 50 surcharge +25 bag fee for my trip to sf last year each way on air Canada. That was with a dayglo ENOC bike bag. Hockey bag is a good tip. I will try it for next time.

I wouldn't suggest lying to customs. When you lie to them they have the ability to fuck with you bad. Lying about what items you have in your luggage can sometimes result in seized items or fines, plus you will be red flagged. I dont think you will enjoy having to get searched by customs every time you fly and try to cross the border in a car. Those guys can really ruin your day.

I wouldn't suggest lying to customs. When you lie to them they have the ability to fuck with you bad. Lying about what items you have in your luggage can sometimes result in seized items or fines, plus you will be red flagged. I dont think you will enjoy having to get searched by customs every time you fly and try to cross the border in a car. Those guys can really ruin your day.

I don't see anyone advocating lying to customs, they're saying hide the truth from the airline ticket agents.

My 2 cents: Wife flew from Victoria to Toronto on WestJet, had her bike packed in a regular cardboard bike box, paid $25 extra. This is also a good option when you've got the right connections :D:

i did the hockey bag thing last year flying to st. john's and back. easy peasy lemon squeezy with a hardtail - i imagine you might have to remove the rear triangle on a larger fully frame. put it back together at the airport and rode to the hotel

last jan i bought a surly travellers check from mighty riders. took it to boston, then on to africa, and back. again, no problems and pretty easy to tear down and get rolling if you know what you're doing. almost saved myself enough in baggage fees to justify the cost of a new frame :p

edit: afaik customs and security don't care what you're flying with as long as its not restricted. i was a bit nervous because my bags were scanned with the xray flying to and from st. john's - on the way back, one guy asked "is that a bike?" i said yes, he shrugged, and tossed it on the belt

And that's the thing…if anything, I'd be lying to a ticket agent. What can they do? Can they demand you open your bag? It's not their job.

I wonder if there is anyone on the board here who actually works for an airline, and can give the inside scoop on that.

Hello? Anyone?

Bueller?

Fly Air Canada and only pay $50 each way? Is there any other airline?

I mostly agree.

YVR to Lima - $50cad

Lima to Cusco - $100 usd

Cusco to Lima - $100 usd

Lima to YVR - $50 cad

With two of us flying that starts add up. That extra $600 is the cost me either doing another trip or flying home for the holidays. I'd prefer to put the money into the vacation fund.

Flying with Air Canada you get one piece of checked luggage at 23kg. It's pretty easy to get an AM/light FR bike and a few riding items into a reasonable size bag and meet the weight limit. Yes you have to do some more tear down work removing the fork, and possibly the shock to compress the rear triangle. Unless it's some 48hr business trip that is tight on time you can surely find the time to have a beer and re-assemble the bike when you land.

Just don't buy too small a hockey bike like I did for one of our bags. That required pulling the seat stays of one bike and folding up the chainstays to get enough room.

At check in it's "Sport's Equipment". Not a lie, just not telling them it's a bike. If it's under the 23kg limit and not in a huge bike box the ticket agent doesn't really care wtf it is.

I mostly agree.

YVR to Lima - $50cad

Lima to Cusco - $100 usd

Cusco to Lima - $100 usd

Lima to YVR - $50 cad

Correction: you forgot the overweight charge of 100$ on Air Canada for going over 50lbs which will happen for sure if you use a commercial bike bag (they are all heavy):

YVR to Lima - $150cad

Lima to Cusco - $100 usd

Cusco to Lima - $100 usd

Lima to YVR - $150 cad

Extra savings by not checking an extra bag: 70$ each way on Air Canada (no extra on LAN, the allowance is 2 checked bags at 23kg each)

total savings for 2 of us was 1140$ which was well worth the extra packing effort…

I wouldn't call packing for a bike trip to Peru with only 2 checked hockey bags limited at 50lbs "easy". It did require a few hours of patiently playing with random parts / accessories and the fishing scale and kitchen scale. Mind you, now that we know how to pack, the next time would be a lot faster.
If you only had the bike in the bag, then yes, 50lbs would be easy.
I was tougher to limit at 50lbs because of all extra spare parts and helmet / accessories. A lot of the heavy spare parts ended up in the carry-on…

All the airlines we have flown with allow a bike and bag to be under 70 lbs without tripping overweight charges.

If you take the time to really break down your bike and fit it into the same size bag as the diameter of the wheels and keep it under 50lbs, you can fly for free.

I realize you are talking about a hockey bag…

The wheel diameter is the issue, finding a hard side suitcase tall enough that will fit a 26er wheel (which is something like 24" in diameter).

I did find one and used it on a trip but the airline damaged it enough that I wouldn't be able to use it again.

My brother cut a hard side suitcase apart and extended it (with aluminum sheet) enough for it to work but the finished suitcase is heavy.

The other issue is the amount of time required both arriving at your destination to rebuild the bike, then strip it back down again. It takes quite a while as you have to take the frame apart too.

After traveling with bikes a couple of times, we now rent.

YMMV

What bryce said.

The guys in the checkin don't care, usually… customs only care if its drugs or whatever they're looking for.

I once heard about removing some key components like pedals, brakes, handlebars etc. and packing them in a different bag. Then the rest of it can be declared as "bike parts" as it cannot be assembled and ridden.

I'm not sure if it works as I've never tried it but maybe someone else has some experience. I've never had to pay extra as I always travel super light so my bike bag is my only piece of checked luggage. Arriving at an airport, assembling a bike outside and then riding away while the greedy taxi drivers gawk is a pretty cool feeling. Unfortunately this can only be done with a fixed gear or a bmx as you can pack them in a soft bag without fear of wrecking key components. The soft bag rolls up into something as smal and light as a featherweight sleeping bag.

To this day I have flown with my bike on about two dozen international and domestic flights without paying extra.

I should add that I have been asked to pay extra before but have flatly refused on the basis that I was only checking in less than a third of the total allowed weight and that I had absolutely no issues with my bike not receiving a fragile tag. I also make sure they know that they can throw it around, stack luggage on top of it, and that im willing to sign a waiver to that effect. Then I proceed to declare that if charged it will be the last time I ever fly with that airline. At that point they get a manager who comes, looks at the bag and the number of stamps in my passport and then waves me through.

If you are traveling with more than one person a good way to save money is to take the wheels off of both bikes deflate the tires and stick them in a separate small box or bag along with your cloths and gear . Have one person check this in as there luggage . Then you turn the handlebars and take Derailleur off both frames and stick them in one bike box and have second person check in as a single bike .
Basically you cut your costs in half .