Bikes on Planes

[craigdabrown]

Hello all,

I'm doing a bike ride from London to Hamburg with work in July.

I have a couple of options for the return trip (Other than riding it!) in that I can put my bike in one of the support vans and have it driven back, via the ferry, to our London office, I catch a plane back to London from Hamburg and pick the bike up from the London office a day or so later and catch the train back to York. Or I can load my bike on the plane and fly back to London or Manchester and then catch a train back York.

I was just wondering if anyone had any experience of transporting a bike with EasyJet or any other airline. Sounds like I'd need to get a bike box of some form, so just weighing up the cost of that as opposed staying an extra night in a hotel in Hamburg/London to allow my bike time to get back to London by ferry.

Thanks in advance for any advice,
Craig

[James Milner]

I've taken my bike via Easy Jet on a number of occasions with no problems. I've recently booked a flight back from Nice in September and the charge for the bike is £35. You may find that taking a bike saves you from having to pay extra for putting a bag in the hold as you can get quite a bit other than a bike in a bike box. I have a box should you wish to borrow one.

[Tony]

Hi Craig;

I've taken many flights with a bike and although it's logistically, the simplest of your options, you need to carefully check your chosen airline's policy.

I was a high-mileage flyer, and so usually got my bike shipped for free. Some airlines allow a bike to be transported free IF it's within your checked-baggage allowance AND you have no other checked baggage. However, some airlines charge a bike fee regardless; Ryanair quoted me £70 to take my bike to Rome last year, plus €70 return. It was cheaper to rent a bike while I was there.

If you decide to fly with the bike, it will need varying degrees of dis-assembly and you need to pack it carefully; bubble-wrap and/or foam pipe insulation is your friend.

I've frequently used a cardboard bike box (free from most shops). Oftentimes, airport security will want to check or swab the bike, so it's best not to close up the box until it's been accepted.

Last year I bought an EVOC bike bag, which held up exceptionally well on it's maiden transatlantic voyage.

Let me know if you need more info, or if you want to borrow the bag.

[bgibs]

I flew with mine with BA last year from Heathrow to Turin and had absolutely no difficulty with the flights at all. It was awkward getting across London on the Tube with it however that was more because the lifts at kings cross had broken- I avoided rush hour and it was fine. It's probably easier travelling with it from London than Manchester as theEast coast trains have a large hold in which you can put it in rather than having to put it on the carriage itself as you do with trans pennine express to Manchester.

[G.]

You can hire a bike box: I hired an EVOC soft case from Fulford last year, and Cycleworks do some hard cases which are a bit more compact and also obviously very protective. I paid £35 for a week's hire.

I've flown with cardboard boxes several times and I've never had anyone ask to open the box, so sealing it up beforehand is not a problem. Carrying it around the airport is a bit more of a chore, as most of the custom cases have wheels, which a cardboard box obviously doesn't.

I've taken a bike box on the train to Manchester and just like when I've taken bikes without boxes on that line, there was zero problem. Personally I'd choose Manchester over London as the train goes direct to the airport.

[Dr Dave]

Sounds as if your issue might be more getting a box or bag to Hamburg so it's available to pack the bike into? Assuming you can do this flying back to Manchester should be simple enough. Are you coming to the pub tomorrow - a number of us have experience we can share.

[Dr Dave]

Sounds as if your issue might be more getting a box or bag to Hamburg so it's available to pack the bike into? Assuming you can do this flying back to Manchester should be simple enough. Are you coming to the pub tomorrow - a number of us have experience we can share.

[craigdabrown]

Thanks for all the replies, extremely helpful.

I shouldn't have an issue with getting the box to Hamburg as we will have two or three support vans and so I should be able to travel down to the London office as planned, get the bike out of the box and then load the box onto one of the vans.

I will be at the pub this evening.

Thanks again,
Craig