checked bag? or Bike as Sports Equipment?

[Peter Stock]

Hi Josh.
I was interested to read your post (about checking a full sized bike)
agreed, most airlines 'allow" a heavier weight when you declare a "bike" as sports equipment. but they also usually charge a lot for the privilege (at least for Economy travellers like me).

what do you usually pay (assuming you don't have discounts or bag credits) when you fly with your full sized bike (and all the accoutrements) ??

The charges for bikes checked as sports equipment are usually quite hefty - $100 and up. each way
IIRC Lufthansa wanted some 300EUROS!! (what's that? about $350 USD) for a one way bike.
that versus a checked bag which has lately been about $30 to $50.

the outlier in all this, as I have reported elsewhere is Air Canada which charges $75 CAD ($50USD) for a checked bag but only $50 CAD ($30 USD) for a bike. 
so, when I fly AC out bound I opened the case and showed them my bike friday and paid the $30. and when I returned via Lufthansa I kept my mouth (and case) shut and just booked a checked bag ($50 or so)

though an Air France person, when I recently opened my case to show them my Bike Friday as a bike, snapped "that is a bag, not a bike"

Peter Stock

Toronto, Canada

This may be off topic but after years of flying with my NWT and playing the

packing game of "get the bag to 49.5 lbs" I was so relieved when I started
packing my full size rando bike for travelling. I tend to not fly budget
airlines with my bike for a few reasons, and most carriers, to my surprise,
allow full size bikes in a bag that weighs up to 100lbs which is basically
all my cycling kit, bags, shoes, and even my overnight drop bag, with lbs
to spare.
 
I won't say I'm done flying with a BF, but this adds another element to
bike travel that I'm very happy with.
 
One additional to my above comment, the buy-in for the full size bike bag
was not insignificant: I payed about 600 USD for it. With some hard shell
bags reaching the 1000 USD range.
 
Josh in NYC

[Josh Brown]

Hi Peter,

I typically fly United and have had good luck checking my bike. 

Josh

[Peter Stock]

That's a pretty generous bag policy from United. (Full sized bikes charged only a standard checked bag fee) 

But unusual.

peter stock
toronto canada

[Peter Stock]

And at the risk of drifting even further off topic, I'll speculate that the "travel value" of Bike Fridays for travellers has fallen over the last.... 30 years? 

Back when BFs first appeared checked bags were generally free (now they are usually surcharged). 

And good quality rental bicycles are much more widely available internationally. (Back then a Bike Friday was often the only way to have a good road bike wherever you were going)

But I still "don't leave home without it"

peter stock
toronto canada

On Fri, Jan 2, 2026, 10:34 p.m. Josh Brown <joshm...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Rob MacLeod]

Hi Folks,

I agree that motivations have changed for flying with a bike.  I fly enough and can stick to one or two airlines that I never pay for checked bags, other than once in a while on flights within Europe.  So this is not a factor for me and my wife.  What has changed, as noted, is the availability of quality rental and especially e-bikes.  When I first joined the BF family, there was nothing to be found in the way of quality rentals, at least not in any place I traveled.  That was around 1995 and things are so much better now.  

With that said, i have rarely ever rented, but my wife has many times, usually an e-bike, and this was worked well for us.  But otherwise, I still love to have my bike with me and so I drag it around on most trips.  I know how it rides, I know how it is set up, and I enjoy the independence of being able to go to out-of-the-way places and still ride.  It is one less thing to worry about when I set up my travel.  Last year, on a complicated trip to several European destinations, I decided to rent during our week in the German Alps.  I was also motivated by the crazy steep (long stretches of 20 degrees and more) dirt roads that we use to get to the same mountain huts we used to hike to.  In fact, in the whole area, the only rentals were e-mountain bikes.

So until I get to the point where I cannot lift it (I am 70 now and have no problems), I suspect the BF will continue to see the world with me.

Cheers,

Rob

On Jan 3, 2026, at 9:21 AM, Peter Stock <lug...@gmail.com> wrote:

And at the risk of drifting even further off topic, I'll speculate that the "travel value" of Bike Fridays for travellers has fallen over the last.... 30 years? 

Back when BFs first appeared checked bags were generally free (now they are usually surcharged). 

And good quality rental bicycles are much more widely available internationally. (Back then a Bike Friday was often the only way to have a good road bike wherever you were going)

But I still "don't leave home without it"

peter stock
toronto canada

On Fri, Jan 2, 2026, 10:34 p.m. Josh Brown <joshm...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Peter,

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another great conversation from the Bike Friday Yak!
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[robert clark]

My Bi Fri has benefits in low step thru mounting & Dismounting , these days.. As I'm getting older..