Airline bike baggage fees to Europe

[Eric Altendorf]

Looks like I'll be doing a 10-day tour in Italy, and I'm wondering
which airlines have reasonable fees for bike baggage. I was going to
go with United, since they're my stand-by provider, and then I
realized they charge $200 each way, which inspired me to consider
alternatives.

I'm having trouble finding any sort of comparison site with accurate
and up to date info. Have any of you researched this recently?

Thanks,

eric

PS: my Fort Bragg 4-day trip hasn't happened yet, but hopefully soon.
Congrats to all you 600k'ers!

[Massimiliano Poletto]

I'm going too, in late June. Star Alliance and Sky Team seem to have standardized on $200 one-way. The documentation is spotty and customer support people are confused: if you call customer service different times, you'll get different answers. But the worst case is always $200. Cycling is a luxury sport, like golf and polo. :-)

max

--
This message is from the San Francisco Randonneurs list at sfra...@googlegroups.com
Search the archives at http://groups.google.com/group/sfrandon
For SFR's schedule and general information, visit http://sfrandonneurs.org/
To unsubscribe, email sfrandon+u...@googlegroups.com

[Patricia Dougherty]

I think British Air is free (counts as one of your bags). I thought UA changed their policy so it also counts as one of your checked bags once they acquired United. It must be under the weight limit, of course.
 

---

From: max.p...@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:56 -0700
Subject: Re: [SFRandon] Airline bike baggage fees to Europe
To: erical...@gmail.com
CC: sfra...@googlegroups.com

[William A. Monsen]

I think that it must be under the weight limit and the size limit to even possibly count as just checked baggage. The latter constraint is almost impossible to meet without a folding bike...

[Patricia Dougherty]

I think BA allows oversized (not overweight) items (1 bag) at no charge.
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/bagsport/public/en_gb
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/bagchk/public/en_gb
 
You can call and confirm.
 
I checked UA and it's very confusing re oversized cargo.
 

---

Subject: Re: [SFRandon] Airline bike baggage fees to Europe

From: w...@mrwassoc.com
Date: Thu, 17 May 2012 09:04:55 -0700
CC: max.p...@gmail.com; erical...@gmail.com; sfra...@googlegroups.com
To: patricia_...@msn.com

[William A. Monsen]

I wasn't clear: I was talking about UA. They are very confusing, even at the counter. Last year, a group of friends were traveling to Geneva. All had similar sized bike cases. One got her bike on for free, one paid $100, and one paid $200. Three agents, all next to each other, at SFO.

For PBP, I had to pay $150 in SFO and nothing on my return from Geneva.

Are you feeling lucky? :-)

Bill

PS. If you call a UA/Star Alliance agent and get an answer you like re: fees for baggage, make sure that they note it in your record. Otherwise, you are at the mercy of the counter agents...

[Old5ten]

you might want to double check those fees by united.  if i remember correctly from last year they charge 200 dollars from the US to europe and charge 200 euros from europe to the US.  that gap is currently getting smaller, but it's still there.  you may want to consider renting.  we did and had no regrets.  i'd rather feed a small bike rental company than the airlines any day...

elmar

On Wed, May 16, 2012 at 10:42 PM, Eric Altendorf <erical...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Bruce Berg]

One alternative that you might look into is flying Virgin Atlantic.  18 months ago, they still were not charging for bikes at all.  Air France wasn't charging but then started to about a year ago, but they were getting some grief about it.  It might be worth looking there as well.

Bruce

On Wed, May 16, 2012 at 10:42 PM, Eric Altendorf <erical...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Gabe Ehlert]

I'd look into Air France. 
They connect through to Italy and their prices were not bad.  Going to PBP I paid about $100 each way.  They charged it as a extra checked bag.  Make sure the bikebox is under the max size and weight limits though.  I was able to fit my 60cm racked/fendered steel rando bike plus supplies in my box both ways. 
When returning tell the agent it is a bike and not a TV and they may wave or lower the fee.  This is what they did for me leaving Paris, not sure about Italy.  "Oh, that's a bicycle?  I thought you were traveling with a flat screen TV!  Sorry for the hassle.  I'll take some money off!"  I actually had this interaction a couple of times traveling with the boxed bike through Paris after PBP.
Gabe    

[Massimiliano Poletto]

I booked Air France (hence my reference to SkyTeam (AF/Delta/Alitalia/etc.)). They confirmed $200 when I last called them.

But as others have also said, there's a lot of confusion, so it may be worth to call until someone says "free" or "$100", and then have them annotate your flight record.

Also, once or twice (I've flown with a bike almost annually since the mid 90s) I've been lucky and just had friendly check-in agents who waved the fee. It helps to come early and be polite, friendly, and apologetic. But I'd definitely budget the $200 (or rent at destination).

max

[Craig Robertson]

This is usually not a bad source of information

http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/travel/bagregs.htm

Craig

[Massimiliano Poletto]

Seems out of date.

Compare for example Air France info to this:

http://www.airfrance.us/US/en/common/guidevoyageur/pratique/bagage_equipement_sport_airfrance.htm

[jack holmgren]

I went with Claus, as did many, and I followed the advice to keep it below 50 pounds on the bike box.

 

No charge either way on Air France.

---

From: Gabe Ehlert <oldma...@gmail.com>
To: berg...@gmail.com
Cc: erical...@gmail.com; San Francisco Randonneurs <sfra...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thu, May 17, 2012 12:42:05 PM

Subject: Re: [SFRandon] Airline bike baggage fees to Europe

[Eric Altendorf]

Thanks for all the thoughts guys. My friend I'm going with initially
suggested Air France because it was supposed to be free. I looked
online and it said $200. He said he talked to ticket people a bunch
and was told it was $100. It sounds like everyone's had different
experiences and experiences that conflict with other information e.g.
online. So, I think the right answer for all these airlines is
probably "it's largely a crapshoot" :)

[Lois Springsteen]

We also went to PBP with Claus, early, though, kept our bike boxes under 50 pounds and were charged in both directions. 

Lois

Sent from my iPhone

[Rob Hawks]

To round out all the possibilities, I was charged going to France, and not on the return. On the return, the agent asked me if  I was charged on the way over and when I said yes, he didn't charge me. My similar experience in 2007 further illustrates that it is simply luck of the draw in many cases.

rob

[C. Duque]

Being early at the bag checkin and politeness helps a lot. I try to go
overseas to a new destination every year and do a credit card bike
tour. Before I had the folding bike it was at the mercy of the agent
at the counter. If the agent was a guy my wife would do the pretty
talking and it worked well most of the time :)

I also have read many times that when the agent ask what is in the
box/suitcase to tell them something like inline wheelchair, exercise
equipment and some other silly stuff. it seems to work for some.
However my folding bike suitcase looks pretty normal so I don't get
the question. Having a regular looking suitcase works well for me but
beware any bike traveling with you on the plane will receive the same
treatment as other bags, that is, bad handling. This is the reason I
kept the cost/investment of our travel bikes to a level I am
comfortable with in case something bad happens to them.

We also have done the rental thing and just took our saddle and pedals
from home and swapped them at the rental place, it worked fine but you
usually don't know how well maintained those bikes are. Depending on
the destination rental may be a great choice. We rented bikes in Nepal
and New Zealand. Nepal bikes where old but very well maintained, New
Zealand bikes they where brand new bikes (literally out of their
boxes) that needed adjustments as we went.

Carlos

[Old5ten]

On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 5:02 PM, C. Duque <cduq...@gmail.com> wrote:

.....

We also have done the rental thing and just took our saddle and pedals
from home and swapped them at the rental place, it worked fine but you
usually don't know how well maintained those bikes are. Depending on
the destination rental may be a great choice. We rented bikes in Nepal
and New Zealand. Nepal bikes where old but very well maintained, New
Zealand bikes they where brand new bikes  (literally out of their
boxes)  that needed adjustments as we went.

we did the same thing in southern france: http://www.velomondo.com/index.html   the bikes were nice (had never heard of tifosi bike frames or ridden campagnolo before) and in good order.  the guy running the place (one of many brits in the south of france) was quite helpful.  his oldest son races juniors on the local circuit.  cost was slightly less expensive than airline fees for 2 riders/2weeks.  i would add a decent multi-tool to the saddle and pedals.

elmar

[Karen Thompson]

maybe a crazy idea, but i imagine RUSA has a large number of members. any
thought of the organization sending out letters to the major international
airlines and see if any would be interested in agreeing to waive or set
some standard, nominal fee for RUSA members flying overseas? Just seems
like it would be a win win...

kt