pdlpsher

Hi All,

We are buying a new tandem (our third) and we have to decide whether to upgrade it to include the couplers. We have never traveled with a tandem. If we don't get the couplers the money we saved could be used for paying the excess baggage fees. Upon checking the airline baggage policies I realized that even a coupled tandem might not always avoid the excess baggage fee. Most airlines will not allow regular checked baggage to be heavier than 50lbs or exceed a linear dimension of 62 inches. A Santana Safecase is 74 linear inches. So my question to the forum members is if it's worth the extra expense of couplers when you still have to pay the excess baggage fees. It seems to me that while one might get away with the airline's linear inch restriction, it would be virtually impossible to stay under the 50lbs limit unless you have a really light coupled tandem. I can't find the weight of a Santana Safecase but I highly doubt it's under 20lbs including the high-density foam. Lastly, it seems that airlines would only charge one fee for oversize/overweight as opposed to two fees, one for overweight and one for oversize. At this point I'm leaning towards not getting the couplers and use the Santana large cardboard box to fly the tandem. Your advice and comments are much appreciated.