Added costs when taking a bike on a plane
 

Bought a return flight to Taipei with Finnair via Hong Kong. At the time, I didn't notice two other airlines operated the Hong Kong -Taipei flights. Had to contact these airlines to book my bike on the planes. Finnair charged me 200 € for the Helsinki-Hong Kong-Helsinki flights but I am unsure what the other two airlines will charge (China airlines and Eva air).

New time I will fly Qatar airlines

The differences between airlines can be huge. Beware of ”code-sharing“ where another airline‘s policy for sports baggage may apply.

My go-to airlines are British Airways and SAS. They will take bicycles packed in a carton as your checked baggage for free (weight has to be under 23 kg).

By maxing out your handbaggage, wearing ALL your clothes, and putting stuff that is forbidden in the cabin in the carton, it may be possible to avoid paying for a second piece of checked baggage.

I met a couple several years ago in Iceland that did something similar, they flew Delta from USA to Iceland and had one free checked bag (under 50 pounds) each. They had a two week long bike trip.

They had Ritchey Breakaway bikes. The Ritchey cases are slightly over 62 inch limit, but airlines rarely check that if it is close. They paid no oversize fees.

They packed very light, used no racks and used bike packing bags for all their touring kit. With a carryon and a personal item on the plane, some of their camping gear was in the Ritchey cases with their bikes.

I could never pack that light myself, but they managed to enjoy camping in a chilly climate with a lot less gear than I use. I was there for a month, had two checked bags on that trip, one for my S&S bike.

https://www.china-airlines.com/us/en...ting-equipment

China Airlines can accept most sports equipment. Sporting equipment can be included as part of your free checked baggage allowance. For checked baggage that exceeds the standard weight restrictions and/or numbers of checked baggage exceeds free baggage allowance is subject to applicable excess baggage fees. If your sporting equipment set packed into separate pieces of baggage will not be considered as a single piece of baggage.

Transporting sporting equipment as checked baggage, if the total dimensions of each sporting equipment exceed 292cm(115in), 2 pieces of excess baggage charge rate should be applied and can be accepted as checked baggage subject to space availability of cargo cabin on the flight (The charges please check Excess Baggage).

The following types of sports equipment are exempt from the sum of length / width / height limit (Sporting equipment other than those below listed exception should be charged as general regulation):
Sports Equipment Exceptions:

• Golf equipment
• Bicycles

looks like your bicycle will avoid oversize fees, but might have an excess baggage fee..........
https://www.china-airlines.com/us/en...excess-baggage

I am going to travel light and only check-in the bike box. Doing so might mean not having to pay excess baggage fees.
I understand airlines are still struggling with the aftermath of Covid and are trying to get back the money they lost, but I hate paying when I don’t need to.
Moreover, airlines such as Finnair need calling out on their policies. On their website, they promote their green credentials but then try to sell me car hire and charge me 100 € each way for my environmentally friendly bicycle.

Airlines that are generally ”super-cheap” often charge extra for everything except for the passenger and a small handbaggage. Ryanair is the extreme of this philosophy.
Some airlines have evolved from being more traditional into ”cheap”, adopting some of Ryan’s pricing ideas. Finnair may now fall into that catagory, as do Norwegian.

It’s a continual evolution and ever changing, so always check an airline’s pricing before booking.

As to the ”green” side of things, I fly occasionally, and once a year with a bicycle, so I am part of the problem. When possible I’ll start and finish my tours from my front door, but due to my work and living in Sweden, this is not always possible.

Trains are becoming more and more bicycle friendly in Europe (except in Sweden!), though it differs between countries. In my experience, Portugal is awesome, Germany and France good, and Spain not so easy (though the busses are good with bikes).

I have been car-free and vegan all my adult life (62 now), but not directly because of any climate philosophy.

Yep, it is difficult to start from your front door; I live in Finland. On the subject of Sweden, I cycled around Gotland in June. What a place that is (especially as the local currency is worth about the same as Monopoly money). The island offers changing scenery, considerate drivers, friendly locals, and good food. I took the ferry from Turku to Stockholm, the train to Nynashamn, and a second ferry to Visby.

oh, please.

fly your 75kg meatsack along with a mined/drilled/processed 50kg of processed materials halfway across the planet twice, for fun, and complain about somebody else's "green credentials"?

hey, i know! next time fly with an airline run by a fossil fuel empire! they can pass their savings from lack of environmental safeguards on to you.

then if they charge you excess baggage fees, you can complain about their human rights violations and corruption.

winning!

😡 Yes, the Swedish Kronor has tanked. Gotland is a special place. I rode around it in three days if I remembering correctly, but I think slow exploration would be good too.

You can take a bike on swedish trains if it’s packed in a suitable bag (max 140x85x30cm) and if there is room, so basically not very practical in many scenarios. There are exceptions such as the Öresundtåget which goes to Copenhagen. Flixbus might be an alternative as they hang pre-booked bikes on the back of the bus where they get fantastically dirty! ;)

I really do wish SJ (Swedish Railways) would make bicycle transport easier. I don’t mind paying (say 5 or 10 euros as in Germany and France),but my very recent experience in Portugal was the best. The last carriage is old (really old, so I got nostalgic (toilets where you can watch the tracks below etc) where they’ve taken out two or three rows of seats to make room for bicycles. On the faster Inter-Cities there are two pre-bookable spots for bikes per carriage.

One of the many things I hate about the Euro is it put an end to "currency travel," where you could always find a country whose currency was in the doghouse for whatever reason (usually Italy, but...) and go there. Of course one NICE thing is now that the Euro is in the doghouse, ALL of Europe looks better. Ditto Canada.

I'm a bit confused about some of this. It is unfortunate that something akin to "bikeflights" hasn't evolved for international travel. Or has it? Should it? It would save you having to bring your bike to/from the airport, which is endless pain in the @ss!

I've always thought the TOTAL weight of passenger plus luggage should be the criteria for "luggage" costs. I'm sick and tired of paying $75 for a bike in a box when some 350 pound cow sitting next to me has to have the armrests up in order to fit in their seat.

Most of the baggage folks and safety folks in airports always told me the primary problem with bikes is the oils on the chains and the solvents used to clean them set off all kinds of alarms along the way. Not that I agree with this, but I can understand it.

I don't think the rental car thing is a big deal either. They are just trying to save you money by combining services that you might have otherwise obtained separately. Provided the cars you rent aren't battery operated I'd feel this was quite a service.

Think inside the box.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0989538d9e.png

Could you post a picture of the bike fully assembled? Just what‘s in the box. Cheers!

edit to add: I‘ve just got back from a six week tour and haven’t reassembled my bike. I’ll take it further apart, then clean and grease. This thread has inspired me to see just how small a box I could actually fit my bike into, even disassembling it more than I would for a regular bike carton. It’s a Bianchi Volpe 55 cm with just a rear rack, but I’ll throw in a front low rider too.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...287a82b73a.png
I remember backpacking in Europe in the 80s. In some countries you could live pretty well on $35 dollars/day. In Barcelona I got a hotel room with a private bathroom and AC for something like $10. Breakfast included. Place even had a bellhop.

BTW…At least in the US, commercial airlines transport stuff for $. I remember seeing lots of mail being loaded onto a plane more than once. A long time ago I read about the surprising number of the deceased that commercial airlines transport. (People die away from home it seems.) So weight is not the only consideration.

That's a Dahon Curl i8. It's a tri-fold bike on Andrew Ritchie's pattern (think Brompton). I actually don't have to 'assemble/disassemble' it. Fold it up and it drops right into that 62-inch suitcase.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6767216ad2.png

The 'how to' of using a trifold bike for touring has been worked out by Brompton owners over the decades. There are various bags, padded bags, folding cases and rigid cases offered for transport. There are compromises (as with any bike), but it's ridiculously easy to fly with and take on trains and buses, and that can be an important facet of cycletouring. The quick fold to hand-luggage size is an advantage over various other travel bikes.

Not the answer, but an answer.

Fun fact: The man, the legend, uber-tourer Heinz Stücke toured on a trifold Brompton for several years.

^^^ Thanks for the pic and the info 😊

One day we'll look back wistfully on the hassles of flying with our bikes?

Proposal for a quota of 4 flights per person in a lifetime:

https://csa.eu/news/etude-here-les-f...-dans-une-vie/

I think the old Let's Go! Europe! books used to suggest you could do it on five dollars a day, but that was back in the 1960s.

Here is a far more meaningful chart on the value of the Euro against the buck. This is ten year chart. The vertical axis is dollars, where 100 = 1 dollar. I guess they have a war on decimal points as well, in Europe these days.

Buy? Sell? who knows..... :foo:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e4ffdff29c.gif