I never thought I'd say this, but good job Delta
 

Still a 50 lb. weight limit.

At least my last trip finally generated enough baggage fee savings that my S&S couplers and S&S Backpack case were finally paid for.

The new size limit becomes the 115 inch criteria under Sports Equipment.
https://www.delta.com/content/www/en...ial-items.html

Wow, I have long been a Delta hater for their bike unfriendly policy. This is big news! They still have a $30 charge for the first bag and a $40 charge for the second bag (50# each). So for most tourists probably $70 in baggage fees.

I pack very light so I can get by with one 50# bag and maybe a little stuff in my "personal item". $30 sounds pretty good. Worst case I could take a carry on bag if I needed a little more stuff. I have done this without the carry on and it was pretty nice. The only drawback was having to do something with the soft case. I mailed it home since I usually ship the bike home at the end rather than fly with it on the return trip, but I have could have mailed it ahead to my end point, and once I even carried it to the end point.

It is really nice to be able to get the bike and all of your camping gear in a soft case with a shoulder strap. It makes walking into the airport pretty easy and with this policy, flying Delta looks very promising. I will have to end my hatred of Delta if this is true and they don't do anything else to tick me off.

I flew Delta first class last month. Crazy fare structure. First class was not that much more than Economy Plus when you factored in the free checked bag each way. The return flight combination I wanted got me back to the east coast by early afternoon. Must be a high demand flight because picking that option hiked the price noticeably compared a less convenient option. But only for Economy Plus. The first class fare stayed the same. For less than $200 more, first class became a no-brainer.

Shipped the bike. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that my large LHT weighs 35 lbs. as equipped. Maybe I will have the shop weigh it\ next time I take it in. Throw in the racks, empty fuel bottle, stove and the weight of the box and I'll bet I am over 50 lbs.

I think I had only just made enough trips to justify my same purchase when my S&S bike died an early death. I've been debating the wisdom of having my new frame cut in half, but between Delta and American(I think?) now allowing bikes at no extra charge, it seems like it might not be worth it. Also I flew my new frame with me to Pittsburgh a few weeks ago, and the ease of reassembling a bike that had not been completely split in half was definitely welcome.

I have definitely been able to get my my Troll, with rear rack, into a cardboard box and keep it under, but close, to 50lbs. Close enough that I relocated some of my tools to my other bag, just to be certain everything was under the limit. I can't quite see getting my bike and touring gear into one 50 lb bag and a carry on, but when not touring, I was able to get my bike and a week's clothing into my S&S case and a carry on.

Just looked up the weight of my CrateWorks plastic box. It's 22 lbs. in and of itself. :eek: I didn't think it was that heavy.

Unless I am doing a supported tour with the road bike I will keep shipping, in part because of the stove issue. Both of mine are expensive. Not going to risk having one confiscated.

Yeah, once you step up from a fabric/cardboard box, the weight of the container becomes significant. My last trip was one-way, though, so having a disposable box was far easier than when I had traveled with a dedicated case that I then had to ship home or to my destination.

Delta says 100 lbs limit

Still doesn't get around the stove issue, however.

I meant 50 lbs. limit lest you get charged extra:

"You can bring most sports equipment with you on your trip and standard checked baggage fees apply based on cabin, travel region and total number of checked bags. Overweight baggage fees apply to bags that exceed 50 lbs and bags cannot exceed 115 linear in/292 cm (length + width + height). Items in excess of the baggage allowance will be subject to additional, overweight, and oversized baggage fees. Please refer to Baggage Fee Chart for additional"

Stove issue is one reason I've stuck with my alcohol stove. Mine can use the alcohol burner or Esbit tablets. Tossed the burner, open and completely dried out, in my checked bag. Picked up some alcohol and Esbit tablets on the way out of town.

Don't worry, this is Delta. I'm sure they'll do something else within a few weeks.

I think my S&S case is about 17 pounds (naked). As packed, the 24# bike and case (including pump and tools, but no racks or fenders) come out about 48 +/- 0.5 lbs.

It never occurred to me that staying under 50# for bike and box might be a problem. I have never used anything heavier than a cardboard box, but have taken a fairly heavy steel framed bike with front and rear racks and never exceeded 50#. I guess those more robust cases are heavier than I realized. A 22# box seems pretty heavy and a lot of touring bikes would indeed take that over 50#.

I forget what it weighed so I may be off a bit, but I don't think my soft case was much over 4 pounds. It is pretty flimsy though, but a little cardboard and some clothing and gear (that I need to take anyway) for padding and the bike is pretty well protected. It takes some pretty careful gear selection and packing to keep total load under 50#, but with some in a little personal item sized backpack it is easier. With a carry on sized bag it is very easy, but then becomes harder to carry it all at once.

A luggage scale is a travelers best friend. My last tour, both of my checked bags were less than one kg below the limit because I could pack them that way by having my scale tell me when I was over or under weight.

I always carry my pedals and saddle (a sprung Brooks, so not too light) in a different bag. I know from past experience that these things are dense and easy to carry in my carryon. My rear rack will not fit in the S&S case either, so that weight goes in my other checked bag.

But, now I have to rethink the pedals in the carry on option. My last trip, my pedals triggered a hand inspection. The inspector then was concerned that my liter sized bag with the 100ml bottles was not an official 1 liter bag, so I then had to shove some bottles in a different bag (that she supplied) to prove they all fit. That extra security delay meant that I missed my flight and got home at 2:30am.


I find that the time consuming thing with an S&S bike is not splitting the frame, instead I find that it is the nearly complete disassembly. Water bottle cages, remove both racks, fork comes out of the frame, for my bike I have to remove both crankarms, etc. I use fenders around home but they do not fit in the S&S case, so they stay home when I travel. But they add time for the disassembly and re-assembly at home.


I have had no problems with a butane type stove. Two weeks ago I watched a Canadian security official say to me that it is a judgement call, if there is any smell the stove is confiscated. She smelled nothing, I kept my stove. Three years ago a TSA inspector looked at one of my stoves that had a saw tooth shaped pot support, he was more concerned that the saw tooth design on the X ray screen could be a weapon. I did not lose that stove either as it had no smell and the saw tooth design could not cut anything. But I am no longer flying with a liquid fuel stove, too much work to clean it and a good liquid fuel stove costs more than a cheap butane stove if I did lose it to an overly zealous inspector.


***

I will probably continue to use my S&S case when I fly, especially if it is international. Having a case that it is not oversize was a huge advantage due to complicated logistics on some trips. My last trip that I got home from a week ago was a five week trip, home in Madison WI to downtown Halifax Canada and back home again, it involved two taxi rides, two multi-state bus rides, two motel/airport shuttle trips, and two airport to downtown shuttle rides. A full size bike case would have really complicated that trip as the taxi and the airport/downtown shuttles both would not have been able to handle a full size bike box.

Also, on my last trip I could store my S&S Backpack case with the side panels removed to collapse it at the hostel, but they clearly stated that they would not store a full size hard bike box due to a small luggage storage room. Photo is of my case as I stored it and that case also had my other checked bag (a backpack) folded up inside of it. It was about 2 to 3 inches thick, 26 by 26 inch.

I also stored that same S&S case with my other empty checked bag collapsed that way at the Reykjavik hostel three years ago, they would allow cardboard cases in the luggage room if they were flattened but otherwise did not have any hard cases stored there.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...246eb945a2.jpg

Yes. The actual couplers are not so bad, but removing the fork, disconnecting shifters and brakes, etc. Pulling my bike out of the box with the handlebars still connected to their cables and only needing to be reattached to the stem was great. I still removed my cranks, since it's an external bottom bracket, and removing the cranks is easier than removing the pedals. But having the fork and handlebars still somewhat attached made a big difference. And, yes, the rack doesn't fit in the S&S case. I had taken to using a seatpost rack or a seat bag when traveling with the S&S case. It was nice to have my full-sized rack for a change. And it was great to have my fenders on the muddy C&O canal trail.

Yep. I have an a couple of upcoming trips that should be low mileage days and no camping gear. For those I'm planning on trying to get my folding bike into the S&S case, because it's just easier to manage when you might have to use a car or a shuttle or just to drag that stuff around the airport.

On the stove issues... This really isn't an airline issue. It is a TSA issue, at least here in the US. I typically fly with a home made alcohol stove and have never had a problem even with used ones, but it would be easy to just always take a new one. It would also be possible to just make a new one should the TSA confiscate one. I have generally been able to find alcohol more easily than isobutane canisters so that is a plus as well.

Mine burn clean enough that I have never needed to bother with any special cleaning or else I have just been super lucky. Not sure about trangia and the like, but I'd think they'd have most of the same advantages except maybe they might require more cleaning and would be less painless in the event of confiscation.

No matter what stove you use knowing how to make and use pop can stoves is a good thing to have in your bag of tricks in the event of finding yourself without a stove for whatever reason.

All that said shipping the bike rather than flying with it does have the advantage of allowing the use of whatever stove you want. Still, I really prefer being able to just ride right out of the airport.

I did that about 15 months ago. I depends a lot on the folding bike and size wheels, my folder takes 24 inch wheels so it still filled up the S&S case. And the frame is rather complicated, so still needed to remove the fork but otherwise not much disassembly involved with a folder compared to a bike set up for loaded touring. On that particular trip, I flew Southwest which allows two checked bags for free, thus my folder flew for free. If you are curious, photos of my folder here:
https://www.bikeforums.net/20336169-post735.html

An S&S case is a great thing to have because it holds so much volume.

I think my S&S Backpack case is around 8 pounds, not a hard case. The side panels are semi-rigid, I added some other stiffener panels (26" X 26") but used corroplast which weighs almost nothing.

I returned from the US with a newly purchased bike within days of American changing their policy. It worked out nicely. I will continue to take my S&S coupled bike on future trips though. It has paid for itself already, not only in saved airfare, but in having a well-fitting, well-adjusted bike upon arrival.

Yes I can see that for folks who take bikes on other travel or do tours with the same start and finish point. I always thought they look like a great setup for folks whose needs they suit. For me it wouldn't help since I pretty much never return from the same place I fly to.

My tours are always point to point, so that leaves the what to do with the case issue. Add to that that my tours have been on a number of different bikes as my tastes have changed or the terrain or goals of the tour did (heavy touring bike, mountain bike, road bike...). Some of those bikes have only flown once.

All that said when airlines have more bike friendly policies the advantages become more minimal especially for touring where using the cases might even become a hassle. I can still see a pretty big advantage for taking a bike along on a business or other trip in that you have a more manageable case to handle. For a tour, it sure is nice to leave a cardboard box behind and ride right out of the airport. I guess you can get or make the specific sized cardboard boxes for the coupled bikes though.

My trips have all been in the lower 48 so I generally have the option of just dropping the bike at a bike shop at the end of the trip and having them box and ship it home. After a long tour it is kind of nice to not have to deal with boxing and schlepping in a strange town, so I often take that option. It has generally run around $100 total for the packing and shipping since the shops seem to get a better shipping rate than I ever do. It has usually been $45-55 for the packing and $45-55 for the shipping. Prices may have gone up a little as I have not shipped the bike lately. Less so for short trips, but after being on the road for weeks or months it is worth a few bucks to let someone else handle it and take a bus or an uber to the airport.

I bought a used case a few years ago and have not used it for a number of trips. But last few were point to point so it was a regular bike box.

But on my last loop trip od Spokane, Southwest gave me a huge hassle on the return trip with the weight. I was just a few punds over but they wanted to charge me the overweight charge. I had to strip off even the rack to get it under.

And that was with my old aluminum road bike. I doubt I will be under 50 lbs with the case and my touring bike.

I think I only paid $50 for it. I have used it on a few trips now. Plus it was part of the reason I got it to go free on my return trip from Italy when I should really have been charged $75 at that time. So I guess it paid for itself.

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth but what do you all think is behind the recent turn of events for American and Delta?

I have no clue, I was really shocked at this. The only thing I can think of is stiff competition on cross-atlantic flights. A friend of mine went to Europe twice last year, I think he used European airlines both times for better bike treatment.

It has always been my argument that if you add up the weight of me, my bike and my gear that is probably less than the weight of many Americans alone. So why should I be forced to pay more? ;)

DAMN !!! I wish they'd have done this a few years back !!! I took it in the pants with these damn fees, more times than i can recall........for years !!!!! https://www.bikeforums.net/images/smilies/bang.gif

(on the upside, Cozumel and Playa Del Carmen are probably still crawling with my old hand-me-down bikes !!! :D )