Originally Posted by
spinnaker
Imagine the hassle if you are traveling solo?
Yeah international you are pretty much stuck.
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Traveling solo, I can't imagine trying to do it with a full size bike box. The taxis in my community can't haul a full sized bike box. And on any airline other than Southwest, the fees would be exorbitant. I think you did it the right way.
Southwest does not fly into my community airport. If I want to fly Southwest, that airport is 90 miles away.
The last trip I did, the other two guys I was traveling with shipped their bikes to the motel. We took Southwest, being able to carry my bike in the S&S case makes it so much easier. I checked my bike in the S&S case so that it was on the plane. Southwest Air, 2nd checked bag is free, so my bike got to the motel with me for free. Only extra hassle was hauling around an extra bag in the airport and on the shuttle bus to the motel, shuttle to the airport parking lot, etc.
But any other airline, I would have shipped the bike to the motel too. At the cost of taking a bike on the plane, it does not make much sense. The three of us in that group are all retired, so we have the time to do our own bike assembly, etc. Thus, doing our own assembly at the motel made sense.
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International, by having a bike in an S&S case, that saved me $150 each way ($300 round trip) to and from Iceland. I figure I need to take one more flight with a bike to finish paying for the S&S couplers and case.
Full size bike box would have been a major hassle. Flying back into USA, they first have you pick up your luggage, then go through customs, then check your luggage again for connecting flight(s). A full size bike box at that stage would again have been a major hassle. Plus of course not being able to get a full size bike box into a taxi to get home at the end, etc.
My luggage from my Iceland trip in the photo, I wore my helmet onto the plane instead of packed it, that is why it is out.
