kevmcd

The Amtrak bicycle boxes are wonderful: inexpensive, large and rugged and readily available at the end of your tour (at least in the US in major metropolitan areas)


But can they be checked on an airline as oversize luggage - in particular on Alaska Airlines?


I dropped my wife off at the airport last week and asked this question to the gate agent at check-in and an agent down in baggage claim and I got 2 different answers and in both cases they were scrolling through their website and didn't seem very confident in their answer.


One of the ambiguous details is the maximum allowable dimension/s for oversize luggage. It must be less than 115". The baggage claim agent thought this is the maximum on any axis rather than the sum of the length, width and breadth. I find it hard to believe they would allow an oversize cube 115" on a side even if it was less than 50lbs but I didn't want to argue with them and pretend I knew more than they did.


I recently received the official dimensions of the Amtrak bike box

Bicycle Box: Size 70 in x 41 in x 8.5 in (175cm x 104cm x 22cm)


So the sum of the 3 dimensions is 119.5" which is greater than the 115" number I received from the baggage claim agent. If I am desperate I might consider cutting an Amtrak box down by 5" if it would get my bike on the plane. Outgoing flight is not so much of an issue as I think I will be able to find an acceptable box somewhere. But the return flight is unknown territory and I have grown to like the Amtrak boxes.