arindia556

I am flying Delta to Istanbul and then Turkish Airlines to Bishkek with a mountain bike and a bob yak trailer. I think I will keep the Bob in the box it shipped in and put the bike in a cardboard box. Has anyone flown with a Bob Yak before? What was the process like? What fees were you charged? Thanks!

Machka 

Delta is one of the most expensive airlines.

Go to the Delta website, look up baggage. Look up sports equipment and oversized baggage. All the airlines show their fees so you can make a decision who to fly with in advance.

https://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...s/baggage.html

Check "Special Items" ... Bicycles are $150. If your BOB can fit in a box that measures a total of 62" or less (length + width + height), it might be free. Of course, that assumes you have no other checked luggage. If you have any additional checked luggage, that'll be another $50.

But look it up yourself.

fietsbob

Couldn't book with another carrier? Lufthansa, KLM etc. might have better bike handling fees,

maybe the space in the boxes can accomodate more of your gear too .

Losligato

It looks like you're going to pay the $150 bike fee to Delta. It doesn't say whether you'll have to pay an additional fee for the Bishkek leg. You might call in advance and find out.

Consider dismantling the Bob and stuffing it into the bike box with the bike. You might be able to slide it up and over the front forks and lay it down over the front triangle of the bike with handlebars removed, as far as the side rails on the trailer will permit. That said, it will be a challenge fitting your wheels in the box with it. You may need to tape together two bike boxes (without exceeding the 115 linear inches rule) to accommodate the additional width of the trailer. You get up to 70 pounds for the $150 bike fee so you might as well stuff as much luggage as possible into the box as well.

northerntier

I disassembled my bob and put everything in a big duffel. Even disassembled, the bob is an inch or two too big to make the guidelines, but I had no problem on southwest (no extra charges).

I had to leave the tour early and fly back w/o the duffel. I just put everything (fender, fork, wheel) in the bob bag together w/ everything else, strapped it into the bob body, and checked that as a bag. Surprisingly enough, that worked.

BobG

Me too. I flew on Delta this way in 2009 with no oversize charge. See my previous posts on the topic.........



https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...=#post15593371

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post15655795

spinnaker

Leave the Bob at home and take panniers. If you want to take a train once there the Bob will be a huge hassle. And I can't imagine wanting to haul a trailer through many Eastern European countries, I would willing to bet a place like Turkey would be far worse.

BobG

I went to the Delta baggage link in Machka's post. Under "Special Items" I see that many sporting goods are allowed un-boxed with sizes greater than the 62" limit for a box. Examples incude golf bags with clubs (if in a hard or soft case), hockey and lacrosse sticks taped together, antlers ($150), fishing poles, surfboards ($150) and wind surfers ($150). All are allowed as checked baggage un-boxed up to 115 linear inches. You can even check your javelin, vaulting poles and skis up to 80". There is no category for "disassembled bike trailer".

Airlines require bike packaging mainly to keep greasy chains from messing up other luggage. Air Canada and Swissair just supply a big plastic bag. Arindia, the best bet is to package your BOB as I pictured in the Amtrak thread and show it to a Delta agent before your travel date and see if it meets their rules. If so it will combine your trailer and main luggage bag into one potentially free checked item if you keep it to 50# or under.

The removal of one 10mm nut will separate the yoke from the main trailer at the pivot.