5/7/2023 0 Comments Packing pro bike hard case![]() If you’re stuck with an airline that charges a lot to check a bike as luggage, look at and instead. I’ve found international airlines to be hit or miss, sometimes charging as much as $250+ for a bike (looking at you, Lufthansa) and sometimes charging nothing at all (thank you EVA Air!). United still hasn’t joined the club beware their $200 fee! As of October 2021 United has finally dropped their bike fee, charging only the standard checked baggage fees for properly packed bikes. As of 2021 Alaska Air, Delta, and American Airlines all allow bike boxes for the price of a regular checked bag (usually around $30). In the United States many airlines are becoming increasingly bike-friendly. Generally speaking, if an airline does charge a bicycle fee, longer routes will be more expensive. Some airlines make exceptions for sports equipment even if oversize and overweight, some charge a reasonable fee, and some get greedy. I’ve seen fees from anywhere from $0 to $250+ for flying with a bike. It depends, which is why you need to choose your airline carefully when flying with a bicycle. How much does it cost to fly with a bicycle on an airplane? Most airlines even have the policy listed clearly on their website search for “(airline name) bicycle policy” or look for their sports equipment page. Short answer: yes! Unless we’re talking about the smallest of small regional planes, there is almost always room for oversize baggage like a bicycle. If you’re worried about giving it a try, I promise it’s not as hard as you think. But since then I’ve done it over a dozen times on/between four different continents, and it’s worked out fine every single time. I’ll be honest, I was pretty nervous the first time I tried taking a bike on a plane! That tense wait by the oversize baggage claim can seem endless. Whether you’re traveling for an out-of-town race or between continents on a world tour, it’s often cheaper to fly with a bike as checked luggage than to ship it separately. It turns out that taking a bicycle on an airplane as checked luggage is fairly easy, and can be cheap or even free if you plan carefully. It’s also not that hard once you know what you’re doing, even if it might seem overwhelming the first time. Flying with a bicycle is not necessarily expensive, though it can be if you choose the wrong airline. “Was it expensive?” the bolder folks will ask. In a faraway place like Sudan or Patagonia, most people are surprised to hear I brought my bike from home on the airplane. When I travel on my bicycle, one of the most common questions I’m asked is “how did you get your bike here?”
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