Airplane travel with bicycles - Page 7 - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

01-13-2005, 01:08 PM

Matt,

It is not that the airlines see golfers as wealthy, though the greens
fees at a lot of courses keep out the riff-raff. A fair number of
business travelers carry golf clubs, and airlines are all about
catering to the business traveler. Not wanting to hurt their bread and
butter passengers, airlines allow golf clubs for free for domestic
travel. If a lot of business travelers starting taking bicycles with
them then you would see airlines getting friendlier towards bikes.

That said, I think you will see a lot of additional fees, and I would
not be surprised to see golf clubs get hit with a tariff. In 2003 only
one major US airline showed a profit (Southwest). United, America, US
Air, and Delta are all teetering on the brink of closing shop
permanently. They need to bring in more cash to survive. Part of it
is poaching on their competitors by lowering prices hoping to make it
up in volume, Has not worked so far. They have tried to emulate
Southwest to a small degree, but too small to make a difference. All
the tricks to do better volume are not working, so at some point they
will need to cut costs more and bring in more revenue. And on the
latter front, some have changed the rules for excess baggage to include
bags heavier than 50 lbs. I think additional fees will crop up, and I
see no hope in additional grace for bicycles in this atmosphere.
- rick

01-13-2005, 01:57 PM

Matt O'Toole wrote:
> Frank Krygowski wrote:
>
>
>>[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Given the cost to take your bike on the airplane, and the troubles it
>>>causes; perhaps renting bikes would be easier. My bet would be to
>>>Google bike rentals in Bonaire and invest in a phonecall to answer
>>>specific questions.
>>
>>My daughter biked in Ireland two times. Once, with her own bike. The
>>second time, with a rental bike. Her bike - which was nothing
>>special - was ten times better in quality and twenty times better in
>>fit.
>>
>>As for myself, once I finally saved to get a top quality touring
>>bike, I couldn't bear to leave it at home and ride something inferior.
>
>
> My next bike will be S&S coupled.
>
> I travel a lot, and unfortunately it's not practical or affordable to take my
> bike with me all the time. Airlines completely ream us on baggage fees these
> days. Sometimes I drive instead of fly, just to have my bike with me. This is
> a waste of time and energy. If I had a bike that fit in a suitcase, all these
> problems would be solved. The only reason I don't have one now is that when I
> bought my current frame, I didn't want to wait and miss the fall riding season,
> nor did I want to spend so much money at the time.

I met a guy recently with a very nice S&S coupled bike. He said he
always listed the contents as "bicycle parts" and that confused the
baggage clerks enough that he never got charged the $50 bicycle fee.

--
My bike blog:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

01-13-2005, 01:57 PM

Matt O'Toole wrote:
> Frank Krygowski wrote:
>
>
>>[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Given the cost to take your bike on the airplane, and the troubles it
>>>causes; perhaps renting bikes would be easier. My bet would be to
>>>Google bike rentals in Bonaire and invest in a phonecall to answer
>>>specific questions.
>>
>>My daughter biked in Ireland two times. Once, with her own bike. The
>>second time, with a rental bike. Her bike - which was nothing
>>special - was ten times better in quality and twenty times better in
>>fit.
>>
>>As for myself, once I finally saved to get a top quality touring
>>bike, I couldn't bear to leave it at home and ride something inferior.
>
>
> My next bike will be S&S coupled.
>
> I travel a lot, and unfortunately it's not practical or affordable to take my
> bike with me all the time. Airlines completely ream us on baggage fees these
> days. Sometimes I drive instead of fly, just to have my bike with me. This is
> a waste of time and energy. If I had a bike that fit in a suitcase, all these
> problems would be solved. The only reason I don't have one now is that when I
> bought my current frame, I didn't want to wait and miss the fall riding season,
> nor did I want to spend so much money at the time.

I met a guy recently with a very nice S&S coupled bike. He said he
always listed the contents as "bicycle parts" and that confused the
baggage clerks enough that he never got charged the $50 bicycle fee.

--
My bike blog:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

01-13-2005, 01:57 PM

Matt O'Toole wrote:
> Frank Krygowski wrote:
>
>
>>[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Given the cost to take your bike on the airplane, and the troubles it
>>>causes; perhaps renting bikes would be easier. My bet would be to
>>>Google bike rentals in Bonaire and invest in a phonecall to answer
>>>specific questions.
>>
>>My daughter biked in Ireland two times. Once, with her own bike. The
>>second time, with a rental bike. Her bike - which was nothing
>>special - was ten times better in quality and twenty times better in
>>fit.
>>
>>As for myself, once I finally saved to get a top quality touring
>>bike, I couldn't bear to leave it at home and ride something inferior.
>
>
> My next bike will be S&S coupled.
>
> I travel a lot, and unfortunately it's not practical or affordable to take my
> bike with me all the time. Airlines completely ream us on baggage fees these
> days. Sometimes I drive instead of fly, just to have my bike with me. This is
> a waste of time and energy. If I had a bike that fit in a suitcase, all these
> problems would be solved. The only reason I don't have one now is that when I
> bought my current frame, I didn't want to wait and miss the fall riding season,
> nor did I want to spend so much money at the time.

I met a guy recently with a very nice S&S coupled bike. He said he
always listed the contents as "bicycle parts" and that confused the
baggage clerks enough that he never got charged the $50 bicycle fee.

--
My bike blog:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

01-13-2005, 02:01 PM

:
: I met a guy recently with a very nice S&S coupled bike. He said he
: always listed the contents as "bicycle parts" and that confused the
: baggage clerks enough that he never got charged the $50 bicycle fee.

What did his packing look like?

Pat in TX

01-13-2005, 02:01 PM

:
: I met a guy recently with a very nice S&S coupled bike. He said he
: always listed the contents as "bicycle parts" and that confused the
: baggage clerks enough that he never got charged the $50 bicycle fee.

What did his packing look like?

Pat in TX

01-13-2005, 02:01 PM

:
: I met a guy recently with a very nice S&S coupled bike. He said he
: always listed the contents as "bicycle parts" and that confused the
: baggage clerks enough that he never got charged the $50 bicycle fee.

What did his packing look like?

Pat in TX

01-13-2005, 02:33 PM

Pat wrote:

> :
> : I met a guy recently with a very nice S&S coupled bike. He said he
> : always listed the contents as "bicycle parts" and that confused the
> : baggage clerks enough that he never got charged the $50 bicycle fee.
>
> What did his packing look like?
>
> Pat in TX
>
>
I didn't see it, but he described it as the size and shape of a largish
suitcase.

--
My bike blog:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

01-13-2005, 02:33 PM

Pat wrote:

> :
> : I met a guy recently with a very nice S&S coupled bike. He said he
> : always listed the contents as "bicycle parts" and that confused the
> : baggage clerks enough that he never got charged the $50 bicycle fee.
>
> What did his packing look like?
>
> Pat in TX
>
>
I didn't see it, but he described it as the size and shape of a largish
suitcase.

--
My bike blog:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

01-13-2005, 02:33 PM

Pat wrote:

> :
> : I met a guy recently with a very nice S&S coupled bike. He said he
> : always listed the contents as "bicycle parts" and that confused the
> : baggage clerks enough that he never got charged the $50 bicycle fee.
>
> What did his packing look like?
>
> Pat in TX
>
>
I didn't see it, but he described it as the size and shape of a largish
suitcase.

--
My bike blog:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]