I'll be flying to the East Coast with my bike at May. Anyone have any tips/ previous experience for the check in and flight process?

Especially with any experience of airlines charging as an oversized baggage?

I'll be flying to the East Coast with my bike at May. Anyone have any tips/ previous experience for the check in and flight process?

Especially with any experience of airlines charging as an oversized baggage?


Most airlines will charge oversized baggage fees ranging from around 50 to 80 bucks. Some will double charge if it is oversized and overweight. Try to spread out your cycling stuff in your luggage so your case is not overweight. Since you are paying separate for your case, it doesn't count against your luggage total (two bags per etc). When I travel with a bike, I take my aluminum race bike with it's replaceable RD hanger. I always unbolt the hanger so a blow to the case won't bend it. I also have one of the plastic things that come with new frames to protect the rear dropouts. My fork is turned to the side, so I don't really worry about it.

Back in the day, I used to give the skycap $20 to check my bike at the curb. Since 9/11, I haven't had much luck with that. My hard case has four latches that can be padlocked. With TSA, that is pretty much a no-go. What I do now is put brass "dog-clips" on the hasps to be a backup incase a latch breaks or comes undone.

For the last few years we have been shipping our bikes UPS and skipping the airlines entirely. With the UPS store you can pre-pay both ways.

Works pretty well and saves you a lot of trouble at the airport.

Pack well, include re-packing instructions in case TSA opens the case and has to cram everything back inside, and don't watch.

We have Ritchey Break-Away bikes, which avoid the surcharge. The bikes came with cases that include straps and pipe insulation so everything is padded and/or firmly strapped together so nothing is bouncing around in the case. As Break-Away bikes, there is a trick to get them to fit inside the cases, so I always include re-packing instructions (with a pitiful plea to TSA) in case they decide to open them up.

The first trip we took with them we checked in and then took our bags, including bikes, over to the x-ray/sniffer machine. With a bit of time to kill I walked over to the other end of the machine (behind a barrier, of course) and watched each piece of baggage be literally FLUNG out of the machine with a drop of about 2 feet. Sure enough.... ZING...PLOP... out comes one bike bag... and then ZING... PLOP... out comes the other. I was curious to see how they did with the security treatment, but all was fine... It's better not to watch.

I'll be flying to the East Coast with my bike at May. Anyone have any tips/ previous experience for the check in and flight process?

Especially with any experience of airlines charging as an oversized baggage?


Rule No. 1: Tell the truth. In the pre-9/11 days a lot of people used to try to evade the bike surcharge by their claiming that there were things other than a bike in that big case. There is no room for playing games in today's security atmosphere.

Rule No. 2: Make sure that you don't have any contraband in your bike box, like CO2 canisters.

Rule No. 3. Find and print out the airline's baggage rules for bikes. Take the printout with you to the airport. Twice I have had to walk the desk personnel through the rules -- once the desk agent just flat out told me that I could not bring my bike with me; another time the desk agent tried to charge me significantly more than the surcharge posted in the airline's rules.

The usual fee ranges from $50.00 each way (Southwest) to $80.00 (a lot of airlines). Bikes usually are free on transatlantic flights.

Finally, your bike might not arrive at the same place as the rest of the checked baggage. Some airports will take oversized luggage and sports equipment to a special place in the baggage claim area. If you don't see your bike on the conveyor belt with the regular bags, ask the attendant in the baggage area where large things can be claimed.

I'll be flying to the East Coast with my bike at May. Anyone have any tips/ previous experience for the check in and flight process?

Especially with any experience of airlines charging as an oversized baggage?

There are those who say that by declaring their baggage to be "bike parts" or "exercise equipment" or some such will sometimes get them past the airline bike charge. I haven't tried this myself, and obviously this approach would have its best chance with the smallest possible package, perhaps by putting the wheels in one box and the frame in another. Just some ideas. :)

don't over pack it (you know, cram everything else in thebike box)

arrive early

leave copy of itinerary in box

Claim you have joint problems and riding a bike is easier than walking for you, thus you must be permitted to ride your bike directly to your seat.

Oh wait, this isn't the lounge. Please disregard :D


Whatever you decide, just pack it really well. I shipped a bike via fed-ex ground, and it arrived in a damaged box with scratches in the paint. Lessons learned: use a hard case if possible and not a cardboard shipping box, wrap the frame in bubble wrap or foam, and bag any loose parts like skewers and secure them inside the case.

Hmm.. I'm going to have to rethink the whole situation now.

Perhaps I should just rent one when I'm back and save the hassle and the worry of any damges to my bike.

Hmm.. I'm going to have to rethink the whole situation now.

Perhaps I should just rent one when I'm back and save the hassle and the worry of any damges to my bike.


I paid around $300 for my performance hard case about 11 years ago. Dozens of trips later, it still works well and I have never had any damage to the bike. IMO, a good investment.