So, I'm gonna be flying my bike from Europe to Canada using Air Transat on Friday. Anyone have experience with them? I'm too scared to go to a bike store and ask for a box (plus my french is p. bad) so I just taped some pipe insulation everywhere and took off the pedals, turned the handlebars.
Air Transat provides an oversized bag, and I'm curious if anyone has done this? I mean, I doubt damage will happen, plus it's not a fancy bike but yea.
This is dumb and you are dumb. Your bike is going to get broken to shit. The airline may not even accept that without massive extra fees, due to it being very oversize. Most airlines have exceptions for bike boxes under certain dimensions, but with the wheels on, you're way over.
Go find a bike store, ask them for a cardboard box. They should have a tone of frame boxes they're throwing out and will be happy to give you one.
Last year:
>go to local bike store
>they tell me I can pick a frame box out of the pile next to the dumpster
>pack my bike, fly to Tokyo
>carry the bike box on the subway to the apartment I'm staying in
>unpack and reassemble bike, stuff cardboard box into dumpster.
>ride bike to Osaka over the next week
>find bike shop in Osaka, grab frame box for free from them even though I barely speak Japanese, box up my bike in a city park.
>drag boxed bike on the subway to the airport, fly back to USA
Easy-peasy
>>954802
>be me
>completely disassemble bike:
>take off the handlebars (leave shifters & brakes levers mounted)
>pull the stem
>pull the fork
>pull the cranks
>take off the pedals
>take off the seat and post
>take off the wheels
>pack everything in a bike box like a normal person
>protect protruding items such as the rear drop outs, bottom bracket, hubs
>wrap each item I pulled in either an old cut up shirt or cardboard
>double layer the cardboard around the rear stays and bottom bracket
>zip tie all loose items to the frame in case the box is ripped, something doesn't fall out to be lost
>arrived in Zürich
>take bike home
>put back together in 30 minutes
This summer I'm taking four bikes. It's really not a problem if you take the time to strip the bikes and pack appropriately.
>>954802
>>954860
I've already talked to the airline... I think I made that clear in my post if you bothered to read it. Anyway I'll come back here tomorrow evening and say how it goes.
>>955109
You absolutely did not make that clear. The only reference you make to communication with the airline is the unclear and vague phrase "Air Transat provides an oversized bag" which you could have gotten by reading their website or something.
You should learn to communicate better in addition to learning how to properly pack a bike for shipping.
>>955122
It's not that I don't know how to 'pack properly'. I don't want to use a cardboard box. I did more reading on this and plenty of people have done it, even with air transat having no problems. Some even reported fewer issues than a cardboard box would bring.
http://travellingtwo.com/resources/flying-with-a-bicycle-in-a-plastic-ctc-bag
>>954802
>I'm too scared to go to a bike store and ask for a box
>>954860
>Easy-peasy
Japaneasy.
>>954860
If he checked with the airlines (sounds like he did) he's fine.
I fly out for touring at least 2-3 times a year. It might get damaged, but I've had better luck with soft cases than hard cases. Baggage handlers see a hard case and think that they can take a lot more punishment... but they really can't.
>>955166
It's not the bag in and of it's self, or your preferred method of packing a bike that is the problem. They are all inanimate objects. Once you throw humans into the equation, you're then relying on a set of humans, with all their flaws and short comings to take care of or frankly care enough to give a shit about your inanimate object.
Personally, I'm tired of dealing with people breaking my shit- even if it's covered by their company insurance, it's just more shit to deal with. If something breaks by their actions it is still your mess to clean up. Fuck that shit.
>>955122
hey guess what? Came back fine. The people loading/unloading it just tossed it but everything is fine. No broken parts.
>>955186
I have issues ;_;
Thanks for the help guys. I wouldn't recommend this but I can't imagine a box would be much better. They won't just throw a box, they'll also stack crap on top of it.
Invest in bike bag. I've bought sub $100 bike bag from CRC and been traveling back and forth with this thing without any problems.
>>954802
Where you going in Canada?
What
How do you afford regular flying with a bike? Aircanada charges a fortune to fly apparently.
>this thread
Well shit. I was going to move by plane and was planning on taking my bike on the plane. I thought you just deflated the tires and rolled it in... Would I be better off just shipping it by mail rather than lugging a bike box plus my duffel bag and backpack all around the airport and through an uber driver? It's 2000 miles across land. Read the airplane bike fee was $70. (American Airlines.) I've never completely disassembled a bike before.
>>954802
Dude just go and ask for a box. Go to a dentist/trifag store and they'll probably speak English anyway. And you'll end up with a box that says Cervelo on it.
>>957981
Whether or not it's worth shipping depends on your location, destination, and airlines. For me to go across the pacific it's only $100usd (each way) on most of the airlines I've used. Shipping is usually way the fuck more, as in so much more that I might as well buy a new bike.
>>957981
You don't need to fully disassemble it to go on a plane. It will need to be in a container though, so either a bike bag or a cardboard box.
>>958073
If you don't mind risking damage you can check a soft bag for bikes. I've done it before with no problems, just slap fragile stickers on it. Nashbar has a 50usd bag right now.
