Bike Travel Case

Flying with a Bike – Australia to Europe

I flew to Europe from Australia with my Scott Genius mountain bike during the European summer for an Alpine Mountain bike holiday. Yes, I successfully got a pass for a boys trip overseas. Anyway I thought I would share some of my experiences with you.

I borrowed a bike bag off of a friend. It was a soft one but a good quality bag with wheels. The wheels are really handy. Not so much at the airport but getting around before and after. I packed my bike as best as possible, bars off pedals off, rear derailleur etc off, wrapped packed zip tied etc. It was a work of art.

My flights were a bit disjointed as I was using my frequent flyer points so my bags didn’t go right through to my final destination. I flew with Thai Airways from Melbourne and my beloved went into the fragile cargo box. Excellent! There was no extra cost for being over weight. Excellent! I watched out of every window I could at the airport in the hope that I could make sure those ‘handlers’ were treating my beloved the way it deserved to be treated.

At Bangkok during the stop over I again looked out of every window anywhere near my plane. Again I saw nothing. I checked at the Thai airways help desk. My beloved had made it this far! I went for a beer and a Thai massage to take my mind off of those ‘handlers’.

At Munich my beloved was already standing there at the oversized section of the baggage room. I ripped open the bag a) to make sure there was a bike still in there and b) to check for damage. All was fine and I managed not to fall to my knees and cry with relief.

Checking in to Lufthansa for the next leg to Geneva cost me over 100 Euros in excess baggage for my beloved. And to add insult to injury the ‘handler’ tossed my beloved onto the oversized baggage conveyor without a care.

The cost on the way back from Geneva, same airline, same bike, and the same route was zero. I soon realised why. They were compensating me up front for the fact that my bike would not come on the plane with me. It arrived a few hours later. Unfortunately I was gone. I had a couple of days stop over to drive through Austria into Slovenia for a meeting and had to leave. All things happen for a reason. In this case the ‘estate’ car that I had booked for the drive wasn’t actually big enough to take one of my Bike Wheels. If my bike had arrived I would have had to pay for a bigger car or alternative storage. As it worked out the airport kindly stored by bike in their missing luggage are until I came back.

The next hurdle I had to face was the Australian customs control. The worst border control to go through after the US in my opinion. I had stripped my beloved and cleaned it until it was like new. The Australian Customs don’t like overseas dirt coming into our country and they were supposed to inspect my bike in minute detail to make sure I wasn’t bringing any in. I opened my bag for the customs officer who glanced and it asked if I had cleaned it and then waved me through! What? He was supposed to inspect it and appreciate the hours I had spent on cleaning the bike. Maybe even comment on how good a job I had done!

This was my first flying experience with a bike and altogether it was painless and successful however some points to bear in mind if your going to do it.

1)      Get a decent quality bag for international flights and pack it well. One of the guys had a cheaper bag torn.

2)      Mountain bikes are heavy. Assume you are going to pay some excess baggage these days and be grateful if you don’t.

3)      All cars are not equal. Make sure that whatever transport you have can fit a bike into it.

4)      Airport doors, elevators and lifts are not wide enough to walk through with your bag on the trolley. You will forget or try to cut a corner

5)      Parents forget they have small children when they walk around your bike on the luggage trolley.

6)      Small children fall over when they walk into your bike on the luggage trolley.

7)      All luggage ‘handlers’ are not equal. Some of them do not care what’s in the bag.

8)      You are not allowed to hit luggage handlers no matter how badly they treat your bike.

9)      You feel like a sports star when people look at you with a bike and wonder who you are. Then you get to an alpine airport like Geneva. Everybody has one.

About the Author

Scott Harkin is a keen outdoor sportsman and lover of maps guidebooks books and DVDs covering all of the outdoor sports that he loves. He has been lucky to live in and visit many great parts of the world.

http://www.guidedzone.com.au is an Australian online store providing maps, guidebooks, educational literature for many outdoor sports and adventures to help you plan your next adventure with ease.

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