BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I am pretty sure that Southwest is the cheapest. My wife and I flew to San Francisco last year with our bikes, and I think it was $70 extra per bike, each way. A few more comments, for what they're worth: 1) Shipping by UPS, etc. works OK, provided you can get from the airport to wherever the bike will be. For me the hassle of finding a place to send the bike, taking it to a local shipper, picking it up at the destination, dropping it off again, picking it up again, etc. was never worth what I recall was only modest savings. 2) Consider putting your bike in a used cardboard bike box from a bike shop. You can dispose of the bike box at the first destination, and find another one for the flight home. That worked well for me once, although given how rough airline baggage handlers can be, there is some risk of damage with a high-end bike. 3) Figure out what can't be placed in the box, e.g., co2 cartridges, maybe aerosol chain lubes, who knows what else. I don't know exactly what's prohibited, but I'm sure it's on the internet somewhere.

FWIW, for my trip to France for PBP, I've bought a huge strong bike shipping case. It's way too large for me to carry any convenient way to JFK, so I plan to ground ship it to the FedEx shipping center at JFK in advance and have it held there. I'll pick it up when I arrive on the bus, and take it to the airport checkin, where I'll have to pay an extra fee for the oversize luggage but should otherwise be OK. I chose this route because I really want to be sure my bike arrives safely. I just wouldn't trust a cardboard box for this purpose. This is the cheapest way I could work out getting my bike there safely.

You could probably have a bike shop here (Thick, Kindred, Iron City, etc.) ship your bike to an independent bike shop near your first hotel. I'm not sure what it would cost, but you would be supporting two LBS's and have the peace of mind that everything is in working order before starting the fun part of the journey.

When we biked in Spain last year, we flew with our bikes as checked baggage. Some airlines are way cheaper, and you can find that on the carrier websites. We had a bike shop pack our bikes for us on either end (Thick in Pittsburgh, and My Beautiful Parking in Barcelona), which was really nice -- we could just drop our bikes off and go off adventuring or doing other logistical stuff. I know some folks are all about packing their own stuff but I was Not Feelin' It and super grateful that shops were willing to do it for us. I wouldn't really call it worth getting a hardshell carrying case unless: a) you were def gonna fly in and out of the same place AND b) have somewhere to stash the case AND c) are comfortable packing your own bike up, AND d) you plan on flying with your bike more than just this once with the above conditions all still applying. Peopled loved giving us horror stories about flying with their bikes and watching handlers throw the boxes on the ground. Ours arrived safely on either end with no delays. Have an awesome trip!!!

Do you know for sure where you're flying into? Scope out the roads around the airports because you might be able to roll straight out of the airport on two wheels, rather than having to find a taxi big enough to fit your big ol' packed bike box.

The summer I rode Seattle to San Francisco (great trip! - Golden Gate Bridge was a little scary) we did the cardboard box route- wrapped the bike up really well with our clothes and camping gear. All went fine, and I would have felt comfortable throwing the box or dropping it a few feet- it seemed well protected.

One time, years ago, I flew San Francisco to Hawaii with my bike in a cardboard box and as we were deplaning I saw the baggage handler take my cardboard bike box off the conveyor belt coming out of the belly of the plane, lift the box by its top two corners, and fling the box from a vertical orientation from 5 feet in the air flat onto the tarmac in a horizontal orientation. My bike survived, but I decided to never again ship a bicycle in just a cardboard box. The next time I flew with a bicycle I built a plywood box for it. Wrapping a bike with clothes inside a cardboard box would probably suffice, also. Don't be surprised if your cardboard box has holes in it by the end of its journey. Somebody should put a video camera in a bike box, pointing out, to document the journey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=749iU2Zv1kw

United charges additional $150 domestically and $200 internationally, per one-way trip, for transporting a bike. Unless you can fit it in a box within the allowed piece of luggage linear dimensions (62 inches L+H+W), which you can't. If you happen to be flying to San Diego I highly recommend Stay Classy Bike Rentals. Great selection of aluminum and carbon bikes and they will deliver the bike to your hotel or the airport, and pick it up at the end.

No one has mentioned finding a big hill with a take-off bump on it?

My understanding is that pedal powered planes are extraordinary fragile, so you may not want a take-off assist since if you don't have the speed there, the plunge down the hill to follow and just a little bump sideways could easily shred the thing to bits. But I still want one, to connect back to another poster from long ago, it would be my "magical griffin". Assuming I could summon enough power to get and keep it aloft!

https://youtu.be/eRyyKQQtYqg