FLYING with a BICYCLE: Booking, Boxing & Boarding!

I hope my sharing my experiences is helpful! If you've flown with your bike before, please share any of your top tips in the comments!

Thank you for sharing - this is very helpful. The only problem is the music in the background ;-).

thanks for this.. now im a little less worried and well informed, first time travel with my bike

Super helpful, thank you.

Ride bicycles, save our planet, save the environment, but fly around the world and make a big, big deal about packaging the bicycles.:-)

Has air canada been good with your bike?

lol why would you remove your BOTTLE CAGE

Airtags!!!!! Having just flown with a connection where my bike didn't make flight #2. Knowing where it was and getting notification when it finally arrived were invaluable. Without the airtag god knows how long it would have yaken the airline to contact me. Omce it got to my destination airport i went and found it. They hadn't even processed it yet.

Hi Sheelagh. Great video as always. Also the one thing to mention when making a connecting flight with airlines who are not partners you not only have to go get your baggage and recheck your baggage you must exit out of security and then go back through security which can be a big time killer depending on which airport you in. Great advice you give. Always look for the connecting airlines who are partners if you are flying different airlines. Thanks again for all your great videos. Well done.!

Very helpfull. Planning a 30 days trip to Cuba, my 1st bike tour and I am really, really nervous about it. That's a lot to plan and organize, but I am doing well so far. Still a lot more to do till february or march. Hope I'll be fine. Thank you.

FWIW, my bike trips to South America and Central Asia (the "Stans") in 2023 & 2024, I did not get charged for bicycle box which was 23kg and 103inches (LWH). Airlines were Delta (South America) and Emirates & FlyDubai (the "Stans").

What if you’re dealing with a vintage bike with a single bolt stem? Removing the handlebars is impossible without removing shifters, brake levers, cables and bar tape. Do you just keep the handlebars on the stem and remove the stem?

Nice! What I do with my equiptment:I don’t use an old bag,I just put in a cartoon box and is fine(plus you might safe 1-2 kgs).Safe rides:)

Very valuable information

Very helpful, thanks!

Instead of travelling with your own bike, have you ever considered renting (or even buying!) a bike in the destination country?

There are free alternatives to bicycle baggage on airlines. Many international airlines allow for free 2 - 23kg(50 lbs) check in bags. Option 1 would then be a folding bike since they are about 30 lbs. And fit a cardboard box trimmed to the baggage dimension limits works well. Even a thick bag worked with good carry handles. Option 2 will work only with 26" wheels and smaller frames and if you are a good bike mechanic. Basically take the bike apart into 2 cardboard boxes, wheels in one and frame in the other. I found 700c wheels in a cardboard box exceeds the free baggage dimensions. And taking the bike apart allowed me to do some deep cleaning and maintenance at the same time.

I would suggest you always put your name on the bike too. I know from shipping products, I always put my name and number in the box.

Very helpful video thanks for sharing!
Couple of questions:
1) Is it safe to keep the rear wheel and derailleur attached to the frame or do you also sometime need to remove the rear wheel and the derailleur , pack it separately?

Is it a standard size bike box or some boxes could be also smaller?
2. Can you carry the bicycle packed in a box like this in buses or trains?
(Eurorail)

Great Advice Sheelagh
I’m flying from Dublin Ireland to Zurich. Our own national carrier was ok with the bike with a capacity to take six. A point to remember is that smaller regional jets don’t have capacity for bikes because of the size of the hold. Was nearly caught by this.
I’m not the most technical so putting the bike back together will be interesting 🤨
Thanks again

Thank you so much. Just the advice I have been looking for!

Flying is much faster than crossing the continent on a ship,,

Bravo Sheelagh, great and informative video, thank you and stay safe.

This is exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks! By the way, don't you put pad spacers into the brake after removing the wheel?

This is such an amazingly helpful video! I have two trips coming up and have been trying to figure out how best to fly with a bike, what considerations I'll need to check, how I'll pack it, etc. You've answered nearly every question I had (minus bits specific to my bike).

Do you book through google flights or have you found it better to go directly to airlines? I feel like the flight and bringing my bike is the biggest fear point! So thank you for this video.

Thanks, good video

Hi Sheelagh. Thank you for this video. Going Vancouver to London UK next April and returning via Amsterdam. This was very helpful and super practical. Yes please on how to open, unpack and putting your bike back together would be immensely helpful and appreciated to me. Truly that part of the trip is the one that causes me the greatest anxiousness. Thanks for sharing

Thanks for sharing these really helpful tips Sheelagh. It seems less intimidating now for a possible future trip.

I recently tried using a cheap ($45) bike bag that rolled into a duffel and could be kept on the bike and reused. It seemed like a great solution but the zipper broke on it's maiden voyage. Bummer. I'd love to learn that there is a better quality one so I could try again.

Such great detailed info. Thank you so much Sheelagh!

timing is so good, I saw this video minutes after booking my flight for my first trip with a bike. Thanks for all the information.

Great video, kudos for the attention to details! Fully agree with everything you said during the first part. As for packing, I also stick a piece of cardboard between the brake pads, to prevent them from locking. I also leave the rack in place, only lowering it if needed. I also tie the handlebar to the fork, to prevent it from shifting around (it's a dropbar, so kinda wraps around the fork nicely). As for the removal of the handlebar - yes, Ortlieb's fitting is a huge nuisance, I ended up drilling out the holes in it, because it was impossible to push the cable through it, so now it works better, and also they've released a new fitting, that uses two cords instead of a cable - and this one is much easier to put on and take off as many times as needed. I also have electrician tape around the stem, both to mark the location, and to serve as a barrier of sorts between that fitting and the handlebar. I do put all of my camping gear into the box, so far it caused no issues. Nice touch about putting the bike into the lowest gear - I'll do that from now on! Same about writing my details on the box. As for sealing it, I think the tape sticks better to itself than to cardboard, so I pass the tape around the box a couple of times - at 3 different locations, both sides and center. I'm not sure why do you remove the bottle cages - I always leave them on.

A few things in my bike boxing... 1. Packing tape works better than duct tape. 2. I use three nylon straps with clips to hold the bike together/closed. It is that light but strong webbing that many businesses use when they ship items. 3. I buy a box of plastic wrap [Saran wrap) for both my and my wife's bike and use an entire roll to wrap each box. Similar to the airport service. 3. I print out our names and contact info at destination and home address on a sheet of paper and attach it to the bike inside the box. 4. I phone bike shops in my European departure city before my trip to sort out a bike box for the trip home. Many shops no longer have spare boxes lying around.

My wife and I have recently returned from Europe with our bikes. Sydney to Istanbul, then Stockholm to Sydney. This was the first time that we have packed up and flown with our bikes. Your comments are spot-on. I did plenty of research, especially with the airlines to make sure that I had everything covered. I also kept copies of confirmations and any interactions with the airport in case there was any confusion at the airport. This was not required but is a good safeguard. We were able to box each bike with extra gear (pannier, tools, camping equip), and keep each to a maximum of 30 kilograms (our limit). We then each carried a pannier (as carry-on), with clothing and some camping gear to a maximum of 7.5 kilograms. We each then had a 'handbag' with any remainder of smaller stuff. This way we did not have to pay for any excess baggage (except initially when our checked-in limit was only 25 kilograms). We had no issues with either airport with check-in. The only challenge was getting to each airport with a couple of heavy and large bike boxes. This was possible with doing a bit of research again. From Stockholm, we stayed at a budget hotel close to the airport and ended up with a number of options of transport. We had a choice of two complimentary shuttle buses that were happy to carry the boxes, even though we were not staying at a neighbouring one. The breaking down of the bikes to fit in the boxes, and subsequent putting them back together again, does take some time but if you are methodical and patient, it was reasonably straightforward. I would not have a problem with putting the bikes together at the airport. There always seems to be plenty of space to tuck away in a corner out of the road. We now feel confident of doing the whole exercise again in the near future. Love your videos.

Not a frequent flyer but this seems to be good information thanks