Anyone Took A Dahon On Easyjet Or Ryanair?, Did you avoid the extra charge? Options

[short]

Hi, the no frills airlines in the UK, ryanair and easyjet, now charge £15 plus to carry a bicycle ('sporting equipment') in the hold. Their terms and conditions don't say whether a folded bike in a bag or case would be charged, or let thru free as standard baggage - which is limited at 20kg.
I'm pretty sure that if check in staff asked what was in the bag/cae, and you said 'a bike', they'd no doubt charge you the £15. If ever I checked in a solid case with a bike inside, I just wouldn't tell them. The extra trick they have is, if you did check in a bike in a box or case and paid the £15, you're not allowed to pack anything with it, such as clothes, which means you'd have another bag in the hold - and you have to pay for that too......
Anyone travelled with a Dahon on one of these airlines yet, and what was your experience?
I'm pretty sure if I asked easyjet/ryanair if folders are exempt, they wouldn't give me an answer I could use at the check in gate.....

[zpat]

They are less bothered about hand-luggage since you do all the work yourself!

Might be worth carrying it on board and using your standard hold allowance for everything else.

You could even try riding around the terminal on it!

[short]

They are less bothered about hand-luggage since you do all the work yourself!

Might be worth carrying it on board and using your standard hold allowance for everything else.

You could even try riding around the terminal on it!

Some Dahons fold pretty tight, but not into a package the size of a laptop bag!

[zpat]

Use a private aircraft and stick it in the back seat (IMG:http://www.dahon.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Actually folding bikes are used that way because if you fly yourself somewhere in a light aircraft, you end up without transport the other end, and also some airports can be huge to walk around.

My PPL has lapsed, maybe time to renewal and take the bike over to Le Touquet....

[peteribach]

I traveled a lot with Germanwings, Condor and Air Berlin, their policy should be pretty comparable. All three charge €30,- (two way) for bicycles and I used to do that a lot with my regular sized bike. No packing, no padding, just rode to the airport and checked the bike in as it is. Ok, I don't care so much about scratches since this bike was under hard core usage and flow a couple of times down the trails. But seemingly they did handle the bikes with some care, i.e., they personally bring the bike to the plane, store it in an up-side position and secure it. Since that takes some more effort and space, they charge you - and €30,- seems to be quite adequate.

If you fold your bike and pack it, I see no reason why they should charge you. You will only run into discussion if you package is so bulky that they have problems to handle it. I wouldn't expect any problem if you have your bike in a hard cased suitcase. You also can tell them there's a folding bike inside (they'll see it anyway in the scanner). You are not limited in what you pack into your suitcase (as long as there is no security issues)! Due to my experience, the only thing they care then is weight - and with my Mu SL it is easily below 20kg. Only the bag is limited in length, I think usually this limit is 160cm.

They also have a special rate for "sports equipment", e.g., for diving or golf. Thus, you can bring in an additional 30kg for an extra of €30,-, has to be in a bag of course. I did this a lot with kitesurf and diving stuff. I flew with condor to the Dominican Republic last year, had a double surf bag with me, 200m long and full packed with all stuff 40kg - they did not weight it so I only payed €30,-. You can put anything in the bag that you want (and relates to "sport"). This way you can travel with your bike plus a lot more luggage much cheaper than paying the extra fee per kg.

[short]

I traveled a lot with Germanwings, Condor and Air Berlin, their policy should be pretty comparable. All three charge €30,- (two way) for bicycles and I used to do that a lot with my regular sized bike. No packing, no padding, just rode to the airport and checked the bike in as it is. Ok, I don't care so much about scratches since this bike was under hard core usage and flow a couple of times down the trails. But seemingly they did handle the bikes with some care, i.e., they personally bring the bike to the plane, store it in an up-side position and secure it. Since that takes some more effort and space, they charge you - and €30,- seems to be quite adequate.

If you fold your bike and pack it, I see no reason why they should charge you. You will only run into discussion if you package is so bulky that they have problems to handle it. I wouldn't expect any problem if you have your bike in a hard cased suitcase. You also can tell them there's a folding bike inside (they'll see it anyway in the scanner). You are not limited in what you pack into your suitcase (as long as there is no security issues)! Due to my experience, the only thing they care then is weight - and with my Mu SL it is easily below 20kg. Only the bag is limited in length, I think usually this limit is 160cm.

They also have a special rate for "sports equipment", e.g., for diving or golf. Thus, you can bring in an additional 30kg for an extra of €30,-, has to be in a bag of course. I did this a lot with kitesurf and diving stuff. I flew with condor to the Dominican Republic last year, had a double surf bag with me, 200m long and full packed with all stuff 40kg - they did not weight it so I only payed €30,-. You can put anything in the bag that you want (and relates to "sport"). This way you can travel with your bike plus a lot more luggage much cheaper than paying the extra fee per kg.

That's really interesting, particularly the bit about simply being able to ride to the airport and not having to pack it in a bos! That and the handling it gets means you're getting a good extra service and worth paying for (it saves you the train/bus fare to the airport anyway).
However, easyjet and ryanair are managed on a very strict basis of making extra money and particularly profit out of extras rather than the fares, and they are absolutely ruthless and allow no discussion at check in. To the checkin staff, a bicycle will be a bicycle and there's nothing in the terms and conditions to give an exception to a folding bike. I think you're right about it passing if in a hard case with other materials - they don't X-ray until after you've passed check-in anyway so then the problem is over. X-ray is nothing to do with the airline, just security. I'd just love to know anyone who's actually experienced the situation what happened. Ideally, I want to travel in my new soft canvas bag, with the bike reinforced in a cardboard box inside. The package then would be just over the folded size of my bike anyway, the package being something like 84x60x33, but it would look like an odd piece of luggage plus would weigh a lot for such a flimsy (on the outside) looking bag. So questions could be asked!
Plus we are - different from everyone else in the world - restricted to one piece of hand luggage measuring about the size of a laptop bag so you really need be able to put a few extra pieces of clothing in your hold baggage....You cannot even get an overnight change of clothes into cabin baggage leaving from the UK, which means all the smug passengers (of which I been one in the past!) can no longer pack really well into a small bag, carry it on board, and breeze out fo the airport without waiting for the baggage carousel and worrying if your luggage has been lost....huge amounts of delay now at UK airports because of EVERYONE now checking something in, no matter how short their trip....

[short]

I traveled a lot with Germanwings, Condor and Air Berlin, their policy should be pretty comparable. All three charge €30,- (two way) for bicycles and I used to do that a lot with my regular sized bike. No packing, no padding, just rode to the airport and checked the bike in as it is. Ok, I don't care so much about scratches since this bike was under hard core usage and flow a couple of times down the trails. But seemingly they did handle the bikes with some care, i.e., they personally bring the bike to the plane, store it in an up-side position and secure it. Since that takes some more effort and space, they charge you - and €30,- seems to be quite adequate.

If you fold your bike and pack it, I see no reason why they should charge you. You will only run into discussion if you package is so bulky that they have problems to handle it. I wouldn't expect any problem if you have your bike in a hard cased suitcase. You also can tell them there's a folding bike inside (they'll see it anyway in the scanner). You are not limited in what you pack into your suitcase (as long as there is no security issues)! Due to my experience, the only thing they care then is weight - and with my Mu SL it is easily below 20kg. Only the bag is limited in length, I think usually this limit is 160cm.

They also have a special rate for "sports equipment", e.g., for diving or golf. Thus, you can bring in an additional 30kg for an extra of €30,-, has to be in a bag of course. I did this a lot with kitesurf and diving stuff. I flew with condor to the Dominican Republic last year, had a double surf bag with me, 200m long and full packed with all stuff 40kg - they did not weight it so I only payed €30,-. You can put anything in the bag that you want (and relates to "sport"). This way you can travel with your bike plus a lot more luggage much cheaper than paying the extra fee per kg.

That's really interesting, particularly the bit about simply being able to ride to the airport and not having to pack it in a bos! That and the handling it gets means you're getting a good extra service and worth paying for (it saves you the train/bus fare to the airport anyway).
However, easyjet and ryanair are managed on a very strict basis of making extra money and particularly profit out of extras rather than the fares, and they are absolutely ruthless and allow no discussion at check in. To the checkin staff, a bicycle will be a bicycle and there's nothing in the terms and conditions to give an exception to a folding bike. I think you're right about it passing if in a hard case with other materials - they don't X-ray until after you've passed check-in anyway so then the problem is over. X-ray is nothing to do with the airline, just security. I'd just love to know anyone who's actually experienced the situation what happened. Ideally, I want to travel in my new soft canvas bag, with the bike reinforced in a cardboard box inside. The package then would be just over the folded size of my bike anyway, the package being something like 84x60x33, but it would look like an odd piece of luggage plus would weigh a lot for such a flimsy (on the outside) looking bag. So questions could be asked!
Plus we are - different from everyone else in the world - restricted to one piece of hand luggage measuring about the size of a laptop bag so you really need be able to put a few extra pieces of clothing in your hold baggage....You cannot even get an overnight change of clothes into cabin baggage leaving from the UK, which means all the smug passengers (of which I been one in the past!) can no longer pack really well into a small bag, carry it on board, and breeze out fo the airport without waiting for the baggage carousel and worrying if your luggage has been lost....huge amounts of delay now at UK airports because of EVERYONE now checking something in, no matter how short their trip....

PS After re-reading your post, I must check out Air Berlin, as I know they operate from Stansted, home of easyJet and Ryanair, and do travel to places other than Berlin from there - Mallorca, I think, which is popular with Germans and one of the places I like to go to. I don't think I'd mind paying their charges for that sort of proper service.

[zpat]

Frankly, the Easyjet £15 charge is reasonable since it would require special handling.

If you pack it in a case, don't forget to deflate the tyres as the low pressure altitude might otherwise burst them.

However until the recent security stupidity about hand-luggage checks - low cost airlines were trying to encourage an "anything goes" approach to carry on stuff.

Recently I had some moron insist on separately x-raying a minature, transparent, bottle of gin I had in my pocket (left over from the inflight service on the outbound sector).

X-raying shoes is the latest craze, what they would make of a carry on bike now doesn't bear thinking about!

[short]

Frankly, the Easyjet £15 charge is reasonable since it would require special handling.

If you pack it in a case, don't forget to deflate the tyres as the low pressure altitude might otherwise burst them.

However until the recent security stupidity about hand-luggage checks - low cost airlines were trying to encourage an "anything goes" approach to carry on stuff.

Recently I had some moron insist on separately x-raying a minature, transparent, bottle of gin I had in my pocket (left over from the inflight service on the outbound sector).

X-raying shoes is the latest craze, what they would make of a carry on bike now doesn't bear thinking about!

Other airlines don't charge for a boxed bike if it is within your luggage allowance. The difference with easyjet/ryanair is that they will charge for it even if you don't check in a bag. It's just adding onto the fare by the back door.
They don't x-ray shoes, they test them for any traces of explosives, ever since the unsuccessful shoe bomber, who incidentally would have succeeded if he had lit a lighter instead of a match, inviting the inquisitive nose of a flight attendant thinking someone was about to have a quick fag (for Americans, that's a cigarette).
I since looked up Air Berlin and their range of flights across Europe is impressive, and some of their fares are competitive with the 'cheap' airlines. And you might get a smile rather than a surly attitude and loud, rude comments about the passengers (ryanair). The cheapos are now out to squeeze as much as poss from passengers and that's why I'd really like to know if anyone has checked in a folder in a bag or a case with one of them.

[zpat]

I beg to differ, since I fly between LGW and MAN frequently, and both airports now X-ray all shoes.

Like I said the £15 charge is because it will require special handling. It won't go down a normal luggage conveyor.

Low cost airlines always reflect their (or their handling agents) costs for these extras (hence the Ryanair wheelchair issue) whereas more expensive airlines tend to absorb them (aka making other customers pay for your costs),

Take your pick, can't have your cake and eat it.

[short]

I beg to differ, since I fly between LGW and MAN frequently, and both airports now X-ray all shoes.

Like I said the £15 charge is because it will require special handling. It won't go down a normal luggage conveyor.

Low cost airlines always reflect their (or their handling agents) costs for these extras (hence the Ryanair wheelchair issue) whereas more expensive airlines tend to absorb them (aka making other customers pay for your costs),

Take your pick, can't have your cake and eat it.

Yep, see your point. I'll try out my cardboard box in a soft bag trick on a non ryanair/easyjet airline first! As long as it can be handled like normal baggage, then, I should be OK.
Didn't know they were xraying shoes now! I've just about given up on short haul since August last year if I can help it. All the delays negate the speed of flight! I even recently rediscovered the Dover-Calais ferry the other weekend...For long haul now, the only way out of the limited bag business, I've now found, is to hop from City airport and change somewhere like Amsterdam and get what you need on the flight back out of your hold luggage, until they change it.

[boyand]

Frankly, the Easyjet £15 charge is reasonable since it would require special handling.

If you pack it in a case, don't forget to deflate the tyres as the low pressure altitude might otherwise burst them.

However until the recent security stupidity about hand-luggage checks - low cost airlines were trying to encourage an "anything goes" approach to carry on stuff.

Recently I had some moron insist on separately x-raying a minature, transparent, bottle of gin I had in my pocket (left over from the inflight service on the outbound sector).

X-raying shoes is the latest craze, what they would make of a carry on bike now doesn't bear thinking about!

I asked on the Chicago Folding Bike Society's list about deflating and here's the response:
> Dont worry about it. Yes, the cargo compartment is at the same
pressure as the cabin in commercial airliners. Cabin altitude in
cruise is typically around 8000 feet elevation and the tires on your
bike dont explode if you ride up an 8000 foot mountain, right?
>
> Even if a space walk wouldnt be a problem. Standard sea level
pressure is approximately 14.7 psi, so if you took your inflated tires
out into the vacuum of space they still wouldnt explode (although a
pressure gauge would indicate 15 psi higher than the pressure you
inflated them to at sea level).
>
> I never let air out of my tires when my bike goes flying. On the
rare occasions when someone at the ticket counter asked, I told them I
let most of the pressure out.
>
> :Dan
> :Bike Friday rider and Pilot

[boyand]

Frankly, the Easyjet £15 charge is reasonable since it would require special handling.

If you pack it in a case, don't forget to deflate the tyres as the low pressure altitude might otherwise burst them.

However until the recent security stupidity about hand-luggage checks - low cost airlines were trying to encourage an "anything goes" approach to carry on stuff.

Recently I had some moron insist on separately x-raying a minature, transparent, bottle of gin I had in my pocket (left over from the inflight service on the outbound sector).

X-raying shoes is the latest craze, what they would make of a carry on bike now doesn't bear thinking about!

Other airlines don't charge for a boxed bike if it is within your luggage allowance. The difference with easyjet/ryanair is that they will charge for it even if you don't check in a bag. It's just adding onto the fare by the back door.
They don't x-ray shoes, they test them for any traces of explosives, ever since the unsuccessful shoe bomber, who incidentally would have succeeded if he had lit a lighter instead of a match, inviting the inquisitive nose of a flight attendant thinking someone was about to have a quick fag (for Americans, that's a cigarette).
I since looked up Air Berlin and their range of flights across Europe is impressive, and some of their fares are competitive with the 'cheap' airlines. And you might get a smile rather than a surly attitude and loud, rude comments about the passengers (ryanair). The cheapos are now out to squeeze as much as poss from passengers and that's why I'd really like to know if anyone has checked in a folder in a bag or a case with one of them.

I asked on the Chicagoland Folding Bike Society's list about deflating and here's the response:
> Dont worry about it. Yes, the cargo compartment is at the same
pressure as the cabin in commercial airliners. Cabin altitude in
cruise is typically around 8000 feet elevation and the tires on your
bike dont explode if you ride up an 8000 foot mountain, right?
>
> Even if a space walk wouldnt be a problem. Standard sea level
pressure is approximately 14.7 psi, so if you took your inflated tires
out into the vacuum of space they still wouldnt explode (although a
pressure gauge would indicate 15 psi higher than the pressure you
inflated them to at sea level).
>
> I never let air out of my tires when my bike goes flying. On the
rare occasions when someone at the ticket counter asked, I told them I
let most of the pressure out.
>
> :Dan
> :Bike Friday rider and Pilot

[zpat]

At 10,000 feet the difference in static pressure would be about 50%. So you would most likely exceed the rating of the tyre.

If there was an aircraft pressurisation failure, the difference at 36,000 feet would be 500%.

Just remember Murphy's Law....

[Mav777]

Has anyone tried flying on an International trip with a Dahon 20" packed inside the portable bag?

I did this succesfully on a local flight here in Australia. I just made sure to put a small cardboard box around the derailleur and pad other sensitive bits with material etc.

I thought I'd try this again for a trip to Europe...a padded bag just seems a lot less 'bulky' than a big heavy case.