Mountain Lifestyle: How to take a bike on a plane - some thoughts for cycle-tourers

While clearing out some old files, I just came across this article that I'd written and forgotten about. Although I'm making no claims to be an expert in this, I have taken my bike on a plane a couple of times now, so I’m sharing my experience here to reduce your worries and hopefully minimize any problems. The two main concerns we had were:

a) physically lifting, dragging and/or carrying the bike as well as panniers, helmets etc to the check-in desk.

b) protecting the bike enough to ensure it was rideable at the other end.

Here’s how we got on. First and foremost, we checked in advance that the airline would accept a bicycle. We have flown with EasyJet and SAS. Both required an online extra baggage payment when booked the flights and each had a policy that the bike should have the peddles removed, handlebars twisted in line with the frame, tyre pressure reduced and the bike should be in a box or bag. We opted for the CTC bag as our choice of container and chose to ride/push the bikes right into the check-in area. This meant that we had less distance to carry the packaged items.

Once in the airport, we found a space to prep the bikes into ‘flight-mode’ and bag them up. This took about half an hour and we had arrived thirty minutes earlier than we normally would have to account for this.

I’d recommend doing a ‘dress-rehearsal’ of this at home, prior to the flight. Having done this made the process much quicker and less stressful for us. It also meant that we arrived prepared with various bits of kit to aid the process. First up was some cardboard (a mid-quality pizza box!), to protect the back de-railers. This was held in place using the big roll of sticky tape we had also brought.

A yogurt carton protected the front light and after twisting the handlebars, these, and the front wheel, were locked into place using some straps, cut from an old rucksack.

I also used my towel to give the brake and gear levers a bit of padding too. Waterbottles were left in the holders to stop them from getting snapped.

Once the peddles were off, we put the bikes into the clear plastic bags and taped up the ends to seal them in. Now, obviously a box or a padded bag will give more protection, but our thinking was that if a baggage handler can see that it’s a bike, they might be more inclined to treat it gently and not throw it about or stack a load of heavy suitcases on top of it. The other advantage to us, was that after the flight we could fold up the bag and stash it in the bottom of a pannier while we went on our cycle tour. Then once back at the airport, we could reuse it for the homeward journey.

As a team of two, once the bikes were packed, we used the remaining tape to bundle the panniers into a heavy duty big plastic bag. (Clare used a couple of bin bags and I had an old orange emergency bivi bag that mountain walkers carry). This created us a single package each which could be checked into the plane as normal luggage. Clare was able to push the pannier parcels on a baggage trolley, while I was able to lift the bikes by the seats by standing between them and walk them to the check-in desk. Once flight labels were stuck on, we took them to the ‘outsided baggage’ area and handed them over.

This left us to board the plane travelling relatively light with just our handlebar bags and helmets.

Having flown to the desired destination, all we had to do was complete the process in reverse. Panniers were retrieved from their bin bag parcels, packaging and cardboard disposed of.

We then folded the bags up carefully and stashed them away ready for next time. If you’re lucky enough to land in a bike-friendly city like Copenhagen, you might even find a designated area to do this, complete with bins, bike pump and mechanic rack!