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by Johnsom
5 Aug 2014, 7:39pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Getting to Germany with bikes
Replies: 41
Views: 6868

Re: Getting to Germany with bikes

I have only just caught up with this topic.I live in Taunton and am doing a tour of Switzerland and Germany in about a fortnight's time.It so happens that I will be using the same airlines that I used last year when I flew from Bristol to Zurich with Helvetic and back from Milan with BMI International.This year I am flying to Zurich again and back with BMI from Frankfurt.It was very straightforward.I used the CTC polythene bag which was accepted by BMI without any problem.However the check in staff at Milan asked me to deflate the tyres despite the BMI website clearly indicating that it was not necessary.BMI only use small 50 seat planes and do not guarantee to carry the bike if it is full but on enquiry say this would be a very rare occurrence and the bike would be put on the next plane.The advantage of the small plane it is very quick to get on and off.I investigated using the train but decided that it looked complicated and expensive.I took advantage of a promotion offered by BMI to celebrate Germany winning the World Cup and paid all of 69 euros!Taking bikes on German trains is straightforward the timetable clearly indicates which carry bikes but you have to pay a small separate fare for them.I have used the CTC bag for several tours now without any damage being caused to the bike a Thorn with a Rohloff gear