flying with Lufthansa - again

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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foxyrider
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flying with Lufthansa - again

Post by foxyrider »

I know it's been discussed before but I thought i'd share my recent experience with you all.

My summer 'tour' this year incorporated 'sportive' events at either end of my trip, in the Tirol and Salzburg respectively. I decided to use my carbon road bike for the trip and started looking at logistics, eventually deciding on Lufthansa flights in and out of Munich from Manchester.

Originally I had planned to hire and use a flight box but after much cogitation and reading of advice from both Lufthansa and users I decided to go 'au naturel'. Now my CF bike is worth @ £5k so this was quite a leap of faith on my part. My tour involved riding through the Tirol, Kärnten, Upper Austria and Salzburgerland via a bunch of passes carrying myy gear on my axle mounted Tubus Carry rack. The bike was otherwise my CF sportive bike, 11-27 cassette 52/34 chainset.

Anyhow decision made I arrived at Manchester check in, the bike protected by a bit of bubble wrap on the forks and pipe lagging on the ergo's and top tube.

There wasn't as much as a raised eyebrow getting it checked after paying an excess baggage charge of @£45. (others have mentioned this ambiguity, my ticket included 32kg of hold luggage and having to pay even more on top seems a bit unfair, more of that later)The bike was drug tested before being wheeled off through oversize baggage gate.

At Munich I narrowly beat the bike to baggage reclaim where I breathed a sigh a of relief to find it undamaged, five minutes later it was ready to ride away.

The return experience was similar, well even better in fact. Once I got to check in (when I eventually got into the airport! Anyone know an easy bike route into the terminals?) I readied the bike as before and presented myself to check in. There was a little surprise that there wasn't more wrapping but once the paperwork was sorted a handler took it from me direct to the luggage system. I was pleasantly surprised by that but not as much as not paying extra for the return flight. According to the Lufthansa staff, because the bike was my only checked luggage it is considered to be just oversize so there's no additional charge incurred. In fact you should only pay extra if the bike is either overweight and/or in addition to your other luggage/ticket allowance.
Clearly the staff in the UK interpret the regulations differently to those in Germany!

Anyhow, at Manchester the bike was waiting when I cleared immigration, again unscathed from its journey.

So for getting my treasured steed to its destination in one piece 5 stars, for keeping it simple 5 stars, for consistency over excess charges - well they need to get their act together, their carriage regulations are a bit ambiguous, they can easily be interpreted either way. That however won't stop me using this method in the future, maybe not with the CF but the normal touring steeds certainly.

As an aside, my bike had latex tubes fitted, they lost significant air on the flight out then seemed reluctant to hold pressure again - they both seem to have incurred some flight related 'slow puncture'. I replaced with butyl tubes, on the return flight there was no such issue - anyone have any thoughts on this? Otherwise on the trip, 1200km / 15000+m of ascent, I had no other mechanicals, 5 star for Campag Super Record and carbon touring!
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
pal
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Re: flying with Lufthansa - again

Post by pal »

I did Manchester-Munich with Lufthansa this summer too. I didn't quite have your courage (and also wanted to sneak a pannier into my checked baggage), so put the bike in a (soft) bag (a ground-effect tardis: folded up and left at the left luggage at Munich airport) -- perhaps next time I'll take it naked! (My experience at check-in and baggage reclaim was as smooth as yours, too. I was interested to see that the oversize baggage screening people at Munich seem to have a special bike-sized luggage tray for their x-ray machine...)

I wasn't charged a bike fee at either end (on the grounds --as you were told at Munich -- that under the new rules the bike can count as the single checked bag), so the inconsistency in practice isn't location-based, perhaps, but even more random than that...
randonneur
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Re: flying with Lufthansa - again

Post by randonneur »

I also flew with Lufthansa from Manchester this Summer without any problems, although did wrap the bike in a plastic bag.
However, i did phone Lufthansa in advance to register the bike as required in there regulations. The only issue was that at check in I was asked to pay the cycle fee carriage, but had to explain that the bike was one of the two pieces of luggage included in the luggage allowance. The checkin person checked the ticket and accepted that no additional fee was required.
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foxyrider
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Re: flying with Lufthansa - again

Post by foxyrider »

Maybe I should’ve made an issue of the charge at Manchester. I had of course rung Lufthansa when I booked to include the bike - maybe that's part of the issue, that it shows as extra on their screen?
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
pal
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Re: flying with Lufthansa - again

Post by pal »

Sounds like I got lucky! (Or perhaps -- since I flew at the start of Sept -- I benefited from the fact that you two had already explained the rules to the Manchester check-in people...)
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bigjim
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Re: flying with Lufthansa - again

Post by bigjim »

Once I got to check in (when I eventually got into the airport! Anyone know an easy bike route into the terminals?)

Turn left out of the terminal against the traffic, until you reach the road, couple of hundred yards, that you can turn left onto which rises up and out. As you get to the top of the short rise there is a path on the left. Stop and walk the bike down the path which turns left on itself, through a short tunnel which takes you into the large parking area and a road that will then take you onto the local road system completely avoiding the crazy Autobahn that serves the airport. Info desk at airport will give you a map which is pretty useless and cab drivers don't know it is there. probably see it on Google earth. It's not signposted but is supposed to be the designated cyclepath. I found it by mistake on my way into the airport.
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foxyrider
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Re: flying with Lufthansa - again

Post by foxyrider »

bigjim wrote:
Once I got to check in (when I eventually got into the airport! Anyone know an easy bike route into the terminals?)

Turn left out of the terminal against the traffic, until you reach the road, couple of hundred yards, that you can turn left onto which rises up and out. As you get to the top of the short rise there is a path on the left. Stop and walk the bike down the path which turns left on itself, through a short tunnel which takes you into the large parking area and a road that will then take you onto the local road system completely avoiding the crazy Autobahn that serves the airport. Info desk at airport will give you a map which is pretty useless and cab drivers don't know it is there. probably see it on Google earth. It's not signposted but is supposed to be the designated cyclepath. I found it by mistake on my way into the airport.


Sounds like the reverse of how I got in, maybe riding the train a stop or two is easier!
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
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matt2matt2002
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Re: flying with Lufthansa - again

Post by matt2matt2002 »

I am planning a Lufthansa flight from Aberdeen to Marrakech return - April next year.
I called reservations and they said I would have to register the bike after I had booked the ticket and it was a 50 Euro fee each way!

I will ride to the airport and ask the desk folk directly what their policy is but I am not sure what the Marrakesh folk will say on my deoarture. I guess I could ask them when I land - but has anyone flown back from Marrakech with Lufthanasa?
2017 Ethiopia.5 weeks.
2018 Marrakech 2 weeks.
2023 Thailand 8 weeks.
Always on a Thorn Raven/Rohloff hub.
simonhill
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Re: flying with Lufthansa - again

Post by simonhill »

Lufthansa was discussed on another forum.

Someone who works for them said you don't pay for bikes. This was queried.

From what I understand from their website is you get one piece of free luggage at 23kgs, this can be your bike. So if you can get all your stuff in a 23kg box, plus handluggage, it should be free.
Therealsouthstander
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Re: flying with Lufthansa - again

Post by Therealsouthstander »

I flown with Lufthansa many times with my bike from Aberdeen. There's supposed to be a 50e fee to pay at the airport.


I've paid once at Aberdeen but had to pay 2 or 3 times on the return flight from Europe..


I would just go with the flow at the airport and hopefully they don't ask for payment.



Morocco is on our list for our usual yearly short trip..


What route you planning ?
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