ctc bike bags and british airways anyone?

[rainbow462]

Hi

As a family, we're off on a one way danube trip in a few weeks time getting to and from the UK via BA. We therefore need to use CTC bags for our bikes so I was just seeking feedback/advice from anyone who has used BA recently with the plastic bags and how they got on?

Any tips for check in/packing/BA staff very welcome

Rainbow

[robjordan]

We used this method to return from Bucharest a few months ago. It worked fine bar a couple of very small snags. Make sure you have printed BA's policy, which says they accept bikes in a recognised cycle bag, just in case local staff aren't familiar with the policy. We had no arguments or issues in Bucharest, they were happy to receive the bagged bikes. We simply removed pedals, turned handlebars through 90 degrees, dropped the saddle and rolled the bike into the plastic bag, sealing it with tape. Once the bike is in the bag, it's a bit more tricky to move, so you probably want to do this in in a quiet corner of the check-in hall. I'm sure you know that the bike will consume your checked baggage allowance, so we paid for one extra bag and stuffed two sets of panniers into one large holdall for our additional luggage allowance (just under the max 23kg).

The snags:
1. They say to deflate the tyres, it's a nonsense, there's no real risk of exploding tyres in the luggage hold, so I only let mine down by a token whiff, but our man in Bucharest was quite strict about it, and sent us away to deflate them further. Which was quite annoying because the bag was already packed, so I had to poke my fingers through the polythene.
2. My frame is quite big and, as well as rotating the bars, I also rolled them to hook the drops under the top tube. This made the bike marginally taller. When they tried to put the bike through the luggage security scanner (which happens behind closed doors in a private area of the airport), it wouldn't fit through the scanner. They had to take me down to assist, and I needed to drop the front wheel out of the forks (again, working through the plastic bag) to allow it to be scanned. Then remount the wheel in the forks. No such trouble for my wife's smaller frame.

It's a pretty good approach, the bags weigh 750g, so you could potentially carry them while touring, or what we did, post them to your final destination accommodation to collect before departure.

[mjal]

I made attempts several years ago to persuade (all) airlines to cease enforcing the stupid practice of deflating tyres.

I was especially incensed by BA who previously made it clear that deflation was optional but then changed the wording on the website to read "deflate the tyres to reduce the risk of damage". Further correspondence elicited this email which I printed off to show to airport employees :

"Thank you for your email. Our advice remains the same and as per our information on ba.com, customers are advised to deflate their tyres. This is to minimise damage to the tyres. If you chose not to deflate the tyres, it is your choice to do so.

Here is the information as stated on ba.com:

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/ba ... blic/en_gb"

The link (which still has the same wording) does not say "advised" but simply "deflate the tyres" as I quote above. Having said all that, the printed copy of the email (which dates from 2014) usually does the trick. I have a similar email from easyJet which has also been useful (so far). Before anyone chimes in that easyJet does not require deflation, my experience of the situation "on the ground" is that many employees (especially of the airports as well as airlines) are convinced that deflation is a must. I spent many months in 2011 trying to convince the CAA to take action ; they eventually decided that responsibility lay with the DfT who latterly informed me that "each airport and airline is also permitted to set their own requirements for the carriage of items on aircraft" ...

Regarding the use of CTC bags with BA, we had no problems from 2010 through 2014 but were obliged to sign a waiver at Luxembourg airport because we were not using "proper" bike bags. It also seems fairly clear that the risk of damage increases when a terminal change is required at Heathrow.

[Colgrenfell]

We flew BA Gatwick to Bordeaux rtn last month for a couple of weeks touring round the beaches we found last year... Used the CTC bags and a lot of pipe lagging.. BA were fine on both legs with this... Unfortunately my partner's left hand shifter was damaged on the outer leg - I had rotated the drop bars and rolled them under the top tube and this probably exposed the shifter to some knocks - I wish I had cable-tied the brake handle shut to the bar to avoid this.. We also used the bopworx derailleur guards which seem to have done their job..

On arrival we binned the pipe lagging (sorry recycling gods) and toured the bags which came in handy on a couple of camp pitches as a makeshift tarp...
Picked up more lagging for the return journey.

The bags were fine but I think in future I'm more likely to use a cardboard box from a local bike shop...

[simonhill]

Depending on how you are getting to the airport, you could box on the way out when damage is more of a problem. You can bin the box when you arrive,

Then carry your plastic bag for the return trip.

This would also solve the problem of possible damage to the plastic bag on the way out and you can sneak out fully inflated tyres in the sealed box.

[borisface]

I've been pioneering telling airlines that regretably I am unable to deflate my tyres as they are solid and therefore don't have any air them. Its worked four times so far.

[Gattonero]

I made attempts several years ago to persuade (all) airlines to cease enforcing the stupid practice of deflating tyres.....

It is very stupid indeed, as you can travel with fully inflated forks/shocks done to 150psi!

[rainbow462]

thank you for all taking the time to reply and offer such good ideas.

Fingers crossed then....

[MartinBrice]

In Vienna we were told to let the air out of the tyres, so let out a bit. This was evidently not enough because the front tyres on both bikes were slashed with the Stanley knife the security chap had lent us to cut the plastic to deflate the tyres. Both front tyres had slashes in them that were not there before.