Flying with a small and light folded bike

[papaformigas]

HI!

I will be traveling with Ryanair soon and I will need to take my folding bike with me. Its a Dahon Curve 3, a 16" wheel bike very small folded bike that weights about 11-12 kg.

I ask as this bike is really small folded and is lightweight do you think I can I take this bike inside of its bike bag with me to the plane cabin without say nothing to anyone as I normally do when i travel with planes? This will be my only bag in the flight so i will just be carrying it.

I think each person has a limit bag weight to take so i want to know if 12 kg its in those limits to take with me in the planes cabin.

[simonhill]

Firstly I doubt you will get it through security. Too many lumps, bumps and sharp bits.

Secondly, I'm pretty certain it's overweight. Check what Ryannair allow on their website, but for airlines its rarely more than 10kgs, sometimes only 5 or 6.

Thirdly, I reckon it may be too big dimension wise. Again check on website.

If you do decide to risk it, get there very early to give yourself enough time to come back from security and check it in.

Personally I don't agree with all the large amounts of handluggage you see nowadays. It is dangerous. More people are injured by handluggage than in aircraft crash type incidents. Having seen a young woman who had just white water rafted in Costa Rica being take off the plane in a wheelchair after being hit by something falling out of an overhead locker was a sobering reminder.

[Warin61]

Google: Ryanair cabin luggage size gets
https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-in ... an-I-carry

one bag: 35cm x 20cm x 20cm limit
second bag: 55cm x 40cm x 20cm 10kg limit

16" = 40.6 cm so it is going close to their 40cm limit. And it is over their 10kg limit.

[HarryD]

Risky, it is a bike after all and the Ryanair charges are quite specific about bikes. You may not get turned back at security but returning from Faro earlier this year they were very strict at the gate and gates are usually run by the airline staff. We saw one guy charged the full £40 for his over size bag (he tried all the tricks; last in the queue, placed himself between his kids, claimed to have no cash, claimed to have no credit cards, claimed he was allowed on the way out). Last minute bikes are charged at £75

[simonhill]

If the bike is folded and bagged and it is normal luggage size, do they charge bike rate?

[HarryD]

Who knows? Depends on how strict they are at the boarding gate. The gate price for a hold bag is £50

The Curve 3 weights 11.6kg excluding accessories and bag which exceeds the Ryanair limit of 10kg

The folded size is 34 x 67 x 64 cm exceeds the allowed size of 20 x 55 x 40 cm

[horizon]

AIUI Ryanair now charge for cabin bags (still free in hold) so the question is immaterial (apart from what someone said upthread about it being inconceivable that they would let it into the cabin).

But a folding bike in a case with all your other luggage for the price of hold baggage seems a bargain to me.

[papaformigas]

Today I have made a chat with Ryanair and they said bikes are charged 60 Euros cause they consider them as a Sport equipment. That is a rip off because the folding bike is a leisure bike!! Its not a mountain or BMX bike!!

On their page it says that "big" bikes pay 60 Euros but the folding bike is small bike.

Anyway I am thinking that I am going to desmantle my bike and that way i can fit it in two cases and claim it as bike parts. its not a bike!

what do you think about this idea. Like this i will have to pay nothing cause its amount my limit 20Kg.

[Warin61]

Anyway I am thinking that I am going to desmantle my bike and that way i can fit it in two cases and claim it as bike parts

They don't usually ask what is inside 'normal' luggage ... if it does not look like a bike then you should be fine. But it has to meet their size restrictions. They may ask about dangerous goods - large batteries, camping stoves, fireworks (I kid you not, some people put that inside their luggage)... oh, also included are those Co2 tyre inflation devices ... you'll have to buy them at the destination and throw them away when you leave .. or buy a pump.

Quarantine may get upset if the bike is dirty (bugs, seeds etc) on entry.

[Richard Fairhurst]

I’ve taken my Bike Friday in a suitcase in the hold plenty of times and no one has ever batted an eyelid.

The new BF Pakit comes in a sub-10kg model that is allegedly backpackable, but not cheap!

[HarryD]

Can always give it a try

However, suggest you check the dismantled dimensions and remember your carry on limit is a small bag and a larger bag. Only the larger bag has a weight limit of 10kg. The small bag being described as a handbag or a laptop bag with no defined weight limit but I wouldn't assume a 20kg limit overall not that you need that much.

Not sure what tools you would need, if any, to reassemble on arrival but I'm not sure if security would be too happy about letting them through. Others may have experience here. Not sure I'd want to share a flight where other passengers have ready access to bicycle chains, cables (bit like cheese wire) or multitools

And yes, bike charges are a rip off

[sjs]

Personally I don't agree with all the large amounts of handluggage you see nowadays. It is dangerous. More people are injured by handluggage than in aircraft crash type incidents. Having seen a young woman who had just white water rafted in Costa Rica being take off the plane in a wheelchair after being hit by something falling out of an overhead locker was a sobering reminder.

I could not agree more! I travel quite frequently for work reasons and the ridiculously large wheely cases people jam into the overhead lockers annoy me a lot. And when I have checked in a case and then get a small rucksack labelled for "under the east only" storage in order to accommodate the idiots' luggage...
Rant over.

[bigjim]

Just flew back with Ryanair. They were putting everybody's carry on luggage in the hold apart from those who had paid for priority boarding. You would have no chance of getting that bike past them. Yes their bike charges are a ripoff, but their fares can be so incredibily cheap that if you factor in the total cost, it can still be a deal. I paid £34 return to Palma. Cost me £24 for a cab to the airport!

[papaformigas]

When I say i will dismantle the bike i mean, I am going to take off the tyres, take the air out from the tyres, take the pedals out, the seat out, the back wheel out and then put all these bits inside of a bag and make the check in with it so that the dismantle case or box go inn the airplane but not in the cabin with me.

I will have to weight it. If it has more than 10 kg i will post for example the wheel and other litle stuff so that the box is under the 10kg so it can be accepted.

Look at these pics from someone that had a flight with a folding litle bike inside of a normal bag:

[HarryD]

Sounds like a plan

Remember Ryanair has on-line check-in and you print off the boarding pass before you get to the airport unless you want to pay the £55 fee on the day

If you you only have cabin bag(s) as you plan, you make your way, via security, directly to the boarding gate with your cabin bags. No need to go to the Ryanair check-in desk or bag-drop

Ryanair allow something like 90 of the large cabin bags on board (I stand to be corrected). Those who have paid the extra to guarantee their cabin bag travels in the cabin take theirs on board. It is unlikely that there will be 90 of them. Those next in-line also take theirs on-board util the 90 limit is reached. Bags are then diverted to the hold for free as long as they comply in terms of size and weight otherwise a charge may be levied. So you cannot guarantee your bag will go in the hold. This all happens at the gate minutes before you board the aircraft. Obviously if the flight is full and you hang back in the queue this is more likely to happen. The staff at boarding are likely to be Ryanair staff who will know the rules. This is what has happened on recent flights I've taken with them

Let us know how you get on