Cycling UK Forum

PJ520 wrote:

MartinBrice wrote:You can't do it. No airport that I know of sells cardboard boxes for bikes.

KLM sells them at Amsterdam Schipol.

Does anyone know if boxes are available at the Copenhagen airport?

Please remember to date any info posted. Things change and sometimes people's experiences are a few years old.

unnamed wrote:

PJ520 wrote:

MartinBrice wrote:You can't do it. No airport that I know of sells cardboard boxes for bikes.

KLM sells them at Amsterdam Schipol.

That's the airline not the airport.
When I flew back from Madrid with Iberia from the Iberia terminal they insisted the bike went in a box that cost €20 and was the size for a disassembled mountain bike. Fortunately I had taken it the entire front forks and cable tied them to the side of the bike so it went in. Is already paid €40 for they bike so it cost €60 but on easyJet it costs €50 and they don't give you a box so I wasn't too upset.
Remember you can wrap the bike in clingfilm then surround it in cardboard from a supermarket. It looks like a box. I did this returning from Patagonia and it worked a treat. You need a lot of parcel tape to give the arrangement some strength.

MartinBrice wrote:

unnamed wrote:

PJ520 wrote:

KLM sells them at Amsterdam Schipol.

That's the airline not the airport.

My point was, you CAN get one at Schipol.

Woodtourer wrote:Does anyone know if boxes are available at the Copenhagen airport?

I'm not aware of any. There is a company there that has hard cases for hire.

Bike boxes are readily available from bike shops. There is a bike shop called Newton Cykler near the airport.

unnamed wrote:

MartinBrice wrote:

unnamed wrote:KLM sells them at Amsterdam Schipol.

That's the airline not the airport.

My point was, you CAN get one at Schipol.

Only if you fly with that specific airline.

MartinBrice wrote:

unnamed wrote:

MartinBrice wrote:That's the airline not the airport.

My point was, you CAN get one at Schipol.

Only if you fly with that specific airline.

They sold me 3 when I wasn't flying with them. It did say KLM on the box though.
https://www.schiphol.nl/en/page/odd-size-baggage/

Just returned from a trip to Morocco.
We flew with two bikes from Lisbon to Marrakesh with TAP. Paid €50 for each bike, each way. So €200 in total.
At the time of booking this was just about less than hiring bikes there, but given the added stress and complication, next time I think we'd go for hire bikes...

We followed the instructions on the TAP website - turning the handlebars, taking off the pedals and wrapping the bikes in plastic (one CTC bag, one homemade bag in thick rubberized tarpaulin material).
https://www.flytap.com/en-pt/baggage/sp ... -equipment
Before we flew, we also called them up to double check, as we wanted to arrive at the airport with the bikes wrapped up and ready to go. They confirmed what was written on the website.

Fast forward to the day of departure - we get to the airport super early. Get to the front of the check-in queue...
- the bag with our panniers and spare packing material goes through to bag no-mans land
- and then, and only then they tell us that we must also remove the front wheels
- we had to rapidly unpack the bikes, remove the wheels and repack (with no tape/cable ties as they had been in the check-in bag). With the wheels removed, the front fork was left worryingly exposed and we had to beg and borrow bits of tape and bubble wrap to protect the bikes and reseal the bags.

The bikes were finally accepted, but we had to jump through the security queue to make sure we got to the gate on time, all the while feeling super stressed and frustrated about the whole situation.
We'll be emailing TAP to make sure they update their online information and to make sure that they're telephone staff are better informed!

The return trip was better as we removed the front wheels in advance, but in Marrakesh airport the Swissport check-in guy was insistent first that we hadn't paid for carriage of one of the bikes, and then that we hadn't paid for a checked bag and that it was a special policy of Marrakesh airport that you had to pay and extra fee to the airport not the airline to have a checked bag.
Luckily, we had all the paper evidence that we'd paid what we needed to, called bullsh*t on what he was saying, and made enough of a scene that he eventually gave up. But it was all quite odd. Anyone else experienced this?!

... Aside from those shenanigans, the rest of the trip was excellent and I would highly recommend Morocco as a cycling touring destination!!

A quick report for those who think flying with a bike is a problem.

A couple of weeks ago I flew easyjet from Gatwick to Basle. Absolutely no problem.

Bike was boxed in LBS cardboard box. Two panniers into one package with poly packaging scavenged from local pet shop.

Gatwick now has self service check in and once tagged, you take bike to oversize. The guy there lays it on a sort of mat that has max allowable dimensions (length and height, not width). My box was a 140 cm one and fitted OK. I suspect the super huge 150 ones may be too big, so don't be greedy.

Bike was waiting for me completely undamaged. I unpacked, reassembled and left box next to a rubbish bin.

Gotta be easier than getting back from Dover after return ferry. Four and a half hours to South Essex. Tube out for repair, Fenchurch Street Station closed, etc. I don't know how far it is by train, but Mr Google says it is 85 miles by road.

Likewise, flew Easyjet to Munich from Gatwick with two bikes in LBS bike boxes, no problems at all and a helpfull employee helped with the check-in and processing of the bikes through oversized baggage scanner.
Returned from Venice Marco Polo with bikes in scrounged cardboard protection within CTC style bike bags ( mattress bags), again no problems. A bit bizaar seeing your bikes coming through with normal luggage on the conveyor belt at Gatwick but all absolutely fine.

Rob

Rob, those multi colored bags. Can you please tell me more about them? I think this is what we are looking for.
Thanks!!

Woodtourer wrote:Rob, those multi colored bags. Can you please tell me more about them? I think this is what we are looking for.
Thanks!!

They are generally available in the UK. Sometimes shops that sell household goods have them. I had one that British Airways gave me when I had a luggage failure.

Otherwise Amazon UK have them. https://www.amazon.co.uk/PLASTIC-SHOPPI ... B01H2SXDE2

That's what you meant?

As Vorpal said, they are cheaply available. I know them as "Chinese Laundry Bags, they are not very robust so I use them for two panniers each and secure around the girth with a yard or so of strong nylon 1/4" dia rope. Mine have survived several aiport baggage handler encounters so far.

Rob

Thanks! I lie the idea of wrapping them with rope. We are fly to Heathrow then bus to Portsmouth. Riding across France, Germany and ending in Copenhagen. So this type of bag would store nicely in a pannier.