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 ... -equipmentBefore 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!!