Sorry if this has been covered. Planning on coming down to Melbourne early November and bringing my Tarck bike. To those of you with experience with flying with a bike, who’s the best? I’m pretty keen to fly Jetstar (cheap) but have no idea if taking my bike will go down so well with them… So if anyone can recommend an airline to fly with, with a bike that would be sweet. Will have it in a bike bag so that’s a thing I have going for me… Cheers!
Qantas. I did Perth to syd in a cut-down well-packed bike box from the airport and back no worries!!
ask kanye?
I’m sure if you give jetstar a ring, they will give you some info.
flown with qantas a bunch of times. no dramas.
QANTAS or VIRGIN BLUE only. Don’t waste your time with Jet-fail or Tiger.
I flew tiger last year and it was rubbish, there luggage minimums are the worst and they are strict when it come to carry on aswell. Jet-fail much the same and will charge you big time foe excess. Virgin and Qantas have never checked my backpack/messenger bag carry on to see what it weighs.
Virgin used to give you an extra 5kg for sporting allowance but as of early this year its no more.
QANTAS or VIRGIN BLUE only. Don’t waste your time with Jet-fail or Tiger.
I flew tiger last year and it was rubbish, there luggage minimums are the worst and they are strict when it come to carry on aswell. Jet-fail much the same and will charge you big time foe excess. Virgin and Qantas have never checked my backpack/messenger bag carry on to see what it weighs and have never had troubles checking the bike bag in.
Virgin used to give you an extra 5kg for sporting allowance but as of early this year its no more.
yep, what gyp said, qantas and virgin are great to take bikes with, no hassles everytime
Also borrow or buy a foldable bike bag if you can. Saves the hassle of getting a box when your leaving.
+1 for Virgin. Flew with bike for the first time this year, was absolutely no dramas at all. And cos it’s oversize, you check in faster and collect it first at the other end.
really? i normally wait around like a joke waiting for them to put my bike out.
I have a hard case you can borrow. Obviously you need to transport it to wherever your staying when you arrive.
I flew Jetstar once with a bike (to Adelaide) and it was actually pretty good. As long as you stay under the purchased luggage limit, they are fine.
I usually fly with Virgin and they are great.
Would definitely recommend buying a soft bike bag (like the new BOgear one or the Ground Effect Tardis). They don’t add much to your overall luggage weight and are easy to fold up and store when you arrive. Saves stuffing around at the airport trying to get a box. Soft bags also fit really easily into the boot of most normal cabs - you can usually fit 2 bikes in most cab boots.
Ah, reading fail. Case is in melbs
what about o’seas?
i’m flying qantas to la so that will be sweet…think united airlines will try and stung me $150 from la to boston though.
any tips no getting shit checked through?
For realsies.
If you’re checked through all the way from Melb to Boston you won’t pay any extra. If you’ve booked separate flights you’re screwed. Delta are jerks, JetBlue and SouthWest are great.
Make sure you have heaps of time in LA before your connecting flight - especially if you are flying with a different airline and have to re-check your bags. LAX is a nightmare. Even with an Express pass I had 2 hours between flights and barely made it. I flew VAustralia, then Virgin America on the same ticket so my bike bag could just be dropped back in the connecting flight section after Customs. Still needed to pick up the boarding pass from Virgin America before the second flight though.
The Evoc bags are excellent if you are looking to make an investment - pricing isn’t bad on wiggle and they are superior to the overpriced scion bags. Took one to Europe and it worked a treat.
offtopic but you have to watch out for Jetstar if travelling with a surfboard - they have stupid containers for the luggage holds that mean if your stick is longer than about 6 ft you are farked.
this.
except i made it in 90 minutes…
…bags didn’t though
i got 5 hours between flights
and tickets were booked all as a qantas flight with a connection but i have to change terminals in lax.
sounds like i should be ok.
cheers for the tips, have heard it’s a bit of a nightmare changing terminals/flights in la.
as long as it get where i got to get with the stuff i bring.