So, box from the bike shop or padded bag? What works best? Oh yeah, did anyone ever get to the bottom of what the conditions are for taking a bike on sleezy jet? Looks like you can do it for £37 return but the bike and your kit must weigh less than 32kg total!

Use a bag, that’s what they’re designed for. You wouldn’t pack all your clothes in a cardboard box for a week in Lanzarote, use appropriate luggage to protect your bike.

In my experience Easyjet are very good when it comes to taking bikes. Paid up front they’ve always been great about taking the bike, and it always is more than a little over-weight. And even if you do get charged a bit extra (and I haven’t been) for overweight baggage, it’ll still be pretty reasonable.

I took my road bike in one of these to Mallorca recently(hired from my LS). Bike and box went and returned in one piece which is more than can be said for my suitcase which the idiot baggage handler managed to totally destroy. I have used cardboard boxes in the past for my MTBs but felt that carbon needed a bit of extra protection. A friend was telling me about his experience of Spanish baggage handlers who left his cardboard bike box in the pouring rain for 20 minutes rendering it useless and almost impossible to carry.

“it’ll still be pretty reasonable”
£6 per kilo over last june from east midlands (with easyjet)

“who left his cardboard bike box in the pouring rain for 20 minutes rendering it useless and almost impossible to carry”
Wrap in cling film, agri/duct tape all edges ..

32kg is pretty tight
I had a 28.5ish-lb bike with tools/camelback/heavily padded cling filmed/taped box came to 29kg. 9kg rucksack too. On the way out the check in person let me off (keeping it quiet) that I was 6kg over. I had no hand baggage though. Friends I was travelling did have hefty hand baggage and got stung at £6/kilo
On the way back I took the camelbak as handbaggage and put as much non-dangerous weight into it. Box+ rucksack was 31.5kg going through Geneva

Oddly, another friend packed his handbaggage foolishly and forgot he had a massive first aid kit with scissors with 5″ or so blades, it went through the X-ray and they let him on the plane with it?!

So if you’re 5Kg over, it’ll cost you £30. I don’t know what your definition of reasonable is but that sounds okay to me.

14 – 15kg bike, 5kg bag, leaves you with 12kg plus 5kg (or so) hand luggage. You’re not going to be a whole load of kgs over that, so even if you do get hit, it’ll still be pretty reasonable. And your bags are always lighter on the way home so you might not get hit both ways.

If you just want to save money, stay at home.

Hard boxes are okay for road bikes, but you’ll struggle to get a mountain bike in one.

Its not that much no, but compared to the cost of the flight & extra for sporting luggage allowance and it adds up. It wouldn’t be hard to get to 42kg for bike and luggage though

Didnt MBR do a review of all the fancy bike bags, chucked a cardboard box in for giggles, and it got 9/10?

Ill hopefully be using a cardboard box when I head out to the Alps this Summer.

I tend to use my hard case now for long flights – the way I think about it is my bike is worth maybe $7500, can only be insured for less than half that so if I pay $100 in excess baggage then its a wise investment. I’d always prefer to get somewhere with confidence my bike is OK rather than mashed. Have had problems with bags and also cardboard boxes which are lined with corflute and covered (waterproofed). Nothing protects a bike like a hard case. I sometimes pay a bit extra on a flight to avoid getting hammered by xs baggage costs. For example NZ to anywhere via us is 2 x 32KG bags + an extra 10kg for a bike (or a complete extra bag) chuck in Gold status and I can take 3 x 23kg bags. My 29er in its hard case is 24KG (case is just a shade over 7.5KG on my home scales) inc clothes and stuff in there. I can almost get away with ecverything else in hand baggage. Its regional or domestic flights at each end that are the ballache as they always complain…..

Only travelled between NZ & Oz with a bike, & only AirNZ Link pinged me for excess.
I use a Ground Effects bag lined with card board. Easier to handle than a box & lighter than a case. It’s fairly tough, but starting to show a bit of wear.

The other thing to consider is how screwed up will your holiday be if your bike arrives damaged? I’ve flown fine with cardboard bike boxes and padded bike bags before and also had bikes damaged with both, for me now I’d always use a hard case bike box as it’s just not worth the risk.

I use a Neil Pryde bag but also put the sides of a bike box in there too – never had a problem over 20+ trips

Re: Easyjet
They do have a policy that paying for extra sporting equipment increases your total allowance up to 32kg

An additional non-refundable fee is charged per item per flight for the carriage of the above items as set out in our carrier’s regulations.

Payment of the additional fee increases your checked-in hold baggage allowance (including additional item) to a maximum weight of 32kg.[/i]

But ..

If you looked at their carrier regulations that they refer to you’ll see that bikes are exempt from excess charges once you’ve paid the initial fee
I got stung a couple of times before this was pointed out to me

Passengers travelling with bicycles are recommended to check-in 2 hours prior to departure. Bicycles are subject to the sports equipment fee and exempt from any excess baggage charges relating to the weight of the bicycle.[/i]

You can fall foul of this rule if you pack other stuff in your bike bag/box as it could appear that you’re trying to evade excess baggage on your main bag by putting in with the bike
Print the carrier regs out & take them with you

I just have a bright pink bike bag – luggage handler sees it, thinks it’s a ladies bike and handles it in a more appropriate way 😆 Easy Jet have always been reasonable regarding bikes. They even reopened their check in for my mate who was late arriving due to traffic and dealt with his bike and got it on the plane we were on. Great service for the money.

Take it in a bike bag far better, inside we then used cardboard and pipe lagging to protect it and so far in 6 years of flying bikes we have never had a problem.

Sleezy jet, where are you flying from? The allowance is 32kg as LONG as you have booked a bag into the hold as well and yes that is total allowance for both. We recently (2 weeks ago) flew out of Gatwick, well they have put these cunning metal bars up which mean they can’t weigh the bikes. The lady tried to pick it up and just managed and said “oh if I can pick it up then it’s under 32k” .. think she forgot that was for hold baggage as well!! again coming back they didn’t weigh it. Top tip though, often if they weight them you can get your foot under the bag (without them seeing as desk in the way) and hoik it up a bit taking some of the weight slack out of it and reducing it!!!

Be careful what you put into the bike bag,as sleezy jet so bike ONLY! and they will have a peek in. So we put tools and pads and that was it.
Hope this helps.

I use a bike bag, but lined with some of those kind of wafery plastic estate agents boards that er..came into my possession.

i use a box, well packed and padded, on the basis that one person can pick up a bag, and ‘wing it’, whereas a box usually takes two to handle effectively, so it’s not so easily thrown about.

I use a bike box for flying. Though the last time I used a bag I ended up getting a new bike through my insurance.

I used to use a proper on-one bag but now use a cardboard bike box mainly due to weight but found that- bag was all floppy and heavy, box is lighter and has good strong corners (ducttape reinforcement), use cheapo camping mats for protection. Saves many KGs of weight which you can use for extra padding and taking more gear.

My mate used a hardbox once and his 6pack still got bent. I think if its ‘handled’ badly it can get effed whatever its in unless its a proper solid box which then gives you weight difficulties.

In my experience Easyjet are very good when it comes to taking bikes.

Tell that to the owner of the bike bag (and presumably contained bike) that I saw being dragged along the tarmac between the trailers of the baggage train after being unloaded from an EasyJet flight in Tenerife.

But that would be the Tenerife baggage handlers not Easyjet & it would have likely got the same treatment regardless of carrier

Friend sent his on Easyjet recently, and was wrapped in heavy duty clear plastic. That way they see what it is and hopefully treat it well.

Basically it was in bag, bars turned, wheels on, tyres semi-deflated, rear mech removed and taped to frame, cardboard taped over chainrings etc. (anything sharp or oily), brake/shifter lever bolts untorqued (so any impact hopefully rotates them rather than bend/snap them), and front wheel+bars strapped to down/top tube to stop it turning, oh and pedals off.

Bike fee means it doesn’t use up the normal luggage allowance.

Hard boxes are okay for road bikes, but you’ll struggle to get a mountain bike in one.

Never had any problem fitting mine in one – including in my current box which is as pictured above, and is significantly smaller than most other boxes (I have to take my seatpost out to fit in that – with a bigger box it’s just wheels out).

Why do people insist on deflating their tyres? Always giggle at that one.

Baggage holds are pressurised to the same pressure as the cabin, it’s not like bike tires expand so much that they pop when you go over 6000 feet.

I’ve used a Trico Box for my MTB and the bike just fits in. Good boxes and the expanding straps mean that they have a bit more give when it comes to pakcing you bike in.

I have a Sunlite box for my Road Bike but there’s no way I can get the MTB in that.

I have no worries getting my 18ish” 29er in my bike box just without its wheels (and mech off etc.) I just brace the forks and frame and it all goes in no worries.

Uplink – Great info re the carrier regs, that completely explains why I’ve never had a problem with a super-heavy bike in the bag, and why Easyjet check-in always ask if it’s just the bike in the bag.

Nice work.

I have yet to fly with mine, but friends have used the “ziptie wheels on, wrap in plastic and tape” method fine in the past. It makes it an awkward shape so the baggage handlers have to take more care (they can’t just grab a handle and drag/throw it) plus they can’t stack things on top wheras they can with a nice even shape like a box or bag.