Been discussed before I know – whats the experience with the Easyjet rule for ‘bike only’ in the bag?

32kg allowance for the bike bag is awfully tempting to stuff a whole lot more in there but there is pretty big implications for overweight check in bag if they make us decant it out.

Determining our ‘spares philosophy’ for a trip next week….

Cheers

I have found Easyjet very helpful and pleasant in my recent dealings with them. Because the service has been so good then I’ll be flying with them more often. You don’t get the feeling that they are trying to catch you out (unlike Ryanair). I shipped a bike to Tenerife and filled the bag up to the weight limit with accessories, clothes etc. No problems outbound or inbound.

I will be putting in my shoes ,some clothing,energy mix/gels ,but not many more tools than I would carry in the seat pack (road bike).

Thanks agent007 – good info. Hopefully we’ll get the same experience. Even with a heavyish enduro bike (15kg) and bag (7kg) thats still a load of capability to stuff the bag full of extras

Fly with them all the time, bike box always packed to the gills:

MTB Packed by brf, on Flickr

In theory they could make you take stuff out but I’ve flown with a bike bag packed with various other bits quite a few times and never had an issue (always with Easyjet). I would stay below 30Kg as they might get a bit pissy if you’re bumping against the limit (although as long as you can lift it up fine onto the large x-ray machine I doubt they’ll care).

IME, gravity in airport check in areas is slightly higher than in other parts of the world so a bag weighing in at a nice safe 30kg will be just over 32kg in the airport.

I think gravity I’d nearer to 10 than the usual 9.81.

In view of is phenomenon I think you should be aiming for no more than 28.5kg on scales at home as this will provide a”sail through check in” weight of 31kg at the airport.

Or get it weighed at the check in desk and add another couple of items before you reach the special oversize baggage scanner?

Its the Handlers that are more likely to cause problems. Edinburgh seemed a bit pissy last time I flew from there and wanted the box opened. They made me take a pair of shoes and helmet out even though it was well below the limit.

Great advice, thanks. cbike, we’re out of Edi too so thats good advice. Struggling to get a reasonable 150mm travel bike (16kg) and Evoc bag (9kg)under 32kg with only a couple other items thrown in there (leg armor and a camelback).

Struggling to get a reasonable 150mm travel bike (16kg)

Modern DH bikes weigh less!

I’ve been asked what’s in the bag once, and not the other time, both from Gatwick.

But both times I’ve had a under the limit hold bag as awell. I suspect they’d maybe enforce the ‘no extras in the bike bag’ rule if you turned up with a bike bag and nothing else.

In terms of spares I just take the normal camelpack stuff plus a few brake pads, gear cables, and one spare tyre. I did originaly pack everything down to bleed kits and BB-spanners, but took it all out as although it was under the limit, it’s a holliday, not a challenge to see if you can man handle 50+kg though the airport. And even on a weeks holliday, it’s unlikely to be over 200miles riding, would I take half the crap I originaly thought of with me on a comparable trip to the Lakes or Scotland?

14kg ‘reasonable’ bike! 🙂

notaspoon – agree on the spare / holiday dilemma. This is a bit of a remote trip – Scotland / Lakes you always have the option to drive to a LBS. Also need to factor in likelihood of bike getting damaged in transit which is more likely factor – particularly broken hoses (bleed kit), bent rotors or broken spokes. All pretty feasible when you stack a bike on its side (airlines)!
I go with spares as an ‘insurance policy!’ Good chance that you’ll never need them if you have them…. Therefore well worth a short haul (the bag has wheels!)through the airport.

Anecdotal evidence suggests your far more unlikely to have to un-tape a cardboard box than unzip a bike bag.

I frequently fly across Europe with both Easyjet and Wizzair. Have about 6 or 7 flights with them now from Luton, Gatwick, Berlin and Sofia. I always fly only with the bike bag and one carry on with macbook, camera, etc.
I normally pack my clothes and depending on the length of stay most of the instruments I usually use with the bike. They have never asked me to show what I have inside, but 100% of the times they asked me to prove that tyres are deflated.

Sometimes I cycle to the airport and pack the bike there, using only nylon sacks and some bubble wrap for padding:

One of this days I am going to buy a proper bike bag instead of new parts. Or not.

Ok, to report back. No problem at all really. Easyjet Edinburgh were a pleasure to deal with, I’d say that their scales are a bit conservative – 30kg bags at home came in on the mark or a little over, one bag (of 4bikes) were asked to pull out a couple items to reduce the weight a little but no issues on what was in there. Not asked to deflate tires (common sense prevailed). And – most importantly – the bikes made it all ok and in the same amount of pieces they were packed! (Evo bags are impressive)
Coming back into Madrid was easy and similar easyjet story (no weighing of bikes though). Renfe trains in Spain and taking on a bike is a story for another thread…

All in all a very successful way to get down to the Pyrenees and get in some incredible riding with Basquemtb. Brilliant.

Thanks for all the help and if I can return the favour then drop me a line.

Gav