I am taking my bike on a flight from Aberdeen to Bilbao in Spain transferring at Heathrow. My bike and box weighs 27kg and my other bag weighs about 15kg. I spoke to a rather unhelpful person on their helpline who said I can buy an extra bag for £40 each way but that does not increase my 23kg baggage allowance and I will have to pay excess baggage at the airport of unknown amount.

Someone must have down something similar, how did you do it and how much did you have to pay?

You need to get the bike and box down to 23KG

tyres & pedals into the other bag?

Ninfan – the 23kg applies to the total allowance, it is not 23 kg per bag.

Fly club class and you can have two 32Kg bags. If you don’t mind flying at unpopular times it can be very reasonably priced too.

I read that different enmac

you get one bag free, up to 23kg

you then buy another bag, also up to 23kg, for £40 each way

but if you told her on the phone that your extra bag weighed 27KG, then that would be outside the 23kg baggage allowance (per bag) and you wouldl have to pay excess baggage (for an overweight bag) at the airport. Each bag has to be under 23kg.

get both bags under 23kg and you should be ok, one free, and the other paid for.

I would be surprised if the extra bag doesn’t come with an additional 23 Kg.

Here you go:

“Each extra bag can be up to the same size and weight as a standard checked bag” (http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/baggage-essentials/extra-overweight-baggage)

In which case as above you need to get some stuff out of the bike bag into the extra bag.

(Also, if you get unlucky they can be picky t**ts at the checkin desk. Travelling with a friend we once had to move 500g from a slightly overweight back to a slightly underweight one. That’s unusual though)

enmac, various quotes from the BA site…

Our with-baggage fares include at least one bag per person of up to 23kg.

Each extra bag can be up to the same size and weight as a standard checked bag

Example, 2 bags (at 23kg each). Not 23kg TOTAL.

Flying on a World Traveller fully flexible ticket (Y class)
2 bags max 23kg (51lb) each
All other journeys (except hand baggage only fares)
1 bag max 23kg (51lb)

Cost of an extra bag (or bike) in addition to your 1 free bag

When your inclusive checked baggage allowance is one bag*
£55/$85/€64

Excess fees for your 27kg bike bag

23-32kg (51-70lb)
£65/$100/€75

So move some weight around (even parts like cranks) to get both bags under 23kg, pay for the extra bag and your sorted.

Ok

I see that now, you do get an extra 23 kg, the person on the helpline did not say that.

Thanks

Also, BA can’t weigh your bike at ABZ as it won’t fit on their scales at the desk, so it’s “around 22kg”, isn’t it?! 😉

(I flew to Vancouver last month from ABZ).

You may get stung on the way back though.

I’ve got a 23kg hold allowance and two carry on bags one of which can be something the size of my rucksack and upto 23kg as standard on my BA flight which wasn’t club or business class. Very similar journey, LHR to Bilbao in a week or so…

Basquemtb, perchance?

We flew LHR to Bilbao last month.. club class so 2x23kg bag allowance (but you could add an extra bag to normal class for the same effect).

Our bike bags were over 23kg (think mine was approaching 30kg) but they were fine as long as the total weight did not exceed your 46kg limit – you can effectively ‘borrow’ some weight from your normal bag.

I can’t find the official policy, but this article confirms (although a bit old):

BA says that bikes can be carried free of charge so long as they make up part of your standard baggage allowance.

We travelled from LHR T5 to Milan the other day and one of our party got stung with an overweight bike bag – had to buy a second bag (even tho he only had the bike bag). Think he was fairly unlucky – the check in lady I had didn’t seem to object to me holding my bike bag whilst on the scales to ensure it ‘didn’t fall over’.

My advice would be just to be super nice to the check in person and ask them how their day is – they’re generally nice then. That said if you have a single bag allowance and you have two hold bags you need to buy two bags!

(Note that on BA you’re allowed two items of cabin baggage tho – proper bag and a handbag/man bag)

BA are generally much more helpful than the budget carriers but not to the point of charity, you will need to make an effort to redistribute the weight. There are legitimate “health and safety” issues with very heavy individual bags.