I know I shouldnt but I cant find an alternative flight 🙂

I need to travel with my bike this summer and its looking like Ryanair are the only show in town

The bike will be in a hard case

1) Am I creating a lot of pain for myself?

2) If I check it in as a bike when I buy the ticket and pay will the bastrads definitely take it on the flight?

3) Who should I insure it through in case they lose it?

4) Or should I just ride it across Europe instead 🙂

Cheers

PS I keep reading the section on their website where they say they hate bikes

Anyone?

I travelled with them no problem, booked it in as a bike, paid the £15 each way no extra insurance, bike made it in one piece, yes the same shaped piece it started out – 2 yrs ago i think it was dunno if owts changed.

1) Am I creating a lot of pain for myself?

No – should be OK

2) If I check it in as a bike when I buy the ticket and pay will the bastrads definitely take it on the flight?

Can't see why not

3) Who should I insure it through in case they lose it?

Household contents policy

4) Or should I just ride it across Europe instead

That'd be good

TBH – I've always found them expensive for bikes compared to other budget airlines

cant be bad, although they are not cheap really anymore…

o and dont forgot a couple of euros for the toilet 😉

Just be prepared to ride the bike back.
They cancelled our return flight from Morocco last year, no relief flight put on.

They did offer us free seats on the next flight with available places. It's a shame we'd have had to wait for 4 weeks to get them, though….

Just assume they will do everything possible to charge you huge amounts and/or refuse to take it, and don't give them any reason to do either

Just this week booked a flight with them (no other choice, normally use easyjet). Flight were good value TBH, at £25, but its the extras that mount up. Taxes, bike carriage (£40 each way now !), luggage (£15 each way !), booking fee £10.

Good Luck….

Have flown with them twice with my bike & it's been fine. Always been in a group, so in total 7 return trips with 7 bikes & all been fine – no excess baggage charges & no damage.

Stansted security swiped my GT85 from my bike bag because of the flammable label on it(although couldn't explain why the deodorant in (probably) everyone's luggage was fine with the same label). But that's nowt to do with Ryanair.

I'm not sure where you are or where you're going but have you looked at trains?

Eurostar are running services further afield than Paris or Lille, now. We went to Nimes in southern France from St Pancras and I think it was just over 6 hours journey time. You could easily rack that time up either side of a 1 hour flight with security, getting to/from the airport, etc.

They don't charge for bikes taken as luggage in cases.

They've reduced the maximum weight for a bike to 20kg if I remember correctly.

And some hard cases weigh up to 14kg.

Would not go near them ideally.

Used them happily in 2005, put my bike in a bag.

No hassle (I paid the charges up front) and bike OK (though that's down to baggage handlers who are unrelated to specific carriers