Travelling with my bike in a few weeks, my house insurance covers the bike once at the destination but not while in the airlines hands.

Does anyone know of an insurer that covers the bike while with the airline (i.e. lost luggage) or had experience of loosing a bike while with the airline, did the airline cover the cost?

Insurers I’ve spoken to will not cover the bike between me dropping off at the terminal and picking up the other end. Lost luggage cover seems to be limited to about £500 for a single item.

Thanks…

Yes, Easyjet “lost” my DH bike (10+years ago) after months of argueing they eventually compensated me something around £300, it was worth £4K. 🙁
Ask uncle TJ nicely and he’ll prob be able to get you the full value back tho 😉

FWIW I couldn’t find a legit way of insuring a bike for the time it’s in the airlines hands either.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/insuring-bikes-against-damageloss-whilst-in-transit

🙂

GW: harsh 🙁

Just spoken to another insurance company, same reply, and BA aren’t any help either. See a lot of people taking their bikes abroad, what do you do, just take the risk?

just take the risk (it’s v. small) and no worse than the risk driving IME. the very next year I had my van nicked in France with around £10K of bikes and equipment inside, got practically nothing for that either (other than the insurance for a new van and stereo)

This is a bit worrying..

couldn’t you just sue the airline in small claims court for negligence? its unlikely enough to happen that it could provide enough cover?

The thread linked by andyl up there refers to using Snowcard

Last time I looked they had a £300 single item limit

I don’t think cover for in transit is something that I’d be concerned about too much

couldn’t you just sue the airline in small claims court for negligence? its unlikely enough to happen that it could provide enough cover?

There is some convention or other that protects airlines, I think the limit is based on a number of dollars per kilo of luggage. Cant remember specifics but its paltry..

I haven’t thought about that part of our trip but you could check the ctc travel insurance. They cover bike stuff that others don’t. Very helpful over the phone if you don’t want to trawl through the t&cs.

There is some convention or other that protects airlines, I think the limit is based on a number of dollars per kilo of luggage. Cant remember specifics but its paltry..

Yep! IIRC I got £15 per kilo and they wouldn’t even go upto the actual weight of the bike.. oh and (from experience) if you try to take them to court you’re even more **** if you happened to have been flying from Geneva :/

I’m not sure about the snowcard but the guy who was interested last time got a quote for £3k.

I just ran through a quick quote and it seems as though I can cover £1500 of bike for £42.

I would call them up though and get it all confirmed. You must also report the loss without delay etc etc.

Looks like SnowCard do provide the baggage cover as long as it’s reported and you get the appropriate information from the airline, have e-mailed them for additional clarification, will let you all know what I find out.

Good to know.

Ask them specifically what the single item limit would be

well my fork CSU is one item, lower legs another, wheel hub another, rim, 32 spokes per wheel…..:D

not sure that would work would it?

Myth confirmed 🙂

Dropped them an email myself for future reference

Thanks for your email enquiry.

Bikes would be covered under the SPORTS EQUIPMENT cover. Full details of the cover can be found on pages 10 & 11 of the travel insurance guide and policy wording http://www.snowcard.co.uk/downloads/policy-wording.pdf

The limits are user defined with no single item limit. You can select the limit from £500 to £3000 by using the sliding scale on the quote screen.

I also confirmed that they cover the bike while in the airlines hands as this was the sticking point for other insurers I talked to, response was

“In the event of a loss, theft or damage to your personal belongings and equipment during your outward or return journey, providing you obtain a ‘PROPERTY IRREGULARITY REPORT’ from the airline, you will be covered to the user defined limit you select on your policy schedule.”

So all looks good as long as you don’t need more than £3k’s cover 🙂

on page 11 an exclusion is :

e. Loss or theft of or damage to valuables
if you leave them in baggage which is
checked in to the carrier.

So does valuables not include bikes, because if it does – I check my bike in, it gets squished, no cover?

I guess the 3k limit would just cover a new frame and forks for my tr450…