Heading to the Alps this summer? You may want to think again about which company you fly with, or drive.
Whilst it’s okay to fly with a wind surfer, kayak or hang glider; bikes are now limited to a lower maximum weight of 23kg. That’s going to be a struggle if you want to take an all mountain/enduro bike and adequately protect it from the vagaries of airport handlers.
From the Easyjet website:
“One item of Sports equipment can be carried in addition to Your Hold Baggage allowance. Sports equipment is defined as:
Small Sports Equipment (items up to 20kg) for example:
- Golf equipment (excluding golf shoes);
- Skis (including boots and poles);
- Snowboards;
- Surfboards;
- Sporting Firearms;
- Diving Equipment (Gas or air cylinders are not permitted); and
- Sporting Wheelchairs (unless this is one of the two items of mobility equipment per passenger), or
Large Sports Equipment (items up to 32kg, except bicycles for which the maximum weight is 23kg (our emphasis – Ed)) for example:
- Bicycles;
- Canoes;
- Wind surfers; and
- Hang-gliders/paragliders.”
So why are bikes singled out for the lower, and quite restrictive limit?
We’d expect mountain bikers to make up a decent proportion of Easyjet’s summer clientele especially to classic Alpine destinations such as Geneva, so the decision seems a strange one unless the intention is to reduce use.
We’ve contacted Easyjet’s press team and will update this story once we get a reply.
UPDATE 13.30: In a tweet we’ve had this message:
“after many complaints from our customers we’re reviewing the bike weight limits and will have an update soon”
and an email stating:
“easyJet’s aim is to make flying with us as easy as possible for all. We are currently reviewing our bike weight limit policy and will be in touch again soon with an update.”
Further UPDATE 10/01/14: We’ve just received this email.
“I have some good news for you!
We’re just about to announce that our bike weight limit is being raised to 32kg form Saturday 11 January. Whilst this will take a number of weeks to be applied to all our systems no customer will be charged an excess for bikes between 23kg & 32kg going forward.
Thanks again for getting in touch and bringing it to our attention.”
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Well, that’s a pile of steaming poo.
Looks like I’ll be driving then 😉
23kg is a sub 30lb bike in an evoc bag from some experience. It’s a tight pack.
ferry and drive though !!
The reply should make some interesting reading.
They’re obviously trying to get you to buy another piece of hold luggage, for which you get an extra 20kg allowance and an extra bag.
The crucial thing is that your now 43kg allowance can be split between the two bags as you see fit, although you’re still not supposed to put anything other than your bike inside the bike bag.
And you HAVE to use a bike bag… not sure of they (or indeed you) would consider the sub-1kg ‘CTC plastic bag’ to be adequate.
PS: In 2012 at least, the plastic bag approach was acceptable: http://www.ctcwest.org.uk/ctcbristol/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=215:bikes-and-baggage-on-easyjet-flights&catid=30:ride-reports&Itemid=16
I would guess that they’ve done their research and they think that the extra baggage charges they can now claim from us all won’t affect their market share much, and will probably net them more money overall. Blatant profiteering.
I, for one, will be wearing a lot of clothing when I get on the plane.
I bet it’s because of the size and irregular shape. Or at least that’s what they’ll claim. They’ll say it makes it difficult for one person to handle if over 23kg. Health and safety of their staff etc.
Just strip your bike of peripheral heavy bits (cassette, brakes, seat/seatpost etc..) and put them in your hand luggage – and gain 15kg in body weight just to p*ss them off?
Monarch is only 20 kgs.
they’ve tweeted that they’re reviewing the limit again.
Budget airlines do like to take the piss with baggage eh?
I just booked flights with RyanAir.
Seat for me, a six foot, 88kg man: £48
20kg hold bag plus snowboard: £75
Could always buy a lighter bike
I used to play at avoiding weight limits when I flew a lot- you can easily get a couple of kilos of stuff in your coat and trousers for the bag weigh- thinking pedals, cranks, seat post tools, inner tubes etc- may struggle with a cassette though!- kinda pointy
We need to have a concerted campaign to try and change this.
Ive tried asking the question on their FB page but Didier their autobot just fobbed me off and then when I told him I wasnt pleased at being fobbed off he ignored me!
Twitter seems to get more attention we just need to all tweet at them with a catchy hashtag
#stopusingeasyjet ?
or #easyjethatecyclists
airports make their money from airlines on the baggage iirc. goes some way to explaining why the budget guys try to nail that stuff down? doesn’t explain the bike-bag debacle though.
there should be a MAXIMUM flying weight!
Over that – then you pay an excess.
Had this numerous times over the years living abroad – had to get relatives to stop buying presents, etc for b’days/xmas as you couldn’t take them back.
I can remember the time at Birmingham Airport – standing there putting 5 (yes 5 ) tops/jumpers/coats on along with another pair of trousers to bring the bag under the 20kgs when the guy behind me was over 130kgs in bodyweight yet not a thing was said about that!!
23kg seems an improvement for me. I’ve always aimed for 20kg for bike bag + 12kg for holdall.
You have to be dead careful booking on a bike too- I got charged an extra £45 each way as I had accidentally booked the bike as baggage- so despite me having no other ‘baggage’ I had to pay again for the bike at the check in desk. So £35 original booking fee + £45+£45 = £125. A very expensive mistake, and they make it near on impossible to lodge a complaint at the airport- Easyjet really don’t like cyclists.
Geneva again for me this year. BA have always worked out cheaper, so will continue to use them and book the bike on.
Reading the reviews on Wiggle, seems that several people have used the CTC plastic bag on EasyJet recently. A darn sight lighter than a ‘proper’ bike bag/case and the theory goes that your bike gets looked after because they can see it’s a bike…
Apparently, double or king-sized mattress bags make great substitutes.
Would anyone really trust baggage handlers to treat their bike any differently just because they can see what it is?
@emmodd – apparently, the anecdotal evidence is that they do treat bikes better if they can see what they are.
hey its an easy option ( no pun intended ) vote with your feet & pick another airline theres plenty of them.
I used to fly with BA for the above reason (it was cheaper, had comfier seats and London Pride in tins), but they changed their policy a few years back.
Will easy jet also explain how they come up with weight limits. Do they have any real world examples they work from or is it finger in the air guess work?
Only 20kg with Jet2 as well. It’s tough but if you have hold baggage (ironically thats 22kg allowance) you csn share the overall allowance.
I questioned them on twitter with the hashtag #enforcedroadtrip2014, no reply yet
well this is bad news when i’m due to fly to lanzarote in 2 weeks, well, it is if you plan to fill your bike box with belongings as well as bikes
I’d booked with them months ago with a bike bag option for Majorca for this summer. Is this for new bookings or that they are going to apply to all bookings? And Easyjet get a lot of cyclists using them for Majorca: Easyjet or more like an EasyTarget.
Does anyone have an email address for Easyjet where a complaint about this can be lodged (for those of us not using social media)? It seems to me the more of us who voice our concerns, the more chance there is of them changing this.
Oh dear, that’s very disappointing. We’ve used Easyjet when travelling with bikes quite a few times, and IME they’ve been one of the better companies we’ve used.
The last time we went, we had two light(ish) 29er trail bikes in Evoc bags, and we’d have struggled getting the packed bags below 23kg. I can appreciate the nightmare of the baggage handlers trying to shift really heavyweight bike bags around, but 23kg is just too tight.
I do agree with this idea mentioned above: there should be a MAXIMUM flying weight! [passenger & luggage combined]
and this:
Does anyone have an email address for Easyjet where a complaint about this can be lodged (for those of us not using social media)? It seems to me the more of us who voice our concerns, the more chance there is of them changing this.
A whole load of us went to the alps last summer; a mix of Evoc bags, simple lightweight bike bags and one in a clear plastic bag. None came to any harm but I watched them loading my bike from the plane to the trolley; utter disregard for the fragile sticker as it was thrown (!) onto the trolley slamming onto the side. I won’t pack my carbon bike in anything less than an evoc bag but 23kg is just ridiculous! It won’t be long before they say cassettes, rotors etc are dangerous for hand luggage too…
They know how popular biking is becoming so by lowering the weight limit they will make more money, fundamentally legal theft!
If we all write to the CEO complaining it may get reversed…
Allegedly the email address of the CEO of Easyjet is :- Carolyn.McCall@easyJet.com.
Just sent the following message (working on the basis that we are more likely to get what we want if reasonable and polite)
Dear Ms McCall,
For years I have been taking my bicycle with me when flying with easyJet. I have just booked trip to Geneva and noted the radically reduced weight allowance for cycles (23kg down from 32kg).
I have just checked the weight of my bike and bike bag. They are respectively 14kg and 9.5kg. Neither would be regarded as heavy (in fact the mountain bike is one of the lightest in its class). In addition to the bike and bag I need to add the weight of packaging to protect the bike.
Given other sports equipment has an allowance of upto 32kg this change seems specifically designed to penalise cyclists.
Please let me know if this allowance could be reviewed.
Many thanks
Writing to them is fine, but in the end social media will always get a response. It’s something they can’t hide from. Letters and emails before twitter and facebook would always conveniently get lost.
They just can’t hide from social media.
Thanks Leadfold, cut and pasted! How about a FB page ‘against the Easyjet price rise’…?
What date did this shift in weight allowance come in? Just wondering if easyJet will apply this retrospectively or whether bookings made under the old weight rules will be honoured.
And then he woke up…
Also complained, note that baggage information has not been updated still quotes the old allowance
To CTC
I wondered if CTC was aware that Easyjet have cut the cycle sports bag allowance from 32kg to 23kg. This seems to be unfair for cyclist and discriminatory as the other sports bag allowances have not been reduced.
I have sent a complaint to Easyjet but it would be useful if CTC also engaged them on their discriminatory business practice.
Still no update from easyjet i take it?
Here is the response I received from Easyjet CS. Unfortunately, it’s not very informative.
—
From: customer.service@easyjet.com
To: deleted@hotmail.com
Subject: easyJet Customer Services <>
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2014 03:24:24 +0000
Dear Douglas
Thank you for contacting us.
I understand your concern with regards to sports equipment.
We have revised our policy as the weight allowance for bicycles for earlier weight limit were subject to space availability.
To Know more on bicycle weight allowance click link (http://support.easyjet.com/faq/en/request.do?view%28%29=c%7b0e143af0-cedc-11e2-ef6e-000000000000%7d).
Hope you will understand this .
Regards
Nisha
easyJet Customer Services
>> Original Message …
>> From: customer.service@easyjet.com
>> To: deleted@hotmail.com
>> Subject: Re: <>
>> Sent:
>>
>> I just noticed your new weight allowance for bicycles, 23kg. I will be flying to the French Alps this summer and from past experience, 23kg is not enough to accomodate my bike in an appropriate bike bag. I flew last summer with Easyjet and the weight limit was 32kg, which was a reasonable limit for bike and bag (mine was 30kg). I hope you revert to the older limits otherwise I may not be able to fly with you again. Thanks.
for anyone viewing this late, social media seems to of won the day
https://twitter.com/easyJet/statuses/421673549338644481
In response to your query I would like to inform you that I have some fantastic news for you. From Saturday 11th January 2014, the weight allowance for bikes will now be 32kg instead of 23kg in line with other large sporting goods.
Does anyone fancy taking on Jet2 next then? If you thought Easyjet were bad – Jet2’s bike carriage T&Cs only allow you to carry 20kg max (2kgs less than your weight limit for a suitcase) and they charge you £30 each way for the privilege of only carrying 2/3s of your bike….