Just weighed my bike + bag + my knee and elbow pads used as packaging + a fairly small amount of cardboard and bubble wrap, 19.76kg. Jet2 bike limit is 20kg with a £10 per kilo penalty 8O. How do downhillers manage? People say "Get an old bike box and line your bag with it", I can't, I tried that and it took me way over. Is my bag just heavy or is 20kg just stingy?

use a box not a bag, if youve got a DH bike youll not be carrying it anyway.

I think he means the weight limit for luggage isn't a lot.

Many airlines have no limit if it's booked in as sporting equipment, however you will have to say that all the other shit you've put in the bag is "just for padding" if asked…

Mine was about 24kg for a sturdy hardtail last time I flew. Weird how all the heavy stuff I was carrying made such good padding.

"I think he means the weight limit for luggage isn't a lot."

Yup, exactly. I guess you just have to find a better airline if you want to travel with a big bike.

Seems doubly silly since I only weigh 60 kilos 😉

I have had to put my pedals, cranks, post, saddle and such in my luggage to get my DH bike on rubbish airlines.

Bike bags are heavy even when empty.

If you take sports equipment on a plane it normally limited to 32KGs not 20kG like luggage…

Call who you are flying with and see if you can book the bike on.. If your with BA its normally free.

Dude I feel the pain

20kg is the going rate for a bike with the kind of airlines I can afford to fly with 🙂

And thats after paying 30-40 pounds extra each way for "sporting equipment"

I was flying with a skinny roadie in a soft bag and just scraped under the allowance with a pair of shoes and not much else in for "padding"
Hefty DH bikes and/or rigid cases will fail massively

That is all

"20kg is the going rate for a bike with the kind of airlines I can afford to fly with

And thats after paying 30-40 pounds extra each way for "sporting equipment""

Exactly- we've paid £27.50 each way for the bikes. They have a 32kg maximum limit but only if you pay the excess baggage, all you get for your £55 is the 20kg. Stingy. It's just as well I'm a weight weenie

BA changed the T+Cs in october 2009. Bike bags are allowed but as part of your normal checked baggage allowance, which is only 23kg on cheaper fares.

thank god easy jet is still 20 kg lgggage plus a bag up to 32 kilo for the bike – as wea re flying the tandem in a couple of weeks

I kind of wish I'd just gone with a cardboard box instead of a bike bag… Though to be fair that might change as soon as i'm wheeling it around in the airport! But for all this is a nice bag with good features, it just doesn't feel as solid as a bike box covered in gaffer tape.

My full sus, spares, some tools, spare tyres, spare pedals and a few other odds and sods came in at 18kg when I flew to the alps.

Each passenger can take a maximum of 5 bags per one way flight that must not exceed the weight allowance purchased. Passengers travelling together on the same booking reservation, who have individually purchased baggage allowance, can pool their baggage up to the equivalent of the total purchased weight allowance. Once this limit is reached then standard overweight charges as detailed below will apply. Please note passengers travelling on the same booking reservation must all check-in at the same time in order to pool the baggage allowance.

From the Bmibaby website (who I'm taking my bike with in 2 weeks)…. gonna ring them to see if it works for sports equipment. I'll just buy another load of hold luggage if so and have an extra 18kg each way for £40 instead of the £10 per kilo excess charge.

Utter money grabbing robbing bastrds…….

Yeah, they're just making money hand over fist, these airlines, aren't they?