Right, we're starting to plan the summer trip to the Alps, we normally drive but decided to fly this year.

I'm just a little confused as to what the weight limit is when travelling with the bike, I've done a bit of searching on the tinternet and found a few horror stories of people being charged a lot in excess baggage fees.

So far I've gathered, you pay a one off fee of £18.50 per bike per flight, simple enough.
But when reading easyjets carrier regulations it seems that this only entitles you to a total of 32kg of hold luggage (bike +standard luggage), is this correct?

From their website;

Where checked-in hold baggage exceeds 20kgs in weight (subject to the above rule), each passenger will pay an excess baggage charge per kg up to a passenger maximum of 50kgs, as follows:

Currency Excess Baggage per kg
GBP 10.00

So, as standard your allowed a case(s) of up to 20kg in weight, any heavier and you have to pay £10.00 per kilo in excess baggage fees up to a maximum weight of 50kg per person. Fair enough.

So when you pay your extra £18.50 for 'sports equipment';

Sporting equipment
Each passenger is allowed a maximum hold baggage weight of 50 Kgs including any sports equipment, subject to available space. The maximum weight for any single piece of baggage is 32 kgs.
An additional non-refundable fee is charged per item per flight for the carriage of the sporting equipment as set out in the table below:

Currency Per flight (when pre-paid) Per flight(paid at the airport)
GBP 18.50 26.00

Payment of the additional fee increases your checked-in hold baggage allowance (including additional item) to a maximum weight of 32kgs.
Where your total checked-in hold baggage weighs more than 32Kgs, normal excess baggage charges as set out above shall apply in addition to the above fee.

So adding a bike only gets you an extra 12kg (32kgs total) of hold baggage allowance then? If its any more then your liable to be charged the £10 per kilo excess baggage fee up to a maximum of 50kg per person?

hmmm, any help appreciated 😕

i'd phone them

So adding a bike only gets you an extra 12kg (32kgs total)

No, 50Kg but 32Kg single item.

Each passenger is allowed a maximum hold baggage weight of 50 Kgs including any sports equipment, subject to available space. The maximum weight for any single piece of baggage is 32 kgs

Nah I interpret this as an extra 30- you get 20 for your normal bags and 30 for your bike – max fifty. If your bag is 17 dont let the bike go over 32. Last time my bag was about 16 and my bike bag was 29. No problems that was easyslut brs-gva. I use a crc bike bag, but a box from lbs is just as good.

All wrong. From experience the past two years;

If you turn up with suitcases, over 20kg you pay for every kg over and are only allowed up to 50kg in total.

If you pay for hold luggage+ bicycle, your case weighs 20kg max and bike can weigh up to 32kg (the H&S limit)

They hide the line

Bicycles are subject to the sports equipment fee and exempt from any excess baggage charges relating to the weight of the bicycle.

further down the T&Cs

Me + bike flew Easyjet from Gatwick to Nice at the end of last year. We had added the extra 18.50 each way for sporting equipment but were unsure about the weight limits from their vague description on the website. Anyway, bike in bag, gear (full face and pads) and a few tools added up to ~30kg + plus carry on and we had no problems whatsoever (although we expected the worst).

Do a search – I think we got a definitive answer from Easyjet with some people getting money back from them

Bottom line is you get an extra 32kg for the bike – but they may hammer you for excess if you pack other stuff in there

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tools-in-handluggae-on-easyjet

Yes on first reading it I thought paying for sports equipment upped the limit to 50kg;

Each passenger is allowed a maximum hold baggage weight of 50 Kgs including any sports equipment, subject to available space. The maximum weight for any single piece of baggage is 32 kgs

But it clearly states here that paying the £18.50 for sports equipment only increases it to 32kg;

Payment of the additional fee increases your checked-in hold baggage allowance (including additional item) to a maximum weight of 32kgs.
Where your total checked-in hold baggage weighs more than 32Kgs, normal excess baggage charges as set out above shall apply in addition to the above fee.

I think the 50kg they keep referring to is a 'maximum' weight of hold luggage that each person is entitled to, once the relevant excess baggage fees have been paid of course?? 😕

Bicycles are subject to the sports equipment fee and exempt from any excess baggage charges relating to the weight of the bicycle.

People seem to be making this very complicated!

Looks clear to me:

'Payment of the additional fee increases your checked-in hold baggage allowance (including additional item) to a maximum weight of 32kgs.'

So if you pay the £18.50 you get to carry 1 extra item and the total weight of you main bag and the extra item can be up to 32kg before you incur extra charges. The other stuff is all about maximum limits irrespective of any extra charges you pay i.e. no single item can be more that 32kg and the total of all items cannot be more that 50kg.

All wrong. From experience the past two years;

If you turn up with suitcases, over 20kg you pay for every kg over and are only allowed up to 50kg in total.

If you pay for hold luggage+ bicycle, your case weighs 20kg max and bike can weigh up to 32kg (the H&S limit)

They hide the line

Bicycles are subject to the sports equipment fee and exempt from any excess baggage charges relating to the weight of the bicycle.
further down the T&Cs

Awesome 😀

IanP – Member

People seem to be making this very complicated!

So if you pay the £18.50 you get to carry 1 extra item and the total weight of you main bag and the extra item can be up to 32kg before you incur extra charges

Well, thats not right which is why people get confused! That applys to any other sporting equipment, but not bikes.

Easyjet changed it years ago- our first trip we worked within the 32kg limit for everything- bit of a pain to say the least

IanP, i'd say me and you are correct, the limit with sports equipment is 32kg TOTAL inc any other hold luggage.
But seeing as bicycles are exempt from excess fee's then its ok as long as the bike doesn't go over 32kg (the limit for hs reasons).

Many thanks everyone.

😀

"entitles you to a total of 32kg of hold luggage (bike +standard luggage), is this correct?"
yes, or at least it was the other summer ago

32kg total (hold) baggage
Anything over that is subject to excess baggage charge. They won't allow anything over 50kg hold baggage regardless
Bike bag is allowed to be upto 32kg
(I belive other bags are subject to 20kg maximum)

For eg
If you had one bike box (eg 23kg) and one hold bag (eg 9kg) you would just be within gthe maximum
When selecting number of hold bags you would select 1 in this instance, and tick the bike sprts allowance option also

"entitles you to a total of 32kg of hold luggage (bike +standard luggage), is this correct?"

No

see the thread I linked to & the replies from Easyjet – also the refunds

james – Member
For eg
If you had one bike box (eg 23kg) and one hold bag (eg 9kg) you would just be within gthe maximum
When selecting number of hold bags you would select 1 in this instance, and tick the bike sprts allowance option also

I'd say your wrong james. Because the bike is exempt from the excess baggage charges you could still check in a case weighing upto 20kg with your bike (as long as the bike doesn't weigh more than 32kg and the combined weight of bike plus other case isn't more than 50kg)
😀

Why don't easyjet put this statement under 'sporting equipment' rather than next to 'hair curlers containing hydrocarbon gas' in their carriers regs;

(1) Carriage of bicycles:
Bicycles are subject to the sports equipment fee and exempt from any excess baggage charges relating to the weight of the bicycle.

Teach me not to read everything in the future…

😕

It may have changed since I flew with them, but over 32kg total (with bike option paid) they were charging excess baggage 18 months ago

the bit that says relating to the weight of the bicycle. is important here
If you put anything else in the bike bag/box they could [& have] charged excess fees as otherwise it could allow you to supplement the weight limit of your other hold bag

It may have changed since I flew with them, but over 32kg total (with bike option paid) they were charging excess baggage 18 months ago

It hasn't changed
It's because the staff don't know the rules
We had the CS director at Luton explain it to us [& his staff] after they tried to charge us & we stood firm

Read the other thread

" you put anything else in the bike bag/box they could [& have] charged excess fees"
But how do they know (at the check in desk)?

"We had the CS director at Luton explain it to us [& his staff] after they tried to charge us"
That explains a lot

But how do they know (at the check in desk)?

some of them will look in it – some [probably most] wont

Tips:

Turn up early
Be polite
Take T&Cs printed with you
Pack bike well

They DON'T WEIGH your bike bag at the airline check in desk.

They may ask you roughly how much it weighs but they can't weigh it as it doesn't fit. As long as it's 32kg or less they'll be happy.

The bag goes to outsize luggage to be processed but it's been checked in by that point so you're fine. The handlers at outsize baggage have no connection to your carrier so as long as it's tagged and under 50kg it's no problem.

Flew around with tons of heavy video gear for years with work so that's how I know all this.

Lat year going to Spain my bikebag was ridiculously heavy. Told EasyJet it was "around 20kg" but when it went through outsize luggage it was 47kg!

They DON'T WEIGH your bike bag at the airline check in desk.

They do sometimes – mine got weighed at Newcastle before having to take it round to outsize luggage

My bike was weighed last year at Edinburgh- so i'd not plan on it happening any other way

They DON'T WEIGH your bike bag at the airline check in desk.

I've had mine weighed every time.

They do sometimes – mine got weighed at Newcastle before having to take it round to outsize luggage

My bike was weighed last year at Edinburgh- so i'd not plan on it happening any other way

Fair points but as I said the airline limit is 32kg so as long as you're under that it's ok.

The airline check-in scales don't usually fit bike bags and not sure if they get an accurate reading or pay heed to it.

The airline check-in scales don't usually fit bike bags and not sure if they get an accurate reading or pay heed to it.

East Midlands, Liverpool and Newcastle easily took my Planet-X bag.

I read the conditions as follows:

1. A standard bag is max 20kg over this excess charges apply
2. The £18.50 is a generic fee for an additional "bag" of sporting equipment
3. Each single item (standard or equipment) cannot be heavier than 32kg (whether you've had to pay excesses or not)
4. The 32kg total limit is for your checked bag PLUS any equipment…except
5. If your sporting equipment is a bike then the 32kg total doesn't apply. but the 32kg individual bag limit does.
6. The 50kg limit is a total upper limit for one passenger whatever combination of bags/equipment they carry, meaning that with a bike at 32kg you can only check a normal bag of 18kg

they weigh bike boxes at Liverpool too.

– keep the bike box under 32kg
– keep the suitcase under 20kg
– and keep the whole lot under 50kg

that's how I see it.

What exactly are you taking that weighs so much for any of this to be a problem?

I tried (and failed due to snow) to fly from Manchester last tuesday for a short trip to Italy and was at 18kg for bike, bag, tools, spd shoes etc and 7kg of hand luggage. Admittedly a long trip would need more gear and maybe a burlier bike but do people really need 32kg for bike plus 20kg hold luggage plus whatever hand luggage is allowed???

Interestingly I was using flybe with an odd rule where bike is £28ish but not guarranteed to travel. You can book it ahead but they won't take payment until at the airport. Guy at the check in wasn't bothered about any payment. Shame they didn't de-ice the plane in time to fly (on the nicely cleared runways)….

when flying with easy jet just a fortnight ago i took my bike in a bag weighing 32.2kg and a hold bag weighing 13kg plus a piece of hand luggage.

NO extra charges were paid.

hope this helps

however the gorilla's at bristol airport ripped the bottom of my bag clean open, luckily i'd packed everything well and nothing dropped out. thanks to whoever that was. TWONK.

i just flown back yesterday to innsbruck where i live.

i had my bike full of pads etc – 29kg's – £18.50
hold luggage – 19.7kg's – £8
hand luggage – no limit on kgs just size. – FREE

i was fine and paid nothing?!

i just took it to the desk and they took it, done

nick

http://www.easyjet.com/EN/Book/regulations.html

At the end of section 10 of this link is the quote that R3G has posted. His interpretation is correct. I remember us both going through this several times last year!

I flew Easyjet last week to Toulouse. Two of us, two bikes paid for, bikes 23kg and 22kg hold bags 18kg and 19kg no problems at all. I had the carriers regs printed out ready and e mail confirmation from cust services and didnt need any of it.
Carriers regs say bike exempt from excess baggage, so just keep your other hold bag under 20kg and you will have no problems. Oh and only put your bike in the bike bag or you leave yourself open to problems.