Traveling with bikes on planes question (luggage allowance)

Hi , ive just been looking at going touring and a bit of mountain biking and was wondering how it it works out taking bikes on planes with panniers. Looking at ryan air the luggage allowance is 15kgs and since i will have four panniers how does that work out as four seperate items, do they go attached to the bike or alone ? and how on earth do you get over the crappy weight allowance ?

anyone shed some light

thanks

Have you booked your flight yet? if not then I would strongly suggest that you avoid ryanair.
we had some clients this summer flying from london to salzburg/munich with ryanair and the number of damaged bikes was much higher than with any other carrier. they also put a dent in one of my own bikes… I travel regularly and know how to wrap up my bikes, so they did an impressive job in denting it. I’ve flown a few times with easyjet and they seem to be much more reliable.

As for the weight question – could you not pack your panniers into a bigger bag, then just organize it when you get there?

Who you fly with has no impact on how the bag is handled as it’s airport crews who handle the bags. The airlines never touch them themselves. It’s one company at most airports that do all the baggage handling for everyone there.

Weight limits are a difficult one. Consider flying with a more expensive (initially) airline that will be cheaper in the end. BA didn’t charge extra for bikes last time i checked, KLM the same.
To get the panniers through as one I’d get them shrinkwrapped together thus making it one piece of luggage. If they are seperate they’ll be treated as a piece of luggage each.