Getting a bike to NZ and Oz

[miffed]

In July and August Im going on holiday to Australia and New Zealand does anyone have any advice about getting a bike out? Im flying with Emirates and they seem to have a harsh 30kg weight limit including bike is there anyway around this or it just going to be very expensive.

James

 

[Milani09]

luck

I have travelled from NZ on Emirates to Europe flying home out of Paris, on the way there I ended up sending as unaccompanied bagage due to an uninterested desk attendant. On the return flight I had no issues and after making very minimal purchases due to expected weight penalties I did not even get questioned or have to pay extra for bike in a scicon hard case which weighed 25kg by itself without my other bagage. It can totally depend on who you get at the desk on the day. (I also had the advantage of silver skywards). Enjoy the riding

 

[Night Rider]

Ditch Emirates and fly Qantas or Air NZ, they give you an additional 10kg for one piece of sports equipment on top of your ordinary baggage allowance. Sports equipment includes golf clubs or bikes, etc.

 

[kiwirider]

In July and August Im going on holiday to Australia and New Zealand does anyone have any advice about getting a bike out? Im flying with Emirates and they seem to have a harsh 30kg weight limit including bike is there anyway around this or it just going to be very expensive.

James

Do you have to fly across Asia? Reason I ask is that, if you fly through North America, you get North American baggage allowances - which is two pieces, each no more than 30kg (I think - last few times I've had extra weight allowance due to travelling business class). Your bike and extras will easily fit into that. Word of warning though if you do - avoid LA like the plague! I wont go into details, but suffice to say that the security experience there is pretty ****ty - especially if you are travelling with something bulkly like a bike (as it wont fit in the x-ray machines ...). Go through San Fran instead - it's a much better set up airport and a much more pleasant experience ...

If however it makes sense to fly the other way, then suggestions about other airlines and excess baggage made by other posters are all good.

Also, what are you packing your bike into? A good way to get weight down is to use a soft sided case and wrap the frame in pipe lagging (or other foam). I have a hard case and a soft case, and have to use the latter with my carbon Scalpel. By wrapping the tubes, (and I'm typing this next bit whilst making a point of knocking on wood) I have managed to beat the best efforts of baggage handlers.

If you do decide to send anything as unaccompanied baggage, make sure that you send something small and dense - eg., a bag with all of your spare gear rather than you bike. Reason I say this is that airlines/air freight companies work on the basis of what is called volumetric weight. It's a combination of the actual volume and an assumed weight per cubic metre. So, something relatively bulky but light like a bike will cost you proportionately far more than a box or bag full of stuff ...

Good luck with the travel planning ... and make sure that you pack heaps of thermals and wet weather gear when you come ... odds on chances are that you'll need them all (on this side of the ditch at least!) ...

 

[dsut4392]

In July and August Im going on holiday to Australia and New Zealand does anyone have any advice about getting a bike out? Im flying with Emirates and they seem to have a harsh 30kg weight limit including bike is there anyway around this or it just going to be very expensive.

James

30kg is actually a _generous_ baggage allowance, many airlines only give you 25 or even 20kg.

As has been pointed out, flying via the US will get you an increased baggage allowance of 2 pieces up to 32kg eack. However, even when you are flying on an itinerary which includes the US, you do need to watch out.

We flew Syd-Tokyo-Frankfurt-Heathrow returning via LA on a Lufthansa ticket in 2008, with a stopover in Tokyo. As we were moving to the UK for a year, we packed our bags up to the full 32kg limit (cardboard bike boxed reinforced and modified with suitcase wheels, and stuffed chock full with anything bike related). The first leg to Tokyo was with Qantas, and they didn't question the luggage. However when we went to check in in Tokyo for the journey through to London, the check-in staff (JAL) said the luggage allowance only applied if that leg of the trip went via the US. After about an hour of argument, several calls to lufthansa by both ourselves and our travel agent who booked the tickets, the best resolution we could get was that they would waive the excess on one bag each, and charge us a 'nominal' excess for each of our bike boxes. "Nominal" came to a couple of hundred Euros each bike!

We saved ourselves the hassle on the return journey and shipped our stuff back home from the UK with a removal company (largely because we had an extended 'side trip' to South America for two months).

Morals of the story:
1. Call the airline prior to your flight to confirm baggage allowances (we did this)
2. Ask your travel agent (if using one) to do the same, and give you the result in writing (we did this too)
3. Ask the airline call centre to record the call, make sure you quote your booking reference, and make sure you record the time and date of your call and the full name and location of the call centre operator (we missed this step)
4. Never fly lufthansa! Despite having confirmation of baggage rules in writing from our agent, including the first name of the call centre agent who he spoke to, they refused to acknowledge they had made a mistake, and subsequently were downright obstructive when it came to rescheduling our return journey ("no flights available on your fare class any time between 30 November and 10 March" - which was a flat-out lie as our travel agent was able to reschdule us to our exact preferred date using his login to their booking system).

 

[biker jk]

We took our bikes to France last July and flew Singapore Airlines which provided a 25kg checked in baggage allowance plus 7kg carry on. Our bikes pluse Scicon Aerocomfort Plus bag weigh 20kg incuding helmet, shoes and bidons. So that should give you another 5kg for your clothes, etc. in checked baggage plus the 7kg in carry on.