Opinions please: which airline?

[torquer]

I'm planning on attending a cycling camp in California next month, and in making my flight arrangements the issue of airlines' handling of my bike looms large. I haven't flown with a bike for several years, so I thought I would draw on the forum's accumulated wisdom.

My options include:

1. American Airlines to Santa Barbara (closest airport to camp location), with transfer at LAX. Two chances for them to lose/damage the bike.
2. Jet Blue to Burbank, with one hour longer drive to camp. (I would have to rent a car anyway.)
3. FedEx/UPS bike to camp site, fly whereever, rent whatever car without worrying about bike transport.

Not crazy about AA, but best schedule. Good experience with JetBlue (if that's not like rating your "best" root canal). I haven't researched the comparative costs, but am interested in forumites' experience.

[sg8357]

Ship the bike, so much better to get on the plane knowing your bike
is already there. Cost wise it should be a wash ship vs. airline.

Do you really want the TSA trying to figure out how to repack your bike ?

[SoCalSteve]

I'm planning on attending a cycling camp in California next month, and in making my flight arrangements the issue of airlines' handling of my bike looms large. I haven't flown with a bike for several years, so I thought I would draw on the forum's accumulated wisdom.

My options include:

1. American Airlines to Santa Barbara (closest airport to camp location), with transfer at LAX. Two chances for them to lose/damage the bike.
2. Jet Blue to Burbank, with one hour longer drive to camp. (I would have to rent a car anyway.)3. FedEx/UPS bike to camp site, fly whereever, rent whatever car without worrying about bike transport.

Not crazy about AA, but best schedule. Good experience with JetBlue (if that's not like rating your "best" root canal). I haven't researched the comparative costs, but am interested in forumites' experience.

Depending on the time of day that you will travel down the 101 Freeway to Santa Barbara, Solvang or wherever...It could take MUCH more than an hour extra...Thats one very busy freeway heading North at certain times of day (like anywhere from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM)...

I'd fly as close as possible and avoid LA traffic, but thats just me...

Good luck!

Steve

[dave thompson]

Regardless of how your get to camp, FedEx your bike!

[Pete Serotta]

Delta flies into Santa Barbara... (from Raleigh I go to Salt Lake and then right into SANTA BARBARA. Very nice small a/p/. TSA folks are good also and they are right at checkin so if you carry your bike it is not bad. I have a S&S bike and they let me watch as they checked it.

LA airport is not fun, just as most major airports are not these days,

I would send my bike via FED EX a week ahead of time.


There is a wonderful bike shop in SANTA BARBARA (FAST TRACK) . I would think the tour group would also have a ship to address (or the hotel). Tell them you heard about them from PETE (he is good friends with MIKE from CYCLESPORT. They raced together many years ago)

[PBWrench]

Ditto + 1,000 on Fed Ex. Much easier, you do the packing and tracking, and the chances of it arriving safely are at least as good as the airlines.

[bocarider]

Check out George Farnsworth's excellent site:

http://www.gfarnsworth.com/BikeAccess/new_db.cfm

There is a lot of information on that site about this topic.

Personally, I have flow a lot with our bikes, including both AA and JetBlue (you will see my posts on the above referenced site as to both).

JetBlue charged me $50 per bike (in Trico cases) and were generally pretty reasonable about the whole thing.

AA, which I have flown a couple of times with bikes varied. Last year I was able to get the check-in guy to only charge me the $80 for one of the two bikes (maybe because my wife was cute and charming with him). On the return trip, there was a real crush of people checking in and I started to complain to the check in agent about the bike fee. She rolled her eyes and said "forget it - here are your boarding passes, have a nice flight" so we avoided any payments on that one. The AA trip before that, we paid full freight for both bikes both ways, despite trying to be charming or argumentative.

The advantage of taking it on the plan is you have a pretty good chance of it getting there with you, and not worrying about the shipping company messing up, which can happen with the big boxes. Of course, airlines have been known to misplace bags, but I have been really lucky with my bike boxes making it all the way, including connections, with me.

[GregL]

I have much more faith in FedEx's tracking system than the airlines' baggage handling systems. And that's from a "retired" pilot... Added bonus - with FedEx, you can lock the shipping case, making pilferage that much less likely. And no TSA personnel will be able to screw up the careful packing of your bike. The last time I flew with a bike, the TSA personnel left one of the latches on the case unattached. It was only through very good luck that my bike wasn't spilled all over the ramp!

Regards,
Greg

[torquer]

Is this forum great, or what? Seven responses in less than an hour!

Sounds like shipping bike is the way to go.

Now to figure out cost/benefit of 2nd (or 3rd?) day air vs. ground.

[GregL]

Now to figure out cost/benefit of 2nd (or 3rd?) day air vs. ground.

Ground shipping is WAY cheaper. I usually ship a bike from CNY to south FL each spring for a family vacation. Insured ($1,500 value) FedEx Ground shipping was ~$40 last time I made the trip. Transit time was 4 days (ship on Monday, arrive on Friday). The bike was waiting for me at my in-laws residence when I arrived on Saturday.

Regards,
Greg

[PBWrench]

In less you are very pressed for time, ground works fine -- usually in about 4 days. Re: cost, be prepared that when you ship back from the bike store, they may well charge more because they use a shipping service that in turn works with Fed Ex, adding a middleman. All in all, still the best way to go in my opinion.