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After the damage done to my Brompton by StarPeru, and from the information in my previous question, I now have a Chubby. It protects the bike better than the B-bag, and my carry-on goes in it between flights.

But the previously onerous task of finding the right flight price has become much worse, because I have to search each airline's website, and try to understand the convoluted baggage fee rules (if I can even find them) to get the real cost.

Traveling Overseas with Bikes has some good information, but it cites a page that seems to contradict some of that information. It also seems to only be pertinent to Europe (I'm headed to Taiwan and Korea) and also to having a car to get the packaged bike to the airport. (I get to the airport on the bike, usually. Dumped the car seven years ago.)

Looking at those two references and others, I get some messages that I should NOT tell them it's a bike and some saying that telling them is protection (which it certainly wasn't in Peru).

Any actual experience here taking something like the Chubby on a plane? Especially interested in other than Europe.

Saving a hundred whatevers on the ticket is no good if I spend two hundred on the bike. Saving two hundred on the bike is no good if I spend five hundred for repairs.¹

¹Last trip, an iPad was stolen, and only then did I find that the insurance had a three hundred dollar limit.

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  • Knowing your airlines would help. I've never paid extra for a (full sized) bike, fees are a very American thing as far as I can see. Asiana in Korea are fine, if that helps.
    – alex
    Nov 10, 2017 at 16:34
  • Knowing the airlines is indeed a challenge. Azuon searches eighty (including Asiana) but it can't find any flights for them from USA to Taiwan nor Korea to USA! And I am aware of dozens that they don't list. I'll certainly look at Asiana's website, as none of the search engines I checked mentioned them. (....) Found their website, but "search flights" gets a timeout pop-up. And their baggage info link is "service unavailable"
    – WGroleau
    Nov 10, 2017 at 17:07
  • Third party site says bikes on Asiana are exempt from the size rules but not the weight rules. For flights to and from USA, that means I would pay US$ 100 for it, unless I take everything extra out and check them in as a separate bag, in which case it's US$200 for the extra bag! But at least I now know of a good site: airline-baggage-fees.com/asiana-airlines.php
    – WGroleau
    Nov 10, 2017 at 17:23
  • Dunno how far you're flying, but is it possible to take the plane out of the mix and ride there instead? Sure it will take days, but that's touring.
    – Criggie ♦
    Nov 10, 2017 at 22:54
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    What's the actual question, here? The only question mark is after a request for other people's experiences, which isn't what Stack Exchange is about.
    – David Richerby
    Nov 12, 2017 at 15:28

1 Answer 1

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You get what you pay for - you cannot travel heavy (A bike is traveling heavy) and cheap. Traditionally US has the highest baggage allowances in the world, international travel outside the US (cattle class), a baggage allowance of one 20kg bag is common. Excess baggage is often calculated at 1% of a first class airfare per kg or something similar. Most airlines have concessions for sports gear.

This is the main reason why there are still Travel agents. They should know this stuff and have access to much better travel planning tools than you do. Their business model today is stepping in when google (an patience ) fails.

Second part is shop (and you get what you pay for) better travel insurance, and read the policy before you need to claim. You seem overly concerned about getting your bike damaged or lost, to the point its stopping you in your tracks and you are not enjoying the travel experience (planning being a part of that).

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  • Yeah, I need to find a better insurance. But as for travel agents, I've often gone to them for assistance, only to find that they either don't know how or are too lazy to find better deals than I can find.
    – WGroleau
    Nov 12, 2017 at 21:12

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