Fly The Bike-Friendly Skies – Comparing airline bike fees

Anyone who has flown over the past year undoubtedly has noticed a trend with the airlines not only placing greater restrictions on baggage allowances but charging fees for checked bags. For those that travel with their bike no doubt are feeling an even greater pain with insane fee hikes.

As a cyclist and triathlete of over 18 years I’ve seen US airlines go from being totally free to fly with your bike to today’s charging of fees so outrageously high they exceed the cost of the fare you purchased for your seat on the plane. I was unpleasantly surprised to find this out after I booked a flight on United to Australia this past February. It was supposed to be a trip in which I was to do some riding. After I found they hiked their fees from free to $200, I decided cycling wouldn’t be apart of my trip after all. Had I chose to fly Qantas it would have been free. (Hey but I saved $50 on the airfare… Great. :( ) Not to make the same mistake again, I decided to figure out just what are the best airlines when it comes to bike travel fees. In these economic times, it’s the total cost (airfare + bike fees) that will determine not just with which airline I fly, but if I fly at all.

Unfortunately bike travel is not free with any US airline but there are ones more economical than others. Here’s a run down of airlines and their fees along with my two cents…

United Airlines – $175 US Domestic, $200 to Asia/Australia/NZ via the Pacific, Europe, South America, $250 to Africa, Asia via Atlantic, Middle East
Overweight Fee: +$125 if over 50lbs/23kgs or 70lbs/32kgs if you are Global ServicesSM, 1K®, Premier Executive®, Star Alliance® Gold, or active military
Ouch. It wasn’t too long ago that United Airlines supported USA Cycling with free bike travel vouchers. Now they are probably the least desirable choice for cyclists when it comes to travel. From 2006 to 2008, I flew quite a bit with my bike – mostly to races – both domestically and internationally. The majority of these flights were on United. Domestically, they had hiked their fees from $85 to $100 to $125 to $175 all in the course of a five month time span last year! (And $0 to $200/$250 for international). What’s more is if your bike bag is overweight you’ll pay a massive $300 each way! Of course if you’re only a couple pounds over the limit they might let you slide. But I can tell you for now United is my last choice for travel – period. Why even fly for business or non-cycling related travel if the purpose of the miles you accumulate is to be used for cycling related travel? So what if I cash in for a free domestic round trip? I’ll still pay $350 for my bike! This aging airline with aging planes has aging staff that really could care less about my loyalty. I can’t tell you how consistently bad/rude they’ve been in my past several flight experiences.

American Airlines – $100 (unless it is <62in and <50lbs) + checked baggage fee of $15/$25 (does not apply for International flights or those with status)
Overweight Fee: +$50 if over 50lbs/23kgs
Oversize Fee: Does not apply but case must be <115in
AA is the other major airline to which I’ve been loyal over the years. They too have some costly fees, although significantly lower than the other major carriers.  It does change my preference over United when it comes to accumulating frequent flyer miles although I still have a beef with them after I used my frequent flyer miles to fly to Costa Rica that was delayed so long they had to book me on a Delta flight on a re-routing nightmare.

Delta – $175 US, $300 International
Forget it.  As a west coaster, I don’t fly with them anyways. So why start?  Plus, they left me without my luggage for 4 days of my week long trip in Costa Rica.

Northwest – $175 US, $175? International
Ditto above save the luggage experience.

US Airways – $100
I’m resisting the urge to say anything negative about this airline as they are the last airline I flew to have provided bike vouchers (for Ironman competitors) and they do have a hero pilot in Sully. But I have to pay a fee or purchase a flight in order to keep my account active and prevent the forfeit of my earned miles just because I’ve had 18 months of inactivity?

Hawaiian Air – $100 to/from Continental US (note: space is limited)
If you’re going to ride in Hawaii, perhaps Kona for Ironman, this is a good alternative to AA and United – even if it means connecting through Honolulu.

Alaska Air – $50/$75 (higher of the overweight or oversize fee)
Overweight Fee: $50 if over 51lbs
Oversize fee: $50 if over 62in, $75 if over 80in
Now we’re talking! Under $100! Great for flying up and down the west coast.

Virgin America – $50
Overweight Fee: +$50 if more than 50lbs
Virgin is easily my favorite domestic airline with it’s brand new planes with personal TVs, inflight wifi, loungy feel to it’s cabins, and fun young staff that appreciates your business… and you know if Branson is behind the airline, it has to be cool. With the lowest base domestic bike fees there’s even more reason to like them. I just wish they flew to more destinations. They just added a new route to Orange County. In fact they just flew its maiden voyage last Wednesday.  (I’m no iJustine, but I’m not sure why Allison didn’t invite me on board! oh well.)

Southwest – $50 (<80 in and <100lbs)
Probably the greatest low fare airline of the past decade. Personally, I’d rather have a reserved seat and the comfort and perks of a Virgin flight but a good second choice, especially in these economic times when their prices if not jokes will keep you from frowning all day.

If you are going to travel internationally, you’re much better off with a non-US airline as they’re across the board cheaper, if not free.  Meanwhile, the execs of United and the likes are wondering why they can’t fill their seats.  A sample of some of the more popular ones…

Lufthansa – $100
Air Canada – $75 North America (24 hr check in required, 20% discount for pre-paying)
Qantas – $0
Air New Zealand – $0
South African Airways- $0

All fees are current as of the date of this post.