I completely agree with you, but I think a lot of people see taking the bike on a plane as the risk
You see a risk, and I see a possibility to buy a new bike that my wife can not argue about. 
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But thatâs a rather long way to get a new bike, and the old one is ruined. Ouch.
Different airline: A friend flew United, internationally, and his bike arrived the day he was due to leave for home. I mean, they DID get it there, but he had over a week with a rental bike. (Nice Untied) It arrived perfectly, of course, no delays on the return. And no idea from them where it was all that time.
Good point. Always always always have an AirTag in the bag or on the bike.
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Multiple flights with southwest, never had an issue. Always use my hard shell bikealan case. Itâs big, donât mind the reasonable charge to have my bike with me and well protected.
Traveled with my bike once so far, I had no problems on my flight out but on my way home it was left behind. Definitely invest in an airtag, I knew right away that it was left behind. Southwest took care of it and had it back to me the following day delivered directly to my house.
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I have a friend who shipped his bike in a soft case. Upon unpacking his bike it turned out that it had been tossed upside down and the seat post had been wedged into the frame, with a little elbow grease he was able to get it out (no long harm done). Besides that, I havenât heard many horror stories.
I have been surprised to hear that Southwest is so easy to fly with bikes. I havenât tried with Delta as itâs the closest airline to me, but I had heard they dropped their prices some years back. I ended up driving to a ride with my main bike pre-pandemic to avoid the hassle/cost and only had a slightly warped disc on the way back; still 2 days in the car each way. sigh
I have been looking for a thread like this!!!
Has anyone used the Thule roundtrip MTB on southwest? Curious because it looks quite a bit heavier. I have both the EVOC travel bag pro and Thule in a shopping cart and cannot pull the trigger. I have a trip to Sedona (on Southwest) in April and need to make the purchase this week.
They wonât turn you away, just depends if they hit you for the oversize bag + the weight to get to $125. I can deal with that, just donât want to show up at the baggage check the morning of and be in a bad situation.
Mike
their policy is confusing. the first statement is clear: âThe items listed below will be accepted as checked baggage for a $75 each-way charge. ⌠Bicycles (defined as non-motorized and having a single seat) properly packed in a bicycle box or hard case from 51 to 100 pounds in weight or 63 to 80 inches in total dimensions.â
HOWEVER within that bullet point: âBicycles over 100 pounds in weight and /or 80 inches in total dimensions cannot be checked as baggage and can only be shipped as Cargo if the Customer is a Known Shipper.â
These are logically contradictory statements. The customer could argue using the first one, but the agent could highlight the â/orâ part and say if your bike box is over 80inches (THEY ALL ARE) then they canât check it. I hate it.
I have a Thule hard case too. Check the baggage weight limits. The last time I flew Southwest to Tucson, Southwest charged me an additional fee on top of the oversized bag fee because my bike box was overweight. I have always packed my cycling clothing and gear, and tools needed to reassemble my bike, in nylon bags inside my bike box. I ended up paying an additional $150. I wasnât able to repack in the airport.
Iâve flown with my bike twice (departure and return). The first time it was $75 flat. The second time the agent tried to add an overweight bag fee for being over 50 pounds on top of the bike fee, but their manager corrected them.
Def check the airlines bike policy on line before departure and know what it is. Not Southwest but on a number of occasions a gate agent didnât know the bike policy and I had to request to speak to a manager or wind up paying fees for oversize/overweight that didnât apply to bikes.
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The issue is the southwest policy online contradicts itself and/or basically is saying you canât take a bike. We all know that isnât true but the online information is essentially worthless and its been years and they have not fixed it, likely intentionally.
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Out of curiosity I just read their bike policy on the website. I donât necessarily like it, and there are a few caveats, but it looks pretty straightforward. There are two pages on the site that apply. Here they are in order:
If you think that looks straight forward then your only interpretation can be you cannot fly with a bike on southwest.
âBicycles (defined as non-motorized and having a single seat), including Bike Friday and Co-Pilot, properly packed in a hard bicycle box that fall within the dimensions and weight limits established for normal checked baggage, (i.e., 62 inches or less in overall dimensions and less than 50 pounds in weight).â
You cannot fit a normal adult bike in a box that is 62" or less overall dimensions.
That kicks you to the second one since the first basically never applies ever:
" * Bicycles (defined as non-motorized and having a single seat) properly packed in a bicycle box or hard case from 51 to 100 pounds in weight or 63 to 80 inches in total dimensions. Pedals and handlebars must be removed and packaged in protective materials so as not to be damaged by or cause damage to other baggage. Bicycles packaged in cardboard or soft-sided cases will be transported as limited release items. Bicycles over 100 pounds in weight and/or 80 inches in total dimensions cannot be checked as baggage and can only be shipped as Cargo if the Customer is a Known Shipper."
80" is also not really possible for a normal bicycle hard case. If it just said and not and/or then you could get away with it by size. That and/or is the killer.
So that kicks you to cargo/known shipper issue, that is the issue.
It is absolutely not straight forward which is why this very thread exists specifically for southwest. It used to be very clear and they used to be on of the lenient airlines with either free or very cheap bike options. I even have one of the ruster sport bags that tried (it was sketchy) to get it under their dimension requirement to fly for free, it worked every time but even then was prepared to pay.
It sounds like the reality is they are not escalating this to cargo and causing problems. But if one checks the website that is what southwest claims is their policy. Checking the website is usually the best idea, the problem here IS the website.
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Agreed with what you say about southwests policy. I just measured a couple of my smaller bike boxes/cases, and they are all over 80â L+w+h. Based on their policy it would be impossible to ship a bike due to its size.
In general, it is a good idea to look at the policies of each airline, because the agents are quite likely not to know it, or even be able to find it easily. Itâs often faster just to charge for it, vs actually look it up or ask a manager (who may or may not know themselves).
Even at my own airline, I carry copies of the policies (the internal policies, not just whatâs on the website) because so many of them get it wrong and want to charge me fees that they shouldnât. Usually my (friendly) confidence in my knowledge of the policy is enough to have them back off, but I keep screenshots on my phone and am happy to show them.
Still doesnât help with the Southwest issue where the policy (total dimensions) is just wrong.
Edited to addâŚ..my airlines policy on dimensions is that itâs considered oversized if itâs over 115â L+w+h, which is reasonable.
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Iâll make a plug for Alaska Airlines. They are very pro-bike. Iâve flown with them w/ bike a number of times. Iâm lucky in that I was able to do all direct flights, even if it meant a bit of driving at the end. Alaska just treated the bike box as another piece of luggage.
Any bike issues I had were really TSA issues â the worst being they didnât know how to re-assemble my Thule hard case and duct taped it (!!!) back together. Seeing the rough & tumble baggage goes through Iâm very pro hard case.
Alaska has always been very good about the travel. I once encountered a newer attendant, who wanted to route me to another line, apparently needing extra ⌠something. After a few moments, another attendant came up and asked what I was doing. I explained, we went back to the first attendant, who then politely got educated and they quickly got me checked in and away I went!
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Replying to my own reply lol.
I would advise against.. flew a handful of times with zero issues then the last time I tried I came up on a worker who was very serious about the rulebook, measured the box a few times and said it was too big, even called over her manager who confirmed and would not allow me to fly with it. I had to leave it behind, luckily I drove myself to the airport and was able to put back in my truck.
My biggest pet peeve about it was every time it was just left up in the air for the employees own interpretation. I totally understand I should have been more diligent with their rules but really didnât think twice since I had no prior issues and the worst part was when I went back to check my luggage in a different worker said she would have checked my bike in and complained her co-worker was just a stickler about rules.
Moving forward Iâll choose a different airline to fly with, Southwest is definitely not bike friendly.
