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Home  Misc Articles Adventures with a bike box |
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Adventures with a bike box |
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Written by Jim Cummins
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I flew to Germany and back with a big TriAll two bike
case with two bikes in it with no extra charge on NWA,
but not without considerable argument.
In Milwaukee, they first wanted to charge $80. I told
them it was my understanding that on international
flights bikes could be checked as a piece of luggage.
This caused two ticket agents to go into research
mode, looking up rules on their terminals, measuring
the box, and weighing it ( about 80 lbs ). After about
10 minutes, they slapped a 'heavy' warning sticker on
it and off it went.
After the race I stored the bike case at the airport
in Frankfurt for about 8 bucks a day while I took a
little vacation.
Flying from Frankfurt was amusing. There was a long
line at the check-in counter. I had been in line for
about 20 minutes, with about 20 to go, when a roving
ticket agent started to work her way up the line. When
she got to me, she gave me and the bike box the
stink-eye and started asking questions:
Agent 'Are you traveling alone today, sir?' ( please
insert prominent German accent)
Me 'Yes I am' ( me and 300 other cattle in your
miserable sky-bus, god help us )
A 'What is in the box?'
Me 'Bicycles'
A 'It is too big. You cannot fly that.'
Me 'Yes I can. I have a round-trip ticket. My baggage
flew here with me, it can fly back' (Oh jeepers, I've
got a nazi on my hands here).
A: ' How much does it weigh?'
Me ' About 80 pounds' ( mostly honest, actually we put
a bunch more stuff in the box for the ride home, it is
now closer to 100 )
A: ( she now acts horrified, perhaps angry, I KNOW she
wants to sic a big German Shepard on me) 'Thats 40
kilos! You must pay the excess baggage fee of 350
Euros!' 'We must weigh it, you need to go to the scale
over there'. ( I'm not about to get out of the line
I've been waiting in, particularly not for the
Commisar here ).
Me: 'No. This box flew with me from Milwaukee at no
extra charge, that's how it will fly back'
A: ( At least I know she is unarmed, or I'd be dead by
now, she is starting to sputter at me.) 'Jaaa, but you
did NOT fly from FRANKFORT!'
Me: ( I really can't think of how to deal with that,
pointing out that it is the same plane just going the
other way seems useless. ) 'Why don't you go get your
supervisor? ' I suggest.
A: ' Jaaaa, I will get the supervisor'
So she storms off, I keep waiting in line. The
supervisor never appeared. By and by I get to the
counter, check my duffel. The clerk asks about the
box, I say bikes. They say they need to weigh it, I
say OK. So we roll it over to the floor scale. I push
two of the four wheels of the box onto the scale, it
reads 27 kilo. The clerk says 27 kilo, that's OK,
slaps a 'heavy' sticker on it, and I'm on my way.
Of course, back in Milwaukee, I'm waiting at the
luggage carosel expecting them to bring the bike up
the utility elevator. Then I hear somebody at the end
of the carosel where the belt comes up say 'Whooaa!'.
I look in time to see my bike box taking a ride up the
belt with all the other luggage. Up, up, up, pretty
soon it looks like the UN building, then in slow
motion it pivots, WHOOOOOMP-BANG-CRASH it drops down
onto the carosel causing more excitement from the
crowd.
I felt, oh, angry. But I know when I'm licked. NWA got
the last laugh after all.
I will say the bike case did an admirable job. The
impact bent two of the latches slightly, but the bikes
were fine.
So, I guess the moral of the story is that anything
can happen, but don't be afraid to make a fuss and
stand your ground. I'd suggest calling the ticket
counter at the airport to see what the situation is,
and check the airline web site for the official rules.
Good Luck.
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