26January
2:08pm
7
Bikes On A Plane II: Red Tape

It’s not a secret anymore, Julie and I are moving to New Zealand. She’ll be studying for a PhD in Forest Economics, the details of which require an entire post of their own. It should come as no surprise that we’re planning to take our bikes along with us, hence the bike cases I mentioned in an earlier post. Well, as it happens, the most difficult part of the moving process isn’t physically moving stuff, or the airfare, or missing your friends and family, ok, maybe that… but still a really difficult part is talking to the myriad of customer service people to handle all your accounts, phones, plans, shipping, airfare and baggage. Which brings me to the point of this post.

We purchased tickets with Air New Zealand primarily because of their generous baggage policy. You see, many domestic carriers in the US are no longer including baggage in the ticket price, furthermore, all bikes and many other items are automatically called oversize, regardless of their actual size and weight. Air New Zealand doesn’t play that game, and instead includes bikes and other sporting equipment as a normal piece of luggage. And so we booked our flight with Air New Zealand, from Chicago to Auckland, with a short layover in San Francisco.

There’s just one problem with that,  Air New Zealand doesn’t actually fly to Chicago, so like all airlines, they put you on another carrier for that leg, in this case, United. The problem arises that we are then checking in at a United desk, and United has different baggage policy, where they charge an extortive $200 for each bike you would like to take, and an additional $150 if they go over 50lbs, which is awfully light for a touring bike, case and the bare minimum of camping equipment. Of course, one would assume that if you booked the ticket through an airline, and they put you on a different carrier to ease logistics, that you would be beholden to the ticketing airlines regulations, and not those of the contracting carrier, but I am afraid what will happen at the check in counter. I called United to ask their policy, which is where I first heard about the $350 “service fee.” So I called Air New Zealand to make sure that was accurate. They told me it wasn’t and that I wouldn’t, er, well shouldn’t be charged. So I hung up and hit redial, to see what another Air New Zealand customer service person would say, and she seemed to think that the charges would be permissable, which she verified with her manager. She also seemed to indicate that this wasn’t the first time she’d heard of United assessing extra fees to Air New Zealand customers.

When I explain the situation to friends, almost everyone replies “why don’t you just ship it?” Indeed that is a fine idea, but it is also wrought with complexity, red tape and expense. If you’re considering shipping as an answer to this problem, I’ll save you some time by giving you a quick rundown of the costs involved.

First, a word about our cargo. We have two Bike Pro Cases with bikes, camping equipment and other miscellaneous stuff.
The dimensions are roughly 46″x36″x14″ and they weigh upwards of 100lbs.
We’re still looking into methods of getting our stuff over there, but for anyone considering it, I’ll save you some legwork by posting a rough rundown of what this kind of thing costs.

UPS Worldwide Saver: $2200 (door to door)
Commercial Air Cargo: $850 (inc. $75 Tax-Air to Chicago Airport)
United Airlines baggage charge: $700
Marisol Ocean Cargo (LTL): $430

Right now it looks like ocean cargo is the best answer, especially considering that we’ll still be able to check two bags onto the airplane with us, but remember, ocean freight can take four to six weeks, and if you’re going on a short trip, you’ll have to send your stuff well ahead of time to make sure it gets there. In our case we’ll be there for a few years, so it’ll be worth the wait, but we’ll have to learn to live a life without bikes for a few weeks. If you’re wondering how to arrange ocean freight, you can start by going to FreightQuote.com, which help you find a forwarder to handle your parcel. I found M.E. Dey, a freight-forwarder out of Milwaukee. After a phone conversation, a few emails and a couple days wait, I had a quote for air and sea shipping.

We’re still working out the final details of getting our bikes to New Zealand, even though we’ll be flying in three weeks. I know there are still more issues to handle, such as customs, TSA and getting them from Madison Wisconsin to wherever they’ll fly or float out of. I’ll be sure to post an update when everything is finalized.

Tags: , , .   Category: Cycling, Travel.

Reader Comments7

  •

    Why don’t you just order a new Long Haul and have Surly ship it to NZ? Sell it before you come home to avoid freight coming back.
    You can leave your bike with me. I’ll ride it to ensure the tires and bearings don’t get flat spots, etc. My Fee = $0. :-)

    -Dennis 26 January, 2009 at 6:37 pm

  • wow, what an ordeal. i brought my bike to france when i went there for 8 months, using an iron case. i also packed my camping hear, helmet, and bike accesories in it. at the time the charge for a bike was $80 each way. somehow in grand rapids they just checked it though with no charge! however on the way home, it was 80 euros. i tried to consider it a 10 euro a month bike rental fee to ride my very own favorite bike. the fact that united is charging $200 is absolutely outrageous!!! maybe try to make a friend in line that has a united gold status or something and have them check it for you??? i would imagine though, that on the way back you won’t be charged at all if it’s an air new zealand policy to allow bikes…
    in any event, good luck, and have a great time!!!
    ~Callista (former BRC member)

    -Callista 9 February, 2009 at 3:35 pm

  • I feel your pain. It’s becoming more difficult to avoid being gouged when flying with a bicycle – but there are options.

    First, consider shipping your bikes via UPS or Fedex to somewhere in L.A. near LAX (like the closest UPS store). Take a taxi, pick up your bikes, then check them in L.A. rather than at O’Hare.

    Second, go with folding bikes. I took 2 folding bikes on United last week to LAX. I packed the bikes in their original shipping cartons, wrapping the boxes in wrapping paper to hide the bike logos on the cartons. I prepaid the checked bag fees so I was able to avoid the normal line. The ticket agent did ask what was in the boxes so I told them machine parts. The boxes went through the x-ray machines without a problem.

    Please note that United’s terminal at LAX is the ONLY one where the x-ray machines are behind the scenes. Thus you cannot linger at the machine to help the TSA agent repack the box if they have to open it. Fortunately, although the TSA did open one of my bike boxes, they were able to get everything back in.

    -RideTHISbike 12 February, 2009 at 4:29 pm

  • There is one other complication with shipping (though it doesn’t apply to you). That is the issue of clearing customs.

    This is typically pretty painless when you are bringing your bike as luggage, but if it is being shipped, the shipper may charge you customs broker fees even if you don’t want the service, and they may not do it well.

    Alternatively, you can arrange for someone to do it. Local bike shops are often a good choice. They often know the issues, can store your bike after they pick it up, and can be useful contacts.

    -Raymond Bridge 20 February, 2009 at 4:50 pm

  • [...] you read my earlier post, I was flying from Chicago to San Francisco to Auckland to Christchurch, New Zealand on a ticket [...]

    -Jeff Ballweg: Blog » Bikes on a Plane III: Made It 3 June, 2009 at 7:27 pm

  • My daughter is in California and wants to send her bike home to New Zealand but she isn’t coming home herself until Christmas so I told her to look into shipping her bike by sea. Thank you for generously sharing your knowledge about this process. She has also posted something on Craigslist offering to pay a traveler to NZ with only one checked bag to check her bicycle to Christhchurch but the traveler needs to be leaving from SFO within the next week, so that is really a long shot. We live in ChCh and it sounds like your wife might be studying at Lincoln University???? Isn’t it an amazing country?

    -elizabeth 30 July, 2009 at 9:43 pm

  • Have a look at Bikes On A Plane III. If you’re flying Air New Zealand you might be able to pack the bike up pretty tightly and take it with you on the plane. Granted, you might have to pay for an extra piece of baggage, but that is likely cheaper than shipping it ocean freight. That is, if you can keep the bike around until Christmas time.
    Otherwise your best option is probably sea freight, but I’ve come to learn that the most expensive part of sea freight are the various fees. Let’s say anything you send costs $300 + actual freight charge, so a bike may cost $400, while an entire container may cost $2000. (Those are just made up numbers to illustrate the point.) Even at that, it might be your best option.
    The absolute cheapest way to get stuff there is to find another shipment to NZ and get in on that. If you knew a SF business owner that was getting ready to ship 6 pallets of widgets to NZ, you could possibly add your bike and split the fees, but that’s a really long shot, especially on short notice.
    You might also give the airline a call, since you’re in SF, you might be able to pay to put it on the plane directly, without a passenger. You’d drop it off at the airport, boxed, and have someone in NZ pick it up at the ChCh airport. Businesses do this kind of thing sometimes for critical deliveries. The person on the other end may need to take it through customs/biosecurity, but someone would need to do that anyway, and it’s a lot cheaper to do it yourself.

    Julie is at University of Canterbury, and yes, New Zealand is an amazing place, especially the South Island!

    -Jeff 5 August, 2009 at 11:21 am

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