Comments on: Bikes On A Plane II: Red Tape

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:21:00 +0000

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!

By: elizabeth

elizabeth — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:43:03 +0000

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?

By: Jeff Ballweg: Blog » Bikes on a Plane III: Made It

Jeff Ballweg: Blog » Bikes on a Plane III: Made It — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:27:14 +0000

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

By: Raymond Bridge

Raymond Bridge — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:50:04 +0000

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.

By: RideTHISbike

RideTHISbike — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:29:43 +0000

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.

By: Callista

Callista — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:35:39 +0000

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)

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:37:06 +0000

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.