Jeff Ballweg

If you read my earlier post, I was flying from Chicago to San Francisco to Auckland to Christchurch, New Zealand on a ticket booked through Air New Zealand. I would check-in with partner United Airlines which is where the trouble starts. United Airlines’ baggage policy for international flights states that you may have two bags, each of which must be under 162 linear inches and weigh less than 50lbs. A disassembled road bike should fit those dimensions and certainly under weight, but United has a special policy regarding bikes, which specifically demands a $200 fee for international flights, even though I’d only be flying with them as far as San Francisco, and I was on an Air New Zealand ticket, who accept bikes as normal luggage. I talked to several customer service people, at United and at Air New Zealand, and the last word from United was that if you check in with them, they charge you for the entire flight, regardless of who, how, or where you booked it.

I also looked into shipping, but found that shipping was more expensive still. I even looked into selling this bike and buying a new one, but I like this bike, and I just can’t understand how it was that two bags, within the specified dimensions, were included with my ticket, but should either bag contain a bicycle, it would cost US$200 extra. I decided I’d pack the bike up and take it along as “normal luggage,” ie, not mention the contents and take a chance. In the end my bike and I made it to New Zealand without issue, and without extra charges, but being prepared was the key getting through – and here’s what I did.

1. Disassemble the bike.
You’ll need to get the bike as small as possible. In my case, I deflated the tires, took out the fork, and removed the handlebars. I also removed the chain rings instead of taking the crank out, as removing the bottom bracket or even crank arms usually requires special tools that I didn’t have on both ends of the journey. I have a bike case, but it was already in New Zealand holding my touring bike, so it wouldn’t be any help, and even if had it been around, it’s way over the linear measurements and would certainly give away the contents. Instead, I went down to my favorite bike shop and asked for a cardboard box that new bikes come in, which they happily gave me for free. I spent the next several hours dismantling, re-arranging, cutting cardboard, and generally constructing the smallest, sturdiest bike-box I could with what I had; at one point my pizza needed to be removed it’s box to procure more materials.

My road bike, tightly packed in a cardboard box.

2. Remove markings.
I don’t know how United decides whether you have “a bike in a box” or “a long skinny box of non-bike stuff” but I am pretty sure that a diagram of a bike and a big Gary Fisher logo would give it away, so I taped over or blacked out any bike-related markings. The pictures at right and below show how it turned out.

3. Off to the Airport.
My first cringe came quickly. I grabbed a cab to the bus station in Madison where I’d catch a ride to O’Hare, but as I was loading my cargo onto a nearly empty bus the driver asked me if the box held a bike. Before I really thought about it, I responded “Um, yah?” he replied “oh – well we charge $15 extra for bikes.” Oh man, I hadn’t even gotten out of town and I was already called out – I responded “…er, well, its not a whole bike – its just a frame for a bike, is that extra?” The driver either forgot about the bike thing or took pity on me, because when he came around to collect tickets he only asked for the normal fare. Still, it was a pretty nervous ride, as I figured that if the bus driver could spot a bike-shaped box for an extra $15 then surely the airline guy had gone through some special bike-detection training – plus airports have x-rays, so by the time I got to O’Hare I was convinced that I’d have to pay at least some kind of fee.

My road bike, packed up and ready for flight.

4. Check-in.
I headed into the airport, wearing my backpack, dragging my wheelie bag with one hand and carrying my bike (er, box full of non-bike-related stuff) in the other. I headed into the check-in lane for United Domestic, and before I even got around the first turn of the maze, an attendant pointed at my bike and said “oversize – go to 80/81″ I had to ask what that meant, but behind the normal check-in counter was a smaller counter, marked “Special Services.” I figured this is where they kept the bike-sniffing dogs, and where United would separate me from my money, but at least I wouldn’t have to wait in line. I handed over my documents while he typed and asked the usual questions, until he asked the one I’d been practicing in my head for days: “What’s in the box?” I replied, “aluminum tubing.”  He didn’t even shrug as he stuck one of those long tags onto the box, and had me sign a little form (a very little form, it was the back of the claim ticket) where two check boxes were checked: “Fragile” and “Unsuitably Packed.” My signature below indicated that I wouldn’t be suing United for any damage that the, um, contents, might sustain. I signed, he handed my boarding pass and asked for the next passenger.

5. Fly for 16 hours.
The usual airline experience. The United flight from Chicago to San Francisco is too full, and they’re trying to take my backpack away and stuff it into the hold. I tell them that I’m on a short connection to Auckland, New Zealand and they find a place for it. Change planes to Air New Zealand at San Francisco. The United flight was late, so the gate for Auckland is empty – everyone is on the plane already. I walk up … “Mr Ballweg?” “Yes, that’s me.” “Great, we’re ready to depart, you’re the last passenger – we hope to leave early.”  Sweet as, that’s the kind of Kiwi service I’ve come to expect. I get on and off we go.
I’ve got plenty of time to fill out the various forms, the usual entry stuff and a brand new Swine Flu sheet. I declared that I was indeed carrying “sporting equipment,” and I recommend that you always declare anything you have, as all they do is ask you about it at biosecurity anyway. Don’t declare and get caught with something you should have? NZ$200 instant fine.

6. Re-check / Terminal transfer in Auckland.
Depending on your flight, you may be done. I was off to Christchurch, and I didn’t happen to be on one of those sweet flights that has an attached connection to Christchurch. So I went to baggage to collect my stuff for customs and biosecurity. The bike popped out of the special/oversize area where I retrieved it without incident. The box didn’t look any worse for wear, other than the hub on one of the wheels was poking through the side of the cardboard. I loaded everything onto a free little trolley (or cart) and pushed it towards customs.
New Zealand has had good biosecurity controls, and as a result doesn’t have as many issues with invasive species killing all the native flora, so before I left Wisconsin, I had rigorously cleaned every spot of crud off of my bike, I even got the crud out of the cassette – you could literally eat off of any part of it, so I was prepared for any poking and swabbing that biosecurity folks could imagine. When I got to bio security the guy simply said “Is that a bike?” I said “yes” he asked “Road or mountain?” I said “road” and he waved me on.
I bought a long black went on to check my stuff back in for the flight to Christchurch, where there is one last thing to note: technically, the bike box is oversize for Air New Zealand domestic, but it gets a free pass for being a bike. This is totally opposite of how United does it, so when Air New Zealand asks you “is that a bike?” you’re going to want to say “heck yah it’s a bike!” And off you go to your last flight.

7. Arrival/Reassembly.
Everything made it and a few days later I found time to put it all back together. I’ll say everything worked fine, and my bike is all in one piece. I haven’t found anything to be out of alignment, cracked or broken. I can’t say the paint was unscathed. I suppose, had I taken more time to wrap each tube of the frame in protective cardboard or got some of that foam pipe insulation, it may have made it without a scratch. Then again, I didn’t have a lot of time, I didn’t care to introduce more styrofoam into the world and the scratches aren’t any worse than you’d get from a few months of city commuting. Certainly a single fall does far more damage. So all told, it worked out pretty well, my bike made it and I didn’t have to pay extra.

If anyone else is in a similar situation, maybe with different airlines, I’d like to hear if this works out for you as well.