I'll be flying to D.C. in November to get a better
sense of the city as I may be moving there in August
of next year. I intend to take my bicycle with me as I
can not imagine considering living somewhere I have
not yet ridden. I'll be flying on North West Airlines
and they want to charge me $85 round-trip for the
bike. This charge would remain the same even if I
packaged the bicycle in a box which was below thier
definition of "oversized" in both size and weight.
While this $85 charge is specific and exclusive to
bicycles no one could really tell me why this charge
exists and one customer service rep. stated that it
seemed "pretty stupid" to them.
I've had suggestions ranging from lying about what's
in the box to save money from just paying the full
price and using a full on bike vault travel case with
pad locks versus a card board box with no visible bike
logos, supposedly to deter thieves. I'm not so
comfortable lying to airport security about anything,
even to save some cash and I find it hard to believe
that bicycles are frequently stolen by baggage
handlers over other types of luggage or packages.
Ultimately it seems like the simplest thing to do is
rent the bike vault and pay the fee.
I'm curious if anyone has any advice, stories or
experience on this topic. (And thanks but I'm not
interested in UPS, Fedex, or Amtrak. And I'm very
clear on how to most safely package a bicycle to
protect it during shipping. just looking for advice on
dealing with the cost of air travel with a bike.)
-Martin
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