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Traveling with a bicycle

emmyberrie34
Explorer C

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone else is bummed by Southwest's fees for checking a bicycle. Their policy is $75 each way for a bike since it is considered oversized (though in my case always under 50 lbs), but it bugs me that skiers and golfers get to check their huge bags for free and I get stuck with a fee! (And before you comment, I always pack my bike in an appropriate framed bike bag, with wheels, handlebars, pedals off and packed as compactly as possible.)

 

I know their official website says that there's no extra charge for a bike if the bag/box is under 62 inches, but I did the math and I don't think it's possible. Bike wheels are usually around 29 inches diameter, and the frames are about 1.2-1.5x that in length. There goes your 62 inches already, without accounting for depth!

 

I trust their policy is a good faith effort to encourage passengers to make a to pack appropriately, but it really rubs me the wrong way that all the counter attendants I have met immediately flag me down for $75 fee when the people next to me with 6 foot long skis and ski boot bag pay nothing. I don't ski for fun, I bike! Does anyone know of any workarounds for this? I found that American and Delta recently changed their policies to count bikes like they do skis (i.e. no oversized fee for bikes below 50 lbs), so I'm hopeful that the bike vacationing community might soon command as much consumer power as ski-ers.

4 REPLIES 4

Re: Traveling with a bicycle

ZevSupport
Frequent Flyer A
Solution

Hey,

 

Apologies for this — I didn't know of this! Since this is a passenger-to-passenger community so I would definitely encourage you to reach out via social media and share this feedback directly. Who knows, if enough folks reach out, a change may be made!

 

Stay safe and safe travels,


Community Champion | PHL based | ex-Companion Pass Holder | Southwest Passenger

Re: Traveling with a bicycle

emmyberrie34
Explorer C

Thanks ZevSupport, I'll see if I can do that. I was surprised to find almost no discussion of traveling with bicycles on the forum, so maybe this can start a thread 🙂

Re: Traveling with a bicycle

noshbygosh
Explorer C

Joining late to the party.  I am

shocked that SW is still charging so much for a bicycle given that the mainstream rivals - United, Delta, and American- all lowered the fee to a normal baggie fee of $30. The same is true for some of its other rivals like Alaska.  Very disappointing. Will be reassessing continued use of SW moving forward.

Re: Traveling with a bicycle

floridaguy
Aviator C

I believe that Southwest's pricing and policies are VERY REASONABLE.

 

The bicycle takes up a lot of space and is more difficult to handle than a piece of luggage.  Thus, the policy on weight and size limitations.

 

The choice is simple - pay to travel with the bicycle or travel via other means.