07-28-2020
04:29 PM
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 🙂
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07-27-2020
12:51 PM
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.
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