Cycling in Majorca via Easyjet
Discussion
I started this topic a while back regarding taking my bike out to Majorca and how best to take it: Linky.
During the thread - issues were raised regarding Easyjet and bikes which made me slightly concerned and a light search of Google resulted in quite a few horror stories of broken bikes or excess baggage charges relating to the bike being horrendous. I'll state at this point, I didn't intend to take hold luggage (£18) and so bought my ticket with just the sports excess (£37) with the intention of putting my clothes in the bike bag (apparently against their regulations) and filling my hand luggage (a standard backpack) with all the shorts and tshirts I needed for the rest of the week when not cycling - this was an end of uni holiday with 9 others, only one of which was taking a bike so cycling wasn't the main objective.
Anyway, having asked what a friend did with his bike when he flew, I was offered a nice hard case which would fit my bike so I bit his hand off:
This case is amazing and looks very smart, fitted everything in with relative ease and electrical tape was used to tape various bits up (spacers into the dropouts, rear mech to the frame, cranks to the frame etc). Warning, having taped up the bike, I'd left the tape out so stuck it in my hand luggage only for it to be flagged up and confiscated
.
Having turned up at check-in reasonably early on the way out (Bristol), I put the bike on the scales (28kg) and had NO ISSUES AT ALL. The guy behind the desk was slightly confused by the rules but with a quick conversation to a colleague, a weight label was stuck on and off I trotted to oversized luggage
(I had taken a copy of the T&Cs which states that bikes are exempt from excess baggage charges relating to the weight of the bike so was prepared to argue if they'd tried to charge me for excess - an issue that seems common on easyjet flights).
The return journey was exactly the same too although they didn't even ask me to stick the bike on the scales - probably slightly heavier than when I went out due to a few more clothes being put in there
So all in all - a very successful journey both ways with Easyjet and I had no issues despite just having paid for the sports excess and no hold luggage. Pictures below show the extent to which I pushed the boundaries with regards to only having my bike in the box 
Yes, that is Chocapic breakfast cereal which can't be bought over here
Having had my electrical tape confiscated, I found that cling film works very well for wrapping up bikes
So all in all, it was well worth taking my bike. I stayed up near Pollensa where there are some awesome views from some of the hills and I'd definitely recommend it to others wanting to spend some time cycling in Majorca, the only downer coming on a decent from Lluc where my mate managed to come off having had some slight rain make the roads very slippery! Any questions, feel free to ask and I hope this long post hasn't bored anybody - I just felt that with the large amount of discussion on the internet regarding Easyjet and flying with bikes that I'd post my experience
During the thread - issues were raised regarding Easyjet and bikes which made me slightly concerned and a light search of Google resulted in quite a few horror stories of broken bikes or excess baggage charges relating to the bike being horrendous. I'll state at this point, I didn't intend to take hold luggage (£18) and so bought my ticket with just the sports excess (£37) with the intention of putting my clothes in the bike bag (apparently against their regulations) and filling my hand luggage (a standard backpack) with all the shorts and tshirts I needed for the rest of the week when not cycling - this was an end of uni holiday with 9 others, only one of which was taking a bike so cycling wasn't the main objective.
Anyway, having asked what a friend did with his bike when he flew, I was offered a nice hard case which would fit my bike so I bit his hand off:
This case is amazing and looks very smart, fitted everything in with relative ease and electrical tape was used to tape various bits up (spacers into the dropouts, rear mech to the frame, cranks to the frame etc). Warning, having taped up the bike, I'd left the tape out so stuck it in my hand luggage only for it to be flagged up and confiscated
.Having turned up at check-in reasonably early on the way out (Bristol), I put the bike on the scales (28kg) and had NO ISSUES AT ALL. The guy behind the desk was slightly confused by the rules but with a quick conversation to a colleague, a weight label was stuck on and off I trotted to oversized luggage
(I had taken a copy of the T&Cs which states that bikes are exempt from excess baggage charges relating to the weight of the bike so was prepared to argue if they'd tried to charge me for excess - an issue that seems common on easyjet flights).The return journey was exactly the same too although they didn't even ask me to stick the bike on the scales - probably slightly heavier than when I went out due to a few more clothes being put in there
So all in all - a very successful journey both ways with Easyjet and I had no issues despite just having paid for the sports excess and no hold luggage. Pictures below show the extent to which I pushed the boundaries with regards to only having my bike in the box Yes, that is Chocapic breakfast cereal which can't be bought over here
Having had my electrical tape confiscated, I found that cling film works very well for wrapping up bikes
So all in all, it was well worth taking my bike. I stayed up near Pollensa where there are some awesome views from some of the hills and I'd definitely recommend it to others wanting to spend some time cycling in Majorca, the only downer coming on a decent from Lluc where my mate managed to come off having had some slight rain make the roads very slippery! Any questions, feel free to ask and I hope this long post hasn't bored anybody - I just felt that with the large amount of discussion on the internet regarding Easyjet and flying with bikes that I'd post my experience
Amateurish said:
snotrag said:
Amateurish said:
I just handed over the bike fully assembled at checkin (just had to deflate tyres). Then someone brought it out for me at baggage claim.
That is brave...Pothole said:
AyBee, what make is that box? Could solve a problem for me, unless you're prepared to lend it out for a couple weeks...
It says Monoc on it but appears to be this..... here sold by Wiggle and Dhb branded for £166. Not bad and I'm seriously tempted but don't fly with my bike enough to make it worthwhile yet. Not actually mine to lend, sorry. My mate took a bag (weighed about 10kg less than mine ) which worked fine padded up with pipe lagging and cardboard and wrapped in a large sheet of foam which is what I was going to do until I was offered this for the week if that's any help?Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff