Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

by **mikesbytes** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 8:49 pm

Traveling between Sydney and Melbourne with a track bike.

Anyone know what the weight limits are and excess charged by airline?

by **BNA** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:31 pm

by **Derny Driver** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:31 pm

mikesbytes wrote:Traveling between Sydney and Melbourne with a track bike.

Anyone know what the weight limits are and excess charged by airline?

20kg with Jetstar and 10kg hand luggage is standard (no excess). Grab a bike box from your LBS, take wheels out and put the bike and wheels in the box. Throw in a bunch of clothes and stuff for padding. You'll get a lot in there for 20kg. Put toiletries in there too. Bike helmet. Food. Tools, allen keys. Forget the track pump, you can borrow one from other riders.
Then take a few clothes and other things in the hand luggage. 10kg. It will be weighed too.
Some people recommend putting your bike shoes in the hand luggage in case the bike goes missing for a day or 2. You can borrow a bike and helmet, but shoes are more difficult.

by **cancan64** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:39 pm

It also depends on who you are flying with and the type of ticket purchased... Some of the cheaper ones only have carry on luggage and you then pay for anything else..., the airline web sites have pricing.

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by **RonK** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:47 pm

We just discussed this topic at some length here viz Qantas and Virgin...

Jetstar a little different - baggage allowance can be purchased in 5kg increments from 15kg to 40kg with no limit on the number of pieces, but make sure you purchase enough in advance - if you arrive at the check-in overweight it will cost you $15/kg of excess.

by **Warin** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 7:42 am

RonK wrote:We just discussed this topic at some length here viz Qantas and Virgin...

Yes but that topic was on the weight of the bike box provided by Qantas (and has answers of 3 or 5 kg)

I'd like to see a table of what the airline weight limits are ... domestic. And all of them alongside one another so it is easy to compare. Mike?

From distant memory carry on weight limit was 7 kg - ummm Thai? International. And there was a size limit too.

by **mikesbytes** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 7:55 am

Thanks guys, webjet is showing $17 for jetstar luggage. Can I combine the luggage weight between 2 people? If so then I can loan this box http://bikeboxalan.co.uk/#technical which weighs 11kg. I'm taking carbon wheels (rear is a disc) so I'm a bit apprehensive about using a cardboard box unless everything is well packed within

by **RonK** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 8:23 am

Warin wrote:
RonK wrote:We just discussed this topic at some length here viz Qantas and Virgin...

Yes but that topic was on the weight of the bike box provided by Qantas (and has answers of 3 or 5 kg)

I'd like to see a table of what the airline weight limits are ... domestic. And all of them alongside one another so it is easy to compare. Mike?

From distant memory carry on weight limit was 7 kg - ummm Thai? International. And there was a size limit too.

The discussion covered the charges in detail, not just the weight of the box. But you would have to read the thread. And if that wasn't enough detail, you could try clicking on the links I provided to each airline baggage information page.

by **RonK** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 8:33 am

mikesbytes wrote:Thanks guys, webjet is showing $17 for jetstar luggage. Can I combine the luggage weight between 2 people? If so then I can loan this box http://bikeboxalan.co.uk/#technical which weighs 11kg. I'm taking carbon wheels (rear is a disc) so I'm a bit apprehensive about using a cardboard box unless everything is well packed within

Yes, usually airlines will allow two passengers to combine their baggage - i.e. my wife's bag is a little over and mine is a little under and the two don't exceed the allowance . Is that what you mean?

Not so sure about Jetstar though - in the past I've found them unfriendly and uncooperative. I've never used them again since they slugged me with an exorbitant excess baggage charge coming back from Hobart, and won't if I can avoid them.

Crap service - all part of the reason Qantas is going down the gurgler...

For a single segment flight baggage handling is minimal and it's fairly unlikely that your gear will be damaged.

by m@ » Tue Mar 04, 2014 11:09 am

RonK wrote:
Mikesbytes wrote:...jetstar...
...
Crap service - all part of the reason Qantas is going down the gurgler...

Completely agree; the GLW has been a Qantas gold frequent flyer for years but after below-abysmal treatment when our Qantas-booked flight was bumped to OneStar, we now always fly Virgin, or Tiger at a pinch.

Virgin don't normally allow combining of luggage IME, but are more likely to be flexible than most (they let me off when my bike box was ~4Kg overweight last flight). Standard limit is 23Kg.

Tiger have the 'interesting' policy of charging ~$60 for 'sporting equipment' (other than golf clubs...

); so if you tell them the box is full of clothes it costs you no extra - but you'll probably regret it if they lose it