Heading to the Alps this summer? You may want to think again about which company you fly with, or drive.
Whilst it’s okay to fly with a wind surfer, kayak or hang glider; bikes are now limited to a lower maximum weight of 23kg. That’s going to be a struggle if you want to take an all mountain/enduro bike and adequately protect it from the vagaries of airport handlers.
From the Easyjet website:
“One item of Sports equipment can be carried in addition to Your Hold Baggage allowance. Sports equipment is defined as:
Small Sports Equipment (items up to 20kg) for example:
- Golf equipment (excluding golf shoes);
- Skis (including boots and poles);
- Snowboards;
- Surfboards;
- Sporting Firearms;
- Diving Equipment (Gas or air cylinders are not permitted); and
- Sporting Wheelchairs (unless this is one of the two items of mobility equipment per passenger), or
Large Sports Equipment (items up to 32kg, except bicycles for which the maximum weight is 23kg (our emphasis – Ed)) for example:
- Bicycles;
- Canoes;
- Wind surfers; and
- Hang-gliders/paragliders.”
So why are bikes singled out for the lower, and quite restrictive limit?
We’d expect mountain bikers to make up a decent proportion of Easyjet’s summer clientele especially to classic Alpine destinations such as Geneva, so the decision seems a strange one unless the intention is to reduce use.
We’ve contacted Easyjet’s press team and will update this story once we get a reply.
UPDATE 13.30: In a tweet we’ve had this message:
“after many complaints from our customers we’re reviewing the bike weight limits and will have an update soon”
and an email stating:
“easyJet’s aim is to make flying with us as easy as possible for all. We are currently reviewing our bike weight limit policy and will be in touch again soon with an update.”
Further UPDATE 10/01/14: We’ve just received this email.
“IÂ have some good news for you!
We’re just about to announce that our bike weight limit is being raised to 32kg form Saturday 11 January. Whilst this will take a number of weeks to be applied to all our systems no customer will be charged an excess for bikes between 23kg & 32kg going forward.
Thanks again for getting in touch and bringing it to our attention.”
there should be a MAXIMUM flying weight!
Over that – then you pay an excess.
Had this numerous times over the years living abroad – had to get relatives to stop buying presents, etc for b’days/xmas as you couldn’t take them back.
I can remember the time at Birmingham Airport – standing there putting 5 (yes 5 ) tops/jumpers/coats on along with another pair of trousers to bring the bag under the 20kgs when the guy behind me was over 130kgs in bodyweight yet not a thing was said about that!!
23kg seems an improvement for me. I’ve always aimed for 20kg for bike bag + 12kg for holdall.
You have to be dead careful booking on a bike too- I got charged an extra £45 each way as I had accidentally booked the bike as baggage- so despite me having no other ‘baggage’ I had to pay again for the bike at the check in desk. So £35 original booking fee + £45+£45 = £125. A very expensive mistake, and they make it near on impossible to lodge a complaint at the airport- Easyjet really don’t like cyclists.
Geneva again for me this year. BA have always worked out cheaper, so will continue to use them and book the bike on.
Reading the reviews on Wiggle, seems that several people have used the CTC plastic bag on EasyJet recently. A darn sight lighter than a ‘proper’ bike bag/case and the theory goes that your bike gets looked after because they can see it’s a bike…
Apparently, double or king-sized mattress bags make great substitutes.
Would anyone really trust baggage handlers to treat their bike any differently just because they can see what it is?
@emmodd – apparently, the anecdotal evidence is that they do treat bikes better if they can see what they are.
hey its an easy option ( no pun intended ) vote with your feet & pick another airline theres plenty of them.
I used to fly with BA for the above reason (it was cheaper, had comfier seats and London Pride in tins), but they changed their policy a few years back.
Will easy jet also explain how they come up with weight limits. Do they have any real world examples they work from or is it finger in the air guess work?
Only 20kg with Jet2 as well. It’s tough but if you have hold baggage (ironically thats 22kg allowance) you csn share the overall allowance.
I questioned them on twitter with the hashtag #enforcedroadtrip2014, no reply yet
well this is bad news when i’m due to fly to lanzarote in 2 weeks, well, it is if you plan to fill your bike box with belongings as well as bikes
I’d booked with them months ago with a bike bag option for Majorca for this summer. Is this for new bookings or that they are going to apply to all bookings? And Easyjet get a lot of cyclists using them for Majorca: Easyjet or more like an EasyTarget.
Does anyone have an email address for Easyjet where a complaint about this can be lodged (for those of us not using social media)? It seems to me the more of us who voice our concerns, the more chance there is of them changing this.
Oh dear, that’s very disappointing. We’ve used Easyjet when travelling with bikes quite a few times, and IME they’ve been one of the better companies we’ve used.
The last time we went, we had two light(ish) 29er trail bikes in Evoc bags, and we’d have struggled getting the packed bags below 23kg. I can appreciate the nightmare of the baggage handlers trying to shift really heavyweight bike bags around, but 23kg is just too tight.
I do agree with this idea mentioned above: there should be a MAXIMUM flying weight! [passenger & luggage combined]
and this:
Does anyone have an email address for Easyjet where a complaint about this can be lodged (for those of us not using social media)? It seems to me the more of us who voice our concerns, the more chance there is of them changing this.
A whole load of us went to the alps last summer; a mix of Evoc bags, simple lightweight bike bags and one in a clear plastic bag. None came to any harm but I watched them loading my bike from the plane to the trolley; utter disregard for the fragile sticker as it was thrown (!) onto the trolley slamming onto the side. I won’t pack my carbon bike in anything less than an evoc bag but 23kg is just ridiculous! It won’t be long before they say cassettes, rotors etc are dangerous for hand luggage too…
They know how popular biking is becoming so by lowering the weight limit they will make more money, fundamentally legal theft!
If we all write to the CEO complaining it may get reversed…
Allegedly the email address of the CEO of Easyjet is :- Carolyn.McCall@easyJet.com.
Just sent the following message (working on the basis that we are more likely to get what we want if reasonable and polite)
Dear Ms McCall,
For years I have been taking my bicycle with me when flying with easyJet. I have just booked trip to Geneva and noted the radically reduced weight allowance for cycles (23kg down from 32kg).
I have just checked the weight of my bike and bike bag. They are respectively 14kg and 9.5kg. Neither would be regarded as heavy (in fact the mountain bike is one of the lightest in its class). In addition to the bike and bag I need to add the weight of packaging to protect the bike.
Given other sports equipment has an allowance of upto 32kg this change seems specifically designed to penalise cyclists.
Please let me know if this allowance could be reviewed.
Many thanks
Writing to them is fine, but in the end social media will always get a response. It’s something they can’t hide from. Letters and emails before twitter and facebook would always conveniently get lost.
They just can’t hide from social media.
Thanks Leadfold, cut and pasted! How about a FB page ‘against the Easyjet price rise’…?