BA - Gatwick to Las Vegas - bike bags excess charges

£40 there, $100 coming back by the looks of it. https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/British_Airways/baggage.php
That’s on top of the 23kg bag itself.

I have 32kg with ba and just roll up with a heavy bike bag and they never blink an eye, however years ago I was flying with them on standby when I couldn't use my perks and worked out it was cheaper to take a second bag (in this case a cheap wheel bag with my wheels in) than pay the excess weight charge.

If you're flying to Vegas, Phoenix and Sedona both have awesome trails

With many airlines it used to be €100/$100 for oversize bags/sports equipment with a weight limit of 32kg

I'm the past, I found it cheaper to upgrade to business class on BA which comes with extra luggage allowance than to pay the excess.

It was a good few years ago and an European destination so may not be relevant.

£65 each bag each way. Assuming your second bag is free,( premium economy and above.)

When I fly my tourer I pack pedals, saddle, and seatpost and back derailleur in my other case to get below £23k.

A balance I suppose between how far you dismantle the bike to save £130?

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/baggage-essentials

Assuming your second bag is free,( premium economy and above.)

how far you dismantle the bike to save £130?

How the other half live! I'd dismantle my bike down to the bearings and put it back together if you gave me £130.

Yeah it’s a struggle to get to 23kg with an Evoc bag and an MTB. I usually remove pedals, rotors and seatpost and chuck them in my main bag. Think I did grips once as well to get the last 100g

My tourer in a cardboard bike box came in at 25kg last week, 60 euros with Ryanair spain to uk, my seat was 40 euros so not bad at all. Ryanair limit is 30 kg, jet2 32kg.  I used bubble wrap and polystyrene as it weighs nothing, plus ratchet straps to make handling easy.

How the other half live! I’d dismantle my bike down to the bearings and put it back together if you gave me £130.

Went on holiday with a group once where someone did something like that to save a buck.

When he got to the destination he realized he didn't have the tools required to do it for the way back.

Ended up spending more than the excess baggage on a bike shop squeezing him in at short notice.

"When he got to the destination he realized he didn’t have the tools required to do it for the way back."

This is why I like hollowtech bottom brackets not square taper for touring. A couple of times coming back from the USA the cardboard box I could source was so small the fork and cranks had to come off to get the bike packed. Great being able to take a bike apart with Allen keys.

Next door neighbour works away (like some strange places half of us never knew existed) for long stints. He had a 'project' Mini restoration going on in a place he was working for 3 or 4 years. (He's about 6ft 5 and 20 stone).

Anyway, to take a load of new parts for it, inc a stainless exhaust + trolley jack and axle stands, he would book 1st class. Unlimited baggage !

32kg is the limit that the baggage handlers are supposed to carry.

So as suggested it might be worth upping your flight choice.

Its all about have this litlle cramp at wheigh in or just smile and be polite if excess is reasonable IE 10 to 15¨%

Long haul you normally get baggage up to 32kg don't you?

Last time I went long-haul, the bike box was free of charge on all the flight legs (I changed in LA on the way out and San Francisco on the way back). No issues at all with any of it except for US Customs opening the thing up each time.

But - other than going through oversize baggage security - it was just treated as a normal suitcase, no extra charges.

Usual weight limit on them is 32kg - the max that airline staff are supposed to handle. Mine normally comes in at about 28kg with a road bike and all my kit in there. That's something else they say isn't allowed - stuffing the box with all your kit - but I've never once had that mentioned in years of flying with a bike box.

thanks for input so far

Unless your flying business BA to USA has a limit of 23KG a  bag, which aint as good as when you book a bike in on say easy jet to europe

I've paid for an extra bag - but stupid poc bike bag is just too heavy on its own... - as other have said i think i'll be ok on the way out as you just take it to oversize on the way back they do weigh them so may get hit for excess then

It has to be said i dont travel light - for a desert trip the weather looking quite cold and wet so have had to pack a selection of gear

Plus as i'm still running 2x st 11 speed - i take a bunch of spares just in case i.e.

Rear mech, front mech, chain, chain rings, cassettes, brakes, gears... a spare tyre , spare rotor , spare spd's and a spare saddle , spare shoes+ tools to fit them - bleed kit etc

in fact the only spares i dont  take are chain set, handlebars , wheels and frame !!!

I've lost days of riding before either when bike shops were too busy - or just not where i was riding so always take a lot of kit

anyways i'll be riding in these locations

Las Vegas, Kingman, Sedona, Phoenix, Cortez, Moab, Grand junction, fruita, Richfield, st george

Fingers crossed no DVT this time round like on my last trip a few years back to colorado

Plus as i’m still running 2x st 11 speed – i take a bunch of spares just in case i.e.

Rear mech, front mech, chain, chain rings, cassettes, brakes, gears… a spare tyre , spare rotor , spare spd’s and a spare saddle , spare shoes+ tools to fit them – bleed kit etc

😳

Spare tyre (and possibly rotor) I can understand - the rest of it...?! WTF? Seriously, there are bike shops in the USA too you know!

Moab and Fruita in particular, you can throw a stick from anywhere in town and hit a bike shop.

Phoenix and Sedona have plenty of bike shops too, I also use Amazon lockers a lot if you need something in 3 days rather than today.

Nearly all long haul is 23kg or less unless you have status or premium/business. There's a few off routes to developing countries with a higher allowance I guess for cultural reasons. Trip sounds epic, if you're not on tubeless now might be the time to avoid thorn punctures. For phoenix, hawes is the best riding I've done

The Gatwick flight can get rowdy so they normally stop serving booze after an hour. Expect to wait for your bag at Vegas airport, they seem especially slow with oversize. Don't forget your etsa

I fly to Italy with my bike 3-4 times a year, struggle to keep the Geometron in my Evoc bag under 32kg. The bike, a pair of free rider pro’s, helmet and hip pack come in bang on 31.5.

As above if you are not Silver status or above you get 23kgs, long or short haul, I’ve been silver the last 2 years, but BA have made tier points harder to come by this year and I’m back down to bronze, so I’m booking business class as it’s only £100 more expensive.

"Spare tyre (and possibly rotor) I can understand – the rest of it…?! WTF? Seriously, there are bike shops in the USA too you know!

Moab and Fruita in particular, you can throw a stick from anywhere in town and hit a bike shop."

Have you see the price of bike bits in the USA in particular in destination resorts like Moab ..

Plus due to the marvels of new standards - if i break any of my 11 speed kit - chances of finding a replacement are slim to none

I  begrudgingly switched to my bronson km2 spare frame for this trip so id have boost wheels if i fubar one of them,

I'm planing on riding every day - I dont want to risk any down time due to broken parts..

Its a shame that international flights to usa are not just £100 more expensive its more like £2500 more expensive for business..

Its a shame that international flights to usa are not just £100 more expensive its more like £2500 more expensive for business..

And the rest. If you fly for less than a week, transatlantic direct to the US is typically £8-10k these days, more where an airline has a monopoly (eg phoenix).

The whole baggage allowance thing is bonkers anyway, for everyone stuffing everything into hand baggage (me and my family when we fly with a budget airline), there's someone else with bags they're not taking - when we fly as a family of 4 with one world (ba) we have over 1/4 tonne of baggage allowance, before you start counting pushchairs and hand luggage..

I'm sitting in Vegas airport having spent a few days riding in Hurricane and St George.  There's loads of bike shops and when I've had issues they've always been able to help me out (albeit with slightly more modern parts). It's their MO to help, yes it costs but so does all that luggage.

I'm not with BA but I've found that the charges are very dependent on the check-in staff.

Two other things to note about Vegas.

1) There doesn't appear to be over size in the baggage hall (Terminal 3 at least) Our Evoc Pros and Thules came out on the conveyor... So they get really banged up.

2) If you are renting a car then it's a shuttle bus ride from the terminals and the drivers only allow one bike bag at a time - which as 4 people got pretty tedious...