When we fly with our bikes, we always try to pack them in bike boxes. While it’s not required, we’ve always been glad we had after seeing the mangled up condition of the box after the flight. Fortunately for us, the Air France counter at the Charles de Gaulle airport sells bike boxes and our flight was later in the day. We figured we would have enough time to get to the airport in the morning, dismantle and box the bikes before we needed to check-in.
We found cheap tickets to Bangkok with Quatar Airways. Bikes aren’t charged separately but excess baggage is charged at a whopping 55 euros a kilo (about $100). When flying to/from North America, airlines generally allow you 2 pieces of checked luggage at 23 kg each (total 56kg plus one carry-on). However, when flying from Europe to Asia the weight concept applies which allows a maximum of 20kg for checked luggage TOTAL and an additional 7 kg for hand luggage. That’s nothing when you factor in the weight of a bike and at 50 Euros per extra kg you can be sure we were stuffing our pockets with heavy items like cameras and batteries and were wearing every stitch of clothing we had. “No, that’s not a bike chain. It’s a necklace…honest!” Despite the fact that we got there 5 hours in advance, we were still running to get to the check-in on time, which is difficult to do when you are wearing 5 shirts, 2 jackets, pants, arm and leg warmers and 3 pairs of socks. We arrived at the check in booth sweating profusely and looking like the Michelin man. We weren’t fooling anybody but any inch of pride we may have once had has long since gone at this point.
In the end, all things went smoothly, with the exception that our bike lock cables got confiscated (you’re not allowed bringing anything that resembles rope unto a plane). Spiros argued with the security people telling them that he could do a lot more damage with his backpack strap but it didn’t work…bike lock cables finished. Oh well, we have some shopping to do.
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