It'll cost you $50 to check this bike on a Jet Blue flight.
Picture this: It’s New Year’s Eve and I’m checking in at Jet Blue’s fancy new T5 terminal at JFK. I’ve only got one piece of luggage to check ’cause that’s all you can check for free on Jet Blue these days. The item mustn’t weigh over 50 lbs. and its combined outer dimensions must be under 80″. The box I put up on the scale weighed 43lbs. and was under that size.
“What’s in the box?” asks the lady at the counter.
“A folding bike, some clothes, and some cheese.” I say.
“That’s $50.” she says, blankly.
Obviously, the conversation didn’t end there but eventually, despite threats of unchecking it and rechecking it again as a “metal sculpture,” “velocipede,” or “personal mobility device”, I pulled out my credit card, paid the fee, and started making some phone calls. The phone calls went nowhere. “It’s policy.” is all got and it’s true; Jet Blue, unlike other airlines, does not make any exception for small bicycles.
Here, for instance, is Delta’s policy: “Any bicycle presented in a box with overall dimensions not exceeding 62″ or 157.5cm (length + height + width) and checked in lieu of one bag is accepted.”
…and American Airlines’ language includes this: “Exception: If bicycle and container are less than 62 linear inches and under 50 lbs., the bike is free in place of one 62 inch bag in the free allowance.”
My battle continues with email correspondence. Wish me luck. Until I manage to get the policy changed, avoid flying Jet Blue or plan on paying $50 to check any baggage containing a “bicycle,” even if it would fit in your pocket.
If anyone has any suggestions as to how I go about fighting this, do tell.
NO WAY!!! That is ridiculous! I didn’t pay any extra this past year for packing a folder with me on Northwest or American…
Contact consumerist.com — they are very good about helping deal with corporate idiots with recto-cranial inversion disease.
Thanks George. I’ll pass it on to them. I’ve already notified the League of American Bicyclists, for what it’s worth.
I asked Jet Blue what my $50 was paying for considering it was lighter and smaller than their limit and wasn’t dangerous, oddly shaped, or in need of any special handling.
Here’s their response:
“As your bicycle fell under the guidelines for sporting equipment and was a bicycle these guidelines were in place. We can understand it was small and lighter than many carry-on baggage but nevertheless, it was a bicycle. We are sure you would want it protected and in a padded box as we are not liability for damage to items such as this per the contract of carriage.”
…
“…we are not liability?” I didn’t even ask about damage and packaging!
It’s not “SPORTING EQUIPMENT” any more than the STROLLER I check for my child is! They really need to change their guidelines. Once again the bicycle is stuck in the quandry of, “Am I for sport, Am I a toy, Am I a transportation device, Am I a mobility device?”
By the way, I see your quest has now hit the mainstream media:
http://bikeportland.org/2009/01/07/bta-staffer-wants-to-change-jetblues-bike-baggage-policy/
or at least the ‘bike’ mainstream media… ;0)
Carl, If you would have said that the contents was personal, you would have had no problems. Why did you tell them it was a bike? Did you not know better?
That is the way it has been for a long time. That is one reason why Bike Friday’s usually go under the radar – the case is a regular Samsonite case and the baggage checkers do not ask.
I know, Paul. I know. To be honest, I was overwhelmed with the quality of Jet Blue’s service and how well thought-out that new terminal seemed…up until that point. When she asked what was in the box, I froze…and opted to just say what it was. I know this problem isn’t new and I should’ve been ready with the standard evasive/marginally-true answers. But honestly, I don’t want to have to lie or be deceptive to fly on a plane. Maybe this is a fight that Bike Friday has long chosen not to engage in, but I still find it compellingly obnoxious and worth fighting for.
Carl,
I have David Neeleman’s (Jet Blue CEO) email address, if you’d like it please contact me. Mr. Neeleman may be able to help you.
David
yeah this happened to me too. except I got charged $100
Of course, I hope you get them straightened out. But, on reflection, I realize that I forgot the most important thing when I referred you to consumerist.com: The need to stop flying. Jet travel is especially destructive of the climate — contributing about 2-3% of the global carbon emissions, but about 6-8% of the emissions’ impact because all the water vapor sprayed into the atmosphere at high altitude is especially good at trapping heat (and much longer lasting than vapor emitted at sea level). Basically, by the time you fly from Portland to about Vegas once you’ve undone all the good you might have done by not having a car.
In other words, the solution to airline idiocy is doing away with the airlines, starting with non-essential flying (which is the vast majority of flights).
Stay home and ride your bike.
I hear you loud and clear, George.
After a while of angering my family by refusing fly home (Boston) for the holidays, I reached a personal compromise: Take the train out one way (approx. 4 days travel time), spend a good long time out there (18 days this last time), and then, with my treehugging tail between my legs, fly back to PDX.
Fact is, though, people still fly a lot. I can’t change that. I’m too busy trying to get them to bike more and making it easier to fly with a bike is part of that job.
it is not a lie if you say it’s an exerciser. that’s free. or a kinetic sculpture. that’s free too. Golf clubs, which you would be lieing about are free, as is a surfboard.
My wife and I both travel with our bikes (one a folder, one with s&s couplings; both meet the standard 62″ rule) and we always say the bags contain ‘bicycle parts’. It worked the last time I flew with JetBlue…but subversion shouldn’t be necessary. We’d rather fly with a more reasonable carrier and save ourselves the trouble of a nasty surprise at the baggage desk. I guess its time to redeem our frequent flier miles and switch.
To add your voice, and possibly make flying with your bicycles easier and more sensible you can lodge a complaint at the JetBlue website on behalf of Carl (with his flight details: NYC:JFK to Portland, New Years Eve). That’s what I did; and I made it clear that I would no longer fly with JetBlue until they amend their policy regarding bicycles as baggage. The more, the merrier.
Great news that Jet Blue responded so quickly! I have even more respect for Jet Blue than I did before this whole issue!
http://bikeportland.org/2009/01/08/jetblue-responds-folded-bikes-can-now-fly-free/
Here! Here!
I replied to Carl’s email with a very unpleasant story of my own. In summary:
My wife, Angela, and her Mom took their first Mother-Daughter bicycling-related trip together to North Carolina for a Women-only Tour. They flew Delta Airlines and here is their story…
First, you should know that we purchased two bike cases for a trip to France in 2007. We purchased some really nice Sci-Con Evolution cases. They have four wheels, they’re light-weight and require minimal disassembly to pack the bikes. Each of the packed cases were under 50 lbs. We flew United. We paid $0 to get the bikes over and back!
Along comes Delta airlines…!! They charged the two ladies $175 PER BICYCLE…PER DIRECTION!!! For a grand total of $700 !!!!! – About 20% MORE than the value of one of the bikes!!!
What sticks in my craw is what group of “experts” in the airline industry came up with this notion of “Linear Measurement” for an “oversize” item!!! Most of the airlines use the sum of the Length + Width + Height to determine if your bag is Oversize or not. The absolute, most asinine assumption is that if this mysterious sum is greater than 63 inches (for most), this item automatically causes some preposterous amount of stress to the airline company that can only be resolved through money…well how convenient!! I would absolutely LOVE to know where that number comes from and WHY!! I also want to know why a 47-lb bike box on wheels warrants a $175 fee; while a 92-lb, back-breaking, gut-busting, workers-comp-claim-here-we-come piece of luggage gets a $50 or $60 slap on the wrist!!!!
Moral of this Story: Call ahead and find out how much they’re going to screw you to ship your bike, compare that to the cost of your bike and your airfare, then pack up the car and DRIVE!!! Gas is only $1.75, the view is much better, the air is fresher, and you can wear a 24oz. bottle of shampoo around your neck if you want!!
Good luck to us all!
I’ve been flying with my bike for over five years with the same case. It’s a very large, hard sided, rolling double bike case that just fits within the airline size limits for luggage. I am always prepared for the standard $80 fee each way (for most major airlines) as written in their sporting goods policy, however the last time I flew with this case United really stuck it to me. They hit me with every charge possible: $80 bike fee, $100 oversize $100 overweight fee. They would NOT acknowledge the United/USA Cycling bicycle transport coupon that I had even though it didn’t have any expiration date or any rights of refusal conditions printed on it.
On top of that, since the case was five pounds over the acceptable weight limit for checked baggage, I then had to take out five pounds worth of muddy downhill gear, secure it to my carry-on bag and bring it into the cabin. Same flight, same amount of weight…
At that point it was nearly less expensive to buy my bike a seat in the cabin than ship it.
I contacted customer service numerous times regarding this incident, however there was never a resolution.
After that experience I no longer fly United with or without a bicycle. When traveling with a bike I now break it down completely, wrap the frame, stuff it in a large duffle bag, pile clothes on it and keep my mouth shut when checking in. I’ll pay the extra $25 for another “checked bag” that is package containing the wheels.
Carl,
Glad to hear that you managed to get the policy changed. I had a double nightmare with my bike on aircraft here in Europe, and haven’t dared to take it since.
I hope that airlines do start to wake up to the blogging community – I didn’t get anywhere with American Express insurance back in ’06, but maybe things have moved on now.
Keep up the good work,
James (keen cyclist, flyer & train user – anything but cars
So which airlines will currently accept a folding bike in luggage without imposing a fee?
The ones I know of are…
Alaska
Delta
Jet Blue
Southwest
Anyone know of others???