[Yak] Traveling by air with a bike

[David Bardenstein]

My scenario involved my volunteering so I agree with Chuck. It did predate
the airline crisis so probably reflected people mindlessly enforcing rules
without thinking , but in my case superivisors relented. I would now fully
agree with not volunteering



On 12/3/08, charles voigtsberger <charles_e_voigtsberger at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> For those of you who weren't in the military service, the old adage, "Never
> volunteer," is good advice. There is absolutely no reason to tell the ticket
> agent you have a bicycle. If questioned about the contents of your luggage,
> as I have said before, the answer is "Machine parts." If questioned further,
> and I can't for the life of me fathom why you would be, the answer is
> "Proprietary machine parts. I can't discuss them further than that." Neither
> of those answers is incorrect. While it is unfortunate that the original
> poster mentioned a bicycle, it really left the ticket agent no choice. I
> agree that a bike in a suitcase is no different from any other luggage in a
> suitcase, however, the airlines industry is in the business of moving people
> and their luggage from one place to another. They are not in the business of
> ferreting out all the various ways that bicycles can be transported. Folk
> with bicycles in luggage sized suitcases are an infinitesimal
> segment of their market. Even full sized tandems in suitcases generally are
> in oversize luggage. It really is a task that Bike Friday and Dahon and the
> other companies that make suitcaseable bicycles should pick up the ball on.
> They have a vested interest in seeing to it that one of their selling points
> is not negated by out of date tariffs. Lynette, are you listening?
> Chuck Voigtsberger
> Ventura CA
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