How to fly free with bikes.

mike.m-@obra.org

2004-02-20



Pat Sagers [mailto:pat_s-@orcom.com] :

" Oh, and the Redmond airport also took away all my CO2 cartridges. "



As far as I know CO2 cartridges have been illegal to carry on airlines, even

before 9/11.

Mike Murray



Peter Murphy

2004-02-20



That torques me to no end...Someone who can write the cost off as a business

expense, if it is a legitimate trade show item, gets a package the same

dimensions as the package i have, but i have to pay for it because i am not

going to a trade show. What a bunch of crap.





Pete Murphy



"if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone

who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the

welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their

jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes

we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our

policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to

say I'm a "Liberal."" JFK 9/14/60











 From: Jon Nigbor <jo-@consumer-care.com>

Reply-To: jo-@consumer-care.com

To: ob-@topica.com

Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] How to fly free with bikes.

Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 10:37:53 -0800



RE: [OBRA Chat] How to fly free with bikes.I don't lie about the contents.

I just say the contents are for a trade show. Never has anyone opened the

case or asked what the specific contents actually are. If they do inspect

the contents there are lots of reasons to have a bike at a trade show. So,

if I'm questioned further I tell them we sell to the bike industry or

whatever to make it legit...

   ----- Original Message -----

   From: Pat Sagers

   To: 'ob-@topica.com'

   Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 9:52 AM

   Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] How to fly free with bikes.





   That's interesting. I flew from Redmond, Or. and they opened the case

took everything completely out and even swabbed for bomb making residue.

There was no getting around the fact that I was flying with a bike. I

doubt they would have found me lying about what was inside very funny. It

was $50 each way on Alaska. When I flew out of Palm Springs to come home,

they didn't hardly give the bike boxes a second look. However, they did

ask what was inside and when they heard it was a bike, they tagged me with

the $50 fee. I just think that they could make life pretty tough for you

if you lied about the contents. Also it appears different airports handle

these packages differently. Oh, and the Redmond airport also took away all

my CO2 cartridges.



   Pat Sagers



   > I've flown my bike free 90% of the time by spray painting my

   > bike box with a

   > stencil for a trade show company and exhibit number (make one

   > up).   I tell

   > the airlines I'm going to a trade show and have material for

   > the trade show

   > in the case. Bike boxes are very similar to some trade show

   > exhibit cases.

   > The airlines allow two check-in pieces of luggage, if your

   > bike is the third

   > piece, worst case you might have to pay $50 each way for that

   > third piece of

   > luggage. I just did this two weekends ago on a flight down

   > to LV through

   > Alaska Airlines and had no trouble.

   >



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2004-02-20



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Enough already.

Get a bike Friday.

 

From: Clark Ritchie <clarkr-@yahoo.com>

Reply-To: clarkr-@yahoo.com

Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 09:59:38 -0800 (PST)

To: OBRA <ob-@topica.com>

Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] How to fly free with bikes.



 But they don't charge if you've got your steed packed

in a small(er) travel case, right? E.g. for bikes

with S&S couplings. I saw that Ritchey has a new

collapsible frame as does Co-Motion. Or how about

this monster: http://www.visi.com/~seng/vanilla/



...CDR











=====



Clark Ritchie



=====





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<HTML>

<HEAD>

<TITLE>Re: [OBRA Chat] How to fly free with bikes.</TITLE>

</HEAD>

<BODY>

<FONT FACE="Arial">Enough already.<BR>

Get a bike Friday.<BR>

</FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Arial"><BR>

<B>From: </B>Clark Ritchie <clarkr-@yahoo.com><BR>

<B>Reply-To: </B>clarkr-@yahoo.com<BR>

<B>Date: </B>Fri, 20 Feb 2004 09:59:38 -0800 (PST)<BR>

<B>To: </B>OBRA <ob-@topica.com><BR>

<B>Subject: </B>RE: [OBRA Chat] How to fly free with bikes.<BR>

<BR>

</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Arial"><BR>

</FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Monaco"><TT>But they don't charge if you've got your steed packed<BR>

in a small(er) travel case, right?  E.g. for bikes<BR>

with S&S couplings.  I saw that Ritchey has a new<BR>

collapsible frame as does Co-Motion.  Or how about<BR>

this monster:  http://www.visi.com/~seng/vanilla/<BR>

<BR>

...CDR<BR>

<BR>

<BR>

<BR>

<BR>

<BR>

=====<BR>

<BR>

Clark Ritchie<BR>

<BR>

=====<BR>

<BR>

<BR>

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Brian

2004-02-20



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If you get questioned at the check-in desk then just confess that it is

a bike. Pay the price. You can make-up the difference by taking any

item of value you see lying around. Look for Office supplies like pens

or staplers at the check-in desk. When you're on the plane ask for

extra soda. Also, grab as many of the magazines as you can find. I

don't want to give away all of my secrets. Anyways, a lot of these

items can be sold on Ebay. After awhile you'll get pretty good at it.





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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span

style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'>If you get questioned at the check-in desk

then just confess that it is a bike.  Pay the price.  You can make-up

the difference by taking any item of value you see lying around.  Look for

Office supplies like pens or staplers at the check-in desk.  When you’re

on the plane ask for extra soda.  Also, grab as many of the magazines as

you can find.  I don’t want to give away all of my secrets.  Anyways,

a lot of these items can be sold on Ebay.  After awhile you’ll get

pretty good at it. </span></font></p>



</div>



</body>



</html>



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Jon Nigbor

2004-02-20



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RE: [OBRA Chat] How to fly free with bikes.I don't lie about the contents. I just say the contents are for a trade show. Never has anyone opened the case or asked what the specific contents actually are. If they do inspect the contents there are lots of reasons to have a bike at a trade show. So, if I'm questioned further I tell them we sell to the bike industry or whatever to make it legit...

----- Original Message -----

From: Pat Sagers

To: 'ob-@topica.com'

Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 9:52 AM

Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] How to fly free with bikes.





That's interesting. I flew from Redmond, Or. and they opened the case took everything completely out and even swabbed for bomb making residue. There was no getting around the fact that I was flying with a bike. I doubt they would have found me lying about what was inside very funny. It was $50 each way on Alaska. When I flew out of Palm Springs to come home, they didn't hardly give the bike boxes a second look. However, they did ask what was inside and when they heard it was a bike, they tagged me with the $50 fee. I just think that they could make life pretty tough for you if you lied about the contents. Also it appears different airports handle these packages differently. Oh, and the Redmond airport also took away all my CO2 cartridges.



Pat Sagers



> I've flown my bike free 90% of the time by spray painting my

> bike box with a

> stencil for a trade show company and exhibit number (make one

> up).   I tell

> the airlines I'm going to a trade show and have material for

> the trade show

> in the case. Bike boxes are very similar to some trade show

> exhibit cases.

> The airlines allow two check-in pieces of luggage, if your

> bike is the third

> piece, worst case you might have to pay $50 each way for that

> third piece of

> luggage. I just did this two weekends ago on a flight down

> to LV through

> Alaska Airlines and had no trouble.

>



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<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>RE: [OBRA Chat] How to fly free with bikes.</TITLE>

<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">

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<DIV><FONT size=2>I don't lie about the contents.  I just say the

contents are for a trade show.  Never has anyone opened the case or

asked what the specific contents actually are.  If they do inspect the

contents there are lots of reasons to have a bike at a trade show.  So, if

I'm questioned further I tell them we sell to the bike industry or whatever to

make it legit...</FONT></DIV>

<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr

style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>

<DIV

style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>

<A title=pa-@orcom.com href="mailto:pat_s-@orcom.com">Pat

Sagers</A> </DIV>

<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title-@topica.com

href="mailto:'ob-@topica.com'">'ob-@topica.com'</A> </DIV>

<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, February 20, 2004 9:52

AM</DIV>

<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> RE: [OBRA Chat] How to fly free

with bikes.</DIV>

<DIV><BR></DIV>

<P><FONT size=2>That's interesting.  I flew from Redmond, Or. and they

opened the case took everything completely out and even swabbed for bomb

making residue.  There was no getting around the fact that I was flying

with a bike.  I doubt they would have found me lying about what was

inside very funny.  It was $50 each way on Alaska.  When I flew out

of Palm Springs to come home, they didn't hardly give the bike boxes a second

look.  However, they did ask what was inside and when they heard it was a

bike, they tagged me with the $50 fee.  I just think that they could make

life pretty tough for you if you lied about the contents. Also it appears

different airports handle these packages differently. Oh, and the Redmond

airport also took away all my CO2 cartridges.</FONT></P>

<P><FONT size=2>Pat Sagers</FONT> </P>

<P><FONT size=2>> I've flown my bike free 90% of the time by spray painting

my </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> bike box with a</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>

stencil for a trade show company and exhibit number (make one </FONT><BR><FONT

size=2>> up).   I tell</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> the airlines

I'm going to a trade show and have material for </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>>

the trade show</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> in the case.  Bike boxes are

very similar to some trade show </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> exhibit

cases.</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> The airlines allow two check-in pieces of

luggage, if your </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> bike is the third</FONT>

<BR><FONT size=2>> piece, worst case you might have to pay $50 each way for

that </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> third piece of</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>

luggage.  I just did this two weekends ago on a flight down

</FONT><BR><FONT size=2>> to LV through</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> Alaska

Airlines and had no trouble.</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> </FONT></P><PRE>To respond to the whole group send to ob-@topica.com.

To respond to the list manager send to ob-@teleport.com

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Candi Murray/Oregon Bicycle Racing Assn

2004-02-20



I just bought Mike one of the Ritchey, it really looks sweet. They don't

have them in my size so I got a S&S coupling bike from Blinky. Can't wait

to travel!

Candi







-----Original Message-----

From: Clark Ritchie [mailto:clarkr-@yahoo.com]

Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 10:00 AM

To: OBRA

Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] How to fly free with bikes.





But they don't charge if you've got your steed packed

in a small(er) travel case, right? E.g. for bikes

with S&S couplings. I saw that Ritchey has a new

collapsible frame as does Co-Motion. Or how about

this monster: http://www.visi.com/~seng/vanilla/



...CDR











=====



Clark Ritchie



=====





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David Rosen

2004-02-20



Isn't there a problem when they put the bike carrier through the x-ray

machine and see that it is clearly not a trade show exhibit? Or, since all

of this happens after you pay for your ticket you are home free at that

point?



Any more details would be great. I will try to implement this plan the next

time I go anywhere.

Dave

----- Original Message -----

From: "Jon Nigbor" <jo-@consumer-care.com>

To: <ob-@topica.com>

Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 9:30 AM

Subject: [OBRA Chat] How to fly free with bikes.





 I've flown my bike free 90% of the time by spray painting my bike box with

a

 stencil for a trade show company and exhibit number (make one up).   I

tell

 the airlines I'm going to a trade show and have material for the trade

show

 in the case. Bike boxes are very similar to some trade show exhibit

cases.

 The airlines allow two check-in pieces of luggage, if your bike is the

third

 piece, worst case you might have to pay $50 each way for that third piece

of

 luggage. I just did this two weekends ago on a flight down to LV through

Alaska Airlines and had no trouble.

----- Original Message -----

From: <mike.m-@obra.org>

To: <ob-@topica.com>

Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2004 11:32 PM

Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] flying free with bikes?





 It always bugs me to have to pay for my bike too. Unfortunately OBRA

does

  not have much clout to allow us to negotiate a waiver program with

airlines.

 On the other hand, the waiver programs that other organizations have is

often not that great a deal either because they often force you to use a

specific travel agency or specific airlines. The saving in avoiding the

bike fee are often eaten up by the increased cost of the ticket. If

there

  are any OBRA members in the travel industry who would like to look into

creating a deal on bike fees that would be excellent.



Mike Murray



-----Original Message-----

From: kevin maier [mailto:kma-@darkwing.uoregon.edu]

Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2004 15:05 PM

To: ob-@topica.com

Subject: [OBRA Chat] flying free with bikes?





Howdy,

I'm in the process of booking a flight to Phoenix, AZ to visit my mother

in mid-March. And, of course, I'm trying to avoid the nasty ~$80

surcharge

  to bring my bike. Does anybody know if my OBRA license entitles me to

some sort of loophole through which I might avoid these fees? I

understand that the League of American Bicyclists has a travel agent and

some deal with which to avoid this. And I also know that the USCF has a

voucher program. Does OBRA have anything comparable too?



Any advice otherwise?



Isn't it absolutely ridiculous that one can fly with skis, golf clubs,

and

  even guns without incurring a surcharge, but it will cost me between

$100

  and $200 to bring my bike?



thanks for any suggestions,



kevin maier

541-683-2759



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eri-@fusium.com

2004-02-20



On a completely different angle, I recently took a train to Montana to visit

some friends (Amtrak). I got a sleeping car, too. Cheaper than a flight,

kind of cool to experience, and bikes only cost 5 bucks to check. You can

catch a train in the evening, and arrive in the morning (if the trip is

short enough).



-Erik



Clark Ritchie

2004-02-20



But they don't charge if you've got your steed packed

in a small(er) travel case, right? E.g. for bikes

with S&S couplings. I saw that Ritchey has a new

collapsible frame as does Co-Motion. Or how about

this monster: http://www.visi.com/~seng/vanilla/



...CDR











=====



Clark Ritchie



=====





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Oregon-@cs.com

2004-02-20





--part1_1e8.1975ce32.2d67a36e_boundary

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

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In a message dated 2/20/2004 9:34:34 AM Pacific Standard Time,

jo-@consumer-care.com writes:

 I've flown my bike free 90% of the time by spray painting my bike box with

a

stencil for a trade show company and exhibit number (make one up).

Now that's a cool dodge. Sneaky but cool. How do you finesse the TSA

checkers? 'course some of us have soft cases (mine is a BikeProUSA) which screams

"Bicycle! Bicycle!" all over it.



Peter



--part1_1e8.1975ce32.2d67a36e_boundary

Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII"

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit



<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT SIZE=2 PTSIZE=10 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">In a message dated 2/20/2004 9:34:34 AM Pacific Standard Time, jo-@consumer-care.com writes: <BR>

<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">I've flown my bike free 90% of the time by spray painting my bike box with a<BR>

stencil for a trade show company and exhibit number (make one up).  <BR>

</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>

Now that's a cool dodge.  Sneaky but cool.  How do you finesse the TSA checkers?  'course some of us have soft cases (mine is a BikeProUSA) which screams "Bicycle! Bicycle!" all over it.  <BR>

<BR>

Peter</FONT></HTML>



--part1_1e8.1975ce32.2d67a36e_boundary--



Pat Sagers

2004-02-20



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That's interesting. I flew from Redmond, Or. and they opened the case took

everything completely out and even swabbed for bomb making residue. There

was no getting around the fact that I was flying with a bike. I doubt they

would have found me lying about what was inside very funny. It was $50 each

way on Alaska. When I flew out of Palm Springs to come home, they didn't

hardly give the bike boxes a second look. However, they did ask what was

inside and when they heard it was a bike, they tagged me with the $50 fee.

I just think that they could make life pretty tough for you if you lied

about the contents. Also it appears different airports handle these packages

differently. Oh, and the Redmond airport also took away all my CO2

cartridges.



Pat Sagers



 I've flown my bike free 90% of the time by spray painting my

bike box with a

stencil for a trade show company and exhibit number (make one

up).   I tell

the airlines I'm going to a trade show and have material for

the trade show

in the case. Bike boxes are very similar to some trade show

exhibit cases.

The airlines allow two check-in pieces of luggage, if your

bike is the third

piece, worst case you might have to pay $50 each way for that

third piece of

luggage. I just did this two weekends ago on a flight down

to LV through

Alaska Airlines and had no trouble.



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<BODY>



<P><FONT SIZE=2>That's interesting.  I flew from Redmond, Or. and they opened the case took everything completely out and even swabbed for bomb making residue.  There was no getting around the fact that I was flying with a bike.  I doubt they would have found me lying about what was inside very funny.  It was $50 each way on Alaska.  When I flew out of Palm Springs to come home, they didn't hardly give the bike boxes a second look.  However, they did ask what was inside and when they heard it was a bike, they tagged me with the $50 fee.  I just think that they could make life pretty tough for you if you lied about the contents. Also it appears different airports handle these packages differently. Oh, and the Redmond airport also took away all my CO2 cartridges.</FONT></P>



<P><FONT SIZE=2>Pat Sagers</FONT>

</P>



<P><FONT SIZE=2>> I've flown my bike free 90% of the time by spray painting my </FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> bike box with a</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> stencil for a trade show company and exhibit number (make one </FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> up).   I tell</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> the airlines I'm going to a trade show and have material for </FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> the trade show</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> in the case.  Bike boxes are very similar to some trade show </FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> exhibit cases.</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> The airlines allow two check-in pieces of luggage, if your </FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> bike is the third</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> piece, worst case you might have to pay $50 each way for that </FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> third piece of</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> luggage.  I just did this two weekends ago on a flight down </FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> to LV through</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> Alaska Airlines and had no trouble.</FONT>

<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> </FONT>

</P>



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Jon Nigbor

2004-02-20



I've flown my bike free 90% of the time by spray painting my bike box with a

stencil for a trade show company and exhibit number (make one up).   I tell

the airlines I'm going to a trade show and have material for the trade show

in the case. Bike boxes are very similar to some trade show exhibit cases.

The airlines allow two check-in pieces of luggage, if your bike is the third

piece, worst case you might have to pay $50 each way for that third piece of

luggage. I just did this two weekends ago on a flight down to LV through

Alaska Airlines and had no trouble.

----- Original Message -----

From: <mike.m-@obra.org>

To: <ob-@topica.com>

Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2004 11:32 PM

Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] flying free with bikes?





 It always bugs me to have to pay for my bike too. Unfortunately OBRA does

not have much clout to allow us to negotiate a waiver program with

airlines.

 On the other hand, the waiver programs that other organizations have is

often not that great a deal either because they often force you to use a

specific travel agency or specific airlines. The saving in avoiding the

bike fee are often eaten up by the increased cost of the ticket. If there

are any OBRA members in the travel industry who would like to look into

creating a deal on bike fees that would be excellent.



Mike Murray



-----Original Message-----

From: kevin maier [mailto:kma-@darkwing.uoregon.edu]

Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2004 15:05 PM

To: ob-@topica.com

Subject: [OBRA Chat] flying free with bikes?





Howdy,

I'm in the process of booking a flight to Phoenix, AZ to visit my mother

in mid-March. And, of course, I'm trying to avoid the nasty ~$80 surcharge

to bring my bike. Does anybody know if my OBRA license entitles me to

some sort of loophole through which I might avoid these fees? I

understand that the League of American Bicyclists has a travel agent and

some deal with which to avoid this. And I also know that the USCF has a

voucher program. Does OBRA have anything comparable too?



Any advice otherwise?



Isn't it absolutely ridiculous that one can fly with skis, golf clubs, and

even guns without incurring a surcharge, but it will cost me between $100

and $200 to bring my bike?



thanks for any suggestions,



kevin maier

541-683-2759



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