We haven’t figured out how to get our bicycles to the Pacific and that isn’t because we haven’t been trying. We can’t take them on the plane because our first flight is on a puddle jumper. Besides, it would cost $75 to take the bikes even if that was our only luggage. It’s ok to take huge antler racks, jumbo golf bags, scuba equipment and footlockers, but bicycles incur an extra charge. The airlines obviously hate cyclists and will do anything that they can to discourage them from flying their unfriendly skies.

Not all airlines have that policy. When we flew Spirit to Cancun, we were not charged for bicycles, which is one reason that we chose to give our money to them. That may have changed and they may be following the same onerous rules as the other airlines. It used to be that bikes flew free on overseas flights. Then the definition of overseas became more restrictive. Mexico used to be overseas, especially for those of us who flew over the Gulf of Mexico to get there. But, overseas doesn’t include overgulf, so suddenly bikes started to be a burden on flights to Mexico and cost extra to fly there. Hope those people who want to put that fence along the Mexican border consult with the airlines who will tell them that Mexico is a domestic destination.

An excellent site for information on bike access and traveling with a bike is at:
www.bikeaccess.net
I hadn’t visited the site for years and some of the information on shipping bikes, or rather most of the information on shipping bikes is outdated. The prices are at least double from what people claimed to have paid just a few years ago. Some companies want so much for shipping that buying a new bike in Portland would be a better alternative. In fact, shipping the bikes will almost cost as much as shipping ourselves to Portland. Now, that just doesn’t seem right. The bike boxes won’t get a window seat or a pack of wierd combinations of crunchy stuff.

If and when we do find a way to ship the bikes, we want to be sure that they can go all the way to Astoria so that we don’t have to deal with them when we arrive in Portland.

We have found that there is a shuttle bus to Astoria at 6pm. That is not a good time since we arrive before noon and want to get to Astoria, ride out to the ocean and do the dip.

Onward to the freight companies.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 26th, 2006 at 8:47 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.