shipping 2xmtb to europe

[wantanorco]

hi all
so i want to ship 2x hardtail mtb to the uk,sea mail is $200 and takes 3 months or ups is $440 per bike(delivered in 4 days),have heard you can take them as oversize baggage on the long haul flight,anyone had any experience shipping? i know i could sell them and buy another 2 in europe but would like to keep them
cheers

 

[pin'd_it]

Can i get some info on that UPS shipping? I am potentially looking to buy a bike form the US and want to figure out how to get it shipped hear for approx $400.

 

[Hugor]

I moved to the UK 12 months ago and air freighted my bike using Pack and Send. With insurance it ended up costing around $600. Got my LBS to pack it into a box for me - had all my paraphenalia in it too - helmet, camelbak, tools etc. I think it was worth it.

 

[spudmonkey32]

What sort of weight are we talking about? not sure about shipping/posting but if you went the airline route and took them with you then the following may help - this is my experience from UK to Oz recently with a complete bike, frame, and kit but i presume that it would be the same in reverse:

I flew with Emirates as they have a generous 30kg allowance as standard, but the most baggage/bike friendly airline seemed to be BA (i didn't go with them as they don't fly to Melbourne). They charge something like 35 pounds for an extra 23kg bag and you can take more bags - up to a maximum of 10 i think for additional fees. This is a huge saving over any other airline flying to OZ (Qantas would have charged me hundreds of pounds for the extra 23kg), and is cheaper than using a courier.

But note that - if you book a flight with BA and they use a codeshare airline e.g. Qantas then you have to follow Qantas's baggage rules, and if you change codeshare plane carriers in Asia (eg fly uk to asia BA then Qantas to Oz) then they use some IATA formula for extra kgs which was something like 50 pounds per kg if my memory serves correct.

I'm not trying to endorse BA, but just want to let anyone know who is thinking of flying to Oz with bike kit - i spent days researching the best tickets and BA is the standout airline for extra luggage that i found on this route.

Hope this helps
Cheers

 

[wantanorco]

shipping

thanks spudmonkey,looks like i'll probably just take 1x mtb(approx 20kgs boxed) ,i have been given the details of an excess baggage company from oz to uk,haven't looked at it in detail yet but it will be cheaper then fedex/ups
cheers