Flying with bike gear
 

I'm in the early stages of planning a tour of New Zealand and will be flying out from the UK and hiring bikes out there.

it's the first time I will have flown with my bike gear and was looking for advice for how to transport my helmet.

Heathrow have told me I can take it though security OK but the airlines are mostly telling me it has to be packed as checked in baggage and those that are OK with it being carried on are saying it has to go in my hand baggage which is too small for a helmet to fit...

any other advice for flying with bike gear in general also appreciated, I intend wearing my boots and jacket when boarding the plane to save a bit of weight in the cases :)

If you have a helmet bag then take it as carry on, if not pack it in checked luggage, that is what I did, but I had a large kayak bag for my camping gear as well

thanks,

trouble is that the airlines have said I can't carry it on and I can't afford to turn up at the airport to find that they wont let me on board with it.

hmmm, I've brought a helmet as carry on a few times with no problem. I've also worn moto boots and jacket a couple of times, also no problem.

but if they've already told you you can't bring it as carry on, you should be able to wrap it up within another bag and check it.

Airlines are getting strict about what you can and can't take on-board.

Personally, I'd check it in as a fragile item (well wrapped in a sturdy box) or well wrapped in a box but in your checked luggage. I've taken a lot of odd stuff like that for my daughter who has moved to NZ.

As hand-luggage, the stewards may insist you put it in the overhead compartment rather than between your feet (a flying helmet is quite a weight!) & I've seen how the hand luggage gets jammed into those overhead spaces - other passengers don't care if their heavy bag gets dumped on top of yours.

It may be worth taking a cheap helmet from home so you're not too upset if it gets lost or damaged.

Make sure your boots & other gear is clean. NZ don't like imported dirt :)
Enjoy the trip, it's a wonderful country!

Hi,

Helmets are not so heavy so i stuffed my helmet into a disposable cardboard box with my tent and sleeping bag. To save weight i took the jacked and on board together with laptop and camera no problem.

http://www.adventure-travel-experien...en_suedamerika

Enjoy your trip, Tobi

I've travelled with my lid (an Arai) several times with no problems on BA, most recently to JNB from EDI a year gone November. I put it in my carry on bag (a Travelpro Platinum tote bag)- you won't be allowed to carry it separately any more as I did on my first trip to NZ many moons ago. It just fits into an overhead locker sitting upright, gotta watch you don't damage the vents in the top eh?

Most lockers are the same height in my experience, but if there is a problem getting it into the locker one time on a trip to CPT I stashed it under the seat in front. This may not be possible on some planes, I suppose especially if there is an AVOD unit under there.

Nobody will be able to dump anything on top of it because there won't be room.

That's exactly what we decided last night, I'm not taking a £500 helmet to have it thrown around in the hold.

If we had more time before hitting the road I'd just buy a new one out there.

I think I'm resigned to the fact I'll have to check it in, at least the big airlines are upping their baggage allowance and doing by weight and not pieces of luggage. I think we'll just package them separately and take cheap helmets

I just stuff mine in the bottom of a duffel or backpack, wrapped in whatever article of clothing is handy. It's probably the most durable thing I carry, so why worry about how it's packed or whether it's handled with care? What do you think is going to happen to it?

Like others here, I wear jacket, boots and pants if they're not shipped with a bike. I've also carried a helmet where this has been allowed, but basically it's a lot easier not to bother.

Mark

Upping the weight? That surprises me- I would have thought that they would be doing just the opposite.

Why buy a shit badly fitting cheap lid when you can take your own on board in your hand luggage?

The place you are hiring the bikes from may well have helmets for sale/hire/loan. Check them.

On a return flight with helmet back from China to Sydney the hat was Xrayed - looking for drugs? Pulled aside and shown the Xray - big crack in the hat .. not visible. New hats are a lot cheaper than new heads. I now try to give the hat away if flying out...

To me it's a matter of priority. Your noggin is pretty important, and a good fitting high quality helmet is safer, quieter, etc. Plus for many, it's the most personal fitting of items.

If you want to prioritize your helmet, the solution is to take your helmet as a carry on and toss whatever usual carry on junk you have (other than electronics) into your big luggage bag. As you point out, the weights are fairly high for international flights and unless you are taking parts or panniers, you won't hit the max. Lug along your helmet on board, toss it in the overhead luggage where it's nice and safe, won't get damaged and most importantly you will have it when you get there.

As a side note, I almost always carry on my helmet. The last trip, it was a puddle jump that went through a few different countries and airports and used different airlines. No one cared about the helmet, and I carried it with my arm slung through it. In addition, I carried a small backpack and no one seemed to care that I was over my technical allowance for number of carry ons as the cummulative size amounted to roughly what you are allowed. If you are really worried about them busting you, take a long a big plastic shopping bag which fits into the measuring device at the check in counter but will accomodate your helmet and your other small carry on. I can't comment on the UK to NZ flights specifically, but my experiences on carrying my helmet on flights between the usual continents has been the same.

I flew a few weeks ago carrying my helmet even though it was technically against the carriers policies. Nobody was in the least bit bothered. I just made sure I was the last one on the plane so I got to choose exactly how it got packed in the bins. Probably a good deal of it depends on the people working that day and how familiar/anal they are about official policies.

My lid goes in the tank bag, along with my camera, GPS unit, and other small important/expensive stuff, etc.

I have 'carried on' this hand baggage set-up with 17 different airline carriers over the last eight years .. and it's never been a problem with any of them, nor with any of the airports' security officers.
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I've packed my helmet in a proper helmet bag, along with gloves, rain pants, etc. and carried on. Never had any hassles at all.

The only comment I ever got was a flight attendant looking at the helmet and saying in a joking manner, "Do you know something about this flight that I don't??"