Westjet's 'BIKE AIR' Program 2023 Rates Revealed!
 

Details for shipping your motorcycle via WestJet's "BIKE AIR" program for 2023 (April to October).

I got to the source and had a long conversation with a helpful AMC rep, Michelle, for the deep details and 2023 rates for flying your bike domestically within Canada, and internationally from Canada to key destinations in Europe and back. Just in time for a global adventure jaunt this year!

AMC Air Marine Cargo inc. is the wizard behind WestJet Bike Air" curtain that handles the air freight of your motorcycle. We are also told that you can arrange onward flights/shipments from the European destinations to other eligible locations around the world, via another airline (usually KLM). These onward flights, however, are not included in the "Bike Air" program, but AMC can help you arrange them. A very helpful service.

NOTE: You ride your bike to their warehouse, and they load it on the airlines aluminum plate "pallet". (NO CRATING!) The pallets hold most solo motorcycles with average saddlebags, but not trikes, sidecars etc. Be sure to check allowed width to be certain. If your bike is too "fat" - e.g. saddlebags wider than the handlebars - you may have to take one bag off and take it on as luggage.

Share this with friends who are looking for solid info about WestJet's "Bike Air" Program for 2023.

Michelle forward this to us at Horizons Unlimited:
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"For the initial stage I have provided our rates (below) ...The below rates are for 2-wheeled motorcycles only. These rates do not apply to trikes and/or sidecars, in which we can quote individually based on dimension and weight.

Imports and Exports are billed separately.

https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tr...ping-rates.jpg

*Please note as we only handle the air transportation portion of the motorcycle. We will provide the Air Waybill (AWB) and the Dangerous Goods Declaration (DGD) that you will need to be able to print in colour and tender with your motorcycle.

Not included in our rates are any local charges, including but not limited to, local pickup, nor do they include any local delivery / insurance coverage / customs clearance / terminal fees / storage charges, etc., all of which would be to the account of the consignee, as assigned by the local handling authorities. AMC would not be able to advise on these charges and you would need to speak with the local warehouse / authorities for further information. You will need to contact a customs broker in Europe to complete the EU Customs for import and export of your motorcycle.

Articles such as personal effects can be stored in the saddlebags / panniers, however they must fit within the confines of the saddlebag / pannier, and we do not allow excess luggage to be strapped or added on top of the motorcycle.

The motorcycle is subject to security screening, and should any articles be deemed as Dangerous Goods according to aviation (IATA) standards it will be removed or will be entirely rejected for travel. Common examples are lithium batteries found in cellphones, laptops and other electronics, nail polish, aerosols like hairspray, and perfumes. Alcohol and food stuffs are also not permitted.

We highly recommend arriving before or on the same flight as your motorcycle, as the local warehouse would only provide 24 hours free time for you to clear customs of your motorcycle, pay the terminal charges and pick up the motorcycle before storage charges begin to incur daily"

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AMC website: Air Marine Cargo
Motorcycle Shipping Important Information (AMC document)
Motorcycle Form (AMC document)

Time to start planning!!

Thanks!
 

Thanks for tracking this down Grant!

Prices have really gone up post-pandemic. We shipped Calgary to Milan with Air Canada in 2019 and it was only $1,200. But during the pandemic, in September of 2020 it was $9,000 to fly a bike from Munich to Calgary ($3,600 by boat) so I guess we shouldn’t complain.


Now I just need to figure out something cheaper to get my bike from Canada to New Zealand and Australia and back. Was quoted $12,000 by boat. Ouch. (I know, I should buy/sell there but…)

Ekke, before you get too far along the path to down under, be aware that NZ-Oz is known as "the most expensive stretch of water in the world" - so get it all sorted first.
Once you get there, you'll love it though!

Hey Grant.

Thanks for posting.

But...

Do you know why it costs an extra $1000 going west, than going east ?? Same plane, same distance etc.

It just seems to be flying loops.

I suspect it's because there is a lot more freight cargo being shipped from Amsterdam to Calgary (fresh flowers? machine parts?) than from Calgary to Amsterdam (uhh I dunno, not even maple syrup...).

Yeah. Makes sense. For some reason I only considered them filling their hold with motorcycles. But I guess motos will be a very small percentage of their cargo.

I haven't been on for sometime. I just got off the phone with WestJet Cargo in Calgary, and they told me they will be accepting bikes directly from customer starting in April/2023. I don't know the cost difference, but I'm sure it will be less than the price quoted by the above freight forwarder. I use Avisar International based out of Calgary to do my DG paperwork, Todd will do the paperwork for round shipping if needed.

This is information only.

Thank you for this information
 

We are currently trying to find the "best" way to get two bikes in Canada. Have bene contacting James Cargo and Motofreight they all ship from London. I have now contacted AMC and shipping from Amsterdam would work out the best for us. Less additional costs ;-). The plan is to start riding around the 10th of May. If anyone has other suggestions, please shoot :-).

Update for Barcelona
 

Just thought I'd provide an update regarding Westjet's offerings.
We looked at Barcelona (BCN), and Air Marine Cargo(AMC) was good at providing some info, but you are both shipper and consignee, they simply handle the freight component in Calgary.
Tracking down the BCN end first with World Flight Services who provided a freight forwarder Otin who needed multiple prods to answer the basic questions on paperwork and costs for Temporary Import of a Vehicle for Leisure.
There is an EU process for that. We just learned after a week that Spain doesn't work with that and wants a ATA/Carnet for entry and costs for processing.

Significantly not worth it as they then add a 20% Customs handling charge which includes the cost of the flight shipment. AMC andWestjet currently don't have info yet on who the Station mgrs. are for the other EU destinations on the list so info is scarce on costing and process clarifications.

I can confirm the same prices and the start of the April shipping info posted. I have been talking with them about my plan to bring a bike back home to Canada this spring/Summer. Yeah, $3200 is not cheap, but here is the way I am justifying it.

Shipping via air is easier on the bike, and I get it in hand within a few days. If it goes by boat for me, it has to go across the Atlantic, down the east coast, through the Panama Canal, and back up the west coast to Vancouver, where I must get there a few months after shipping it. To me, that's a fair bit of carbon impact. Yeah, you can argue the math. But HEY! It's my fantasy world!

When I have completed the trip, I will post back here the results.

Not necessarily the Route
 

Hey Beakers......

Read your post on justification. There are options regarding sea freight such as having it land in Orlando where you could do a cross America tour to get it home.

We shipped back by sea in late September in '13 and those bikes came off the boat in Montreal and were shipped by train to Vancouver. Pretty quick actually.

Container shipping to points like LA via Panama Canal are prohibitively expensive so it would be more than air freight at the moment.

Making a good decision, but the factors as you listed them have changed.

I just received a notification the Amsterdam and Barcelona routes have been cancelled.:censored::funmeterno:
Updated routes and rates attached

Fly to east coast and ride across?

I have a booking From Paris to YYC on April 17th. I will update on here once it's been completed. Hopefully, the city is not on fire, and the French citizens are not dusting off the guillotines...

The Freight group is open 7 days a week to accept the bike and require it 24hrs before the scheduled flight as a FYI for anyone planning.

Any updates on whether Westjet are going to start flying from Los Angeles to Europe?

After learning that Barcelona was on the list and as I only live 3 hours away from the Calgary airport I booked my flight with Westjet assuming that the transport of my motorcycle would be a done deal and on the same flight. It was my intention to head south from there and cross into Africa. I had contacted AMC Air Marine Cargo Inc. prior to do my due diligence, but they now inform me that they don't ship to Barcelona for some administrative reason that made my eyes glaze over....

I contacted Todd at Avisar International as mentioned by vbharley previously and Todd said he can make it happen. He now, however, does not respond to my emails.:mad: My flight is June 3rd so I'm getting a bit anxious.

My options, as I see them, are to harass Todd at Avisar in the hopes that he can make good on his claim. The other option is to change my flight to Paris or Rome and make the trip into Africa from a greater distance. I'm leaning towards that option. In any event the planning with Westjet may be in vain as their pilots have recently participated in a strike vote and labour action may be imminent.

On top of all that the person in Nigeria who agreed to write me a "letter of invitation" so I could get a visa is in the process of renewing their passport. Accordingly they don't have a current copy of their passport in their possession. A copy of their passport is apparently required to accompany their invitation letter to satisfy the Nigerian consulate here.

I'm starting to think God does not want me to take this trip.

It’s all gone to $hit. I’m currently in Paris, the freight company that was to receive my bike said the waybill is incomplete and won’t take the bike. The shipper in Calgary that WestJet uses (AMC) has not returned my phone call even when I told dispatch it was urgent. So far the program is crap. This is not the service they advertise.

That's an easy question to answer. It's because of the wind.

In the northern hemisphere, the prevailing wind is from the west to the east. If you take a look at flight times on an airline's booking page, you will see that it takes about 15% more flying time to do a Europe-Canada trip than it does to do a Canada-Europe trip along the same route.

Because of this, the airline has to add more fuel to the aircraft for the westbound trip. Aircraft have a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW), and the payload on an aircraft consists of passengers, their baggage, freight, and fuel.

On an eastbound flight, it is often possible to have full seats, all the freight that is desired, all the necessary fuel, and still be below the MTOW. On a westbound flight, if you need to add (for example) 8,000 pounds of extra fuel to provide for the additional flying time going west, you might hit the MTOW before you get all 8,000 pounds of extra fuel on board. This means you now have to offload either pax or freight to stay under the MTOW. Freight is usually what gets offloaded, or, if freight demand is high and/or the freight is perishable, the airline won't sell tickets for every available seat on the aircraft. To make up for the lost revenue, the airline charges a higher price to fly the bike westbound.

There might be some influence on the price due to asymmetric cargo flow (more freight going west than going east) on certain routes, for example, flowers from Netherlands shipped to North America, but for the most part, it is the need to carry more fuel when going westbound that increases the "price per pound" charged to carry the motorcycle on the westbound trip.

Michael

Beakers motorcycle MIA?
 

BeakersAdventure motorcycle MIA?



"I’m currently in Paris, the freight company that was to receive my bike said the waybill is incomplete and won’t take the bike."


Curious: Where is your motorcycle? Still in Canada?


Regards,

I am really sorry about what is happening to you right now. Thanks a lot for sharing! It is very helpful for all of us. I wish you the best.

Tell us what is missing from the waybill and maybe we can help you complete the missing information. Waybills are pretty simple documents, there is nothing particularly complicated about them.

Michael

Update:

I am home, and so is the bike! It was quite a stressful ordeal.

The lesson learned, is don't hire a freight forwarder to manage the shipping from a country NOT in the location you are shipping from.

Longer version:
Plan was to drop off the bike on Monday morning 6 am for the 2 pm flight. When I arrived, the shipping company in Paris said it was missing the French Customs portion of the Airway Bill (AWB) and being 6 am in Paris = 10 pm Sunday Night in Calgary—no chance of getting the AWB fixed in time.

I had a phone number/contact for a Freight forwarder associated with Westjet in CDG (Paris airport). She picked up the phone at 7am, 2hrs before her office opened. She needed to wait until 4 pm to talk with Westjet so that ruled out flying the bike home on the Monday. BUT what she did do was get things rolling for me such as re-scheduling the flight, getting someone that could help me get the French Customs form done.

By Monday 5:30pm I had the correct AWB, French customs clearance, my flight moved to Tuesday, The bikes flight moved to Tuesday, and a commitment to accept my bike at 6:30am Tuesday morning and have it on the plane for 2pm.

Heros:
Clare Bury - Aero Cargo (Freight Forwarder) - CDG
Johan Sourdet - TAF (Customs Clearance) - CDG
WFS - Reception staff. Did everything they could to help.

If you have the time, it's not a bad one. There is a direct(ish) ferry from Genoa to Tangier, it's 2,5 days sailing, but saves a lot of gas/hotel/wear&tear. Currently looks to be about 350 euros for a person, a bike, and a shared cabin berth.

I took that ferry (Genoa to Tanger Med, with a stop in Barcelona) about 5 years ago. It wasn't exactly what I would call a ""delightful time on a cruise ship".

The ship itself is quite old, and the passengers are primarily Moroccans and their large families returning to Morocco. The food was unremarkable and also expensive.

If someone does elect to take that ferry in the future, my recommendation is that you pay the price to get a single cabin, which is what I did. That's not a cheap choice, I think the single cabin premium was about €300 on top of the basic fare, but I'm awfully glad I did that. I was able to sleep away from the considerable noise in the common areas, and also have a private shower and bath.

From an economics point of view, the €350 basic fare + another €100 for food is less than the cost of riding from Genoa to Morocco - your gas, tolls, wear & tear on your tires, and hotel charges will certainly be more than that if you ride the bike on that route. But for the sake of your sanity, and to ensure that you don't develop a strong dislike for mankind in general by the time you get off the ferry, I really recommend that you get a private cabin for that trip.

Michael

Thank you for the suggestion. I'm not pressed for time and I've not seen much of Europe so I've made the decision to fly into Paris and ride south through Spain. I'm actually looking forward to seeing the countryside.

The only real change to my planning is to keep the tires I have on now and haul some fresh one with me which I'll install when these are worn out.

A few important lessons scattered amongst the posts above. The most obvious is not to take anything for granted--airlines change schedules, make mistakes, go on strike; shippers display ignorance, fall off the map, or dissemble (which is sometimes called "lying"); border rules change without notice, even in the absence of global pandemics. The ability to respond flexibly without catastrophizing or sliding into despair is often the difference between a wonderful trip and pure living hell.

Meanwhile, I sure hope Canucklr is aware of what it means to be riding across inland Europe, then West Africa during summertime.

wesjet
 

You have to admit that the cargo handlers found a No BS way of shipping the legacy Africa Twin
Thats the way it done a whole cookie sheet for the twin

Nope. Probably best you not tell me either before I am actually there. It probably helps to be a bit naïve when planning such a trip. I suspect, however, the experience will be a slight departure from my life here amongst the mountains of western Canada.

Ok, i won't ruin your fun. I won't tell you.

I will just say that it might be a good idea develop the habit of monitoring any increase in heart rate or breathing that don't match with the physical effort you are doing while riding. If they don't match, stop riding!


Patrick

Apparently Westjet and its pilots have reached a tentative deal and a strike/lockout has been averted. I'm going to Africa.

Holy sh**! I'm going to Africa!!!

I have to pick an outfit...do my hair......so many tasks in the next two weeks. :)

Westjet BIKE'Air Updates
 

Latest info is now posted on Westjets site: BIKE'Air

Basics for 2023 so far:
April to October, and Canada / USA / Europe.

Hiya all! In Marrakesh right now.:clap:

I've been asked, and was going to, share my experience on shipping my bike to Europe. In short; reasonably painless other than the bill. I used Air Marine Cargo (as directed by Westjet) as my "freight forwarder". (I've learned new vernacular) and everything was done through them online.

Upon payment, they sent me the documents. One was the dangerous goods declaration which is the category that a motorcycle falls under and the other was shipping paperwork which looks like and would be as much fun as reading your insurance documents. They tell you how many copies to print off and that they should be in colour. (that's color for you Americans)

I was given the location to show up at a cargo warehouse and trailered my bike down a day prior to flying. I handed the folks there the documents and the boys in the warehouse came out to assist me in unloading the bike. We wheeled it into the warehouse and another dude showed up to inspect it and what was in the panniers. Yes, you can have it loaded, but there are restrictions I.E. No aerosols, lighter, matches, and no more than 1/4 tank of gas. I asked to strap extra tires to it, but was declined. That was it. I went home with my copies of the shipping documents to catch my flight from Edmonton the next day.

Once in Paris (That was the closest to Africa I could get it seems) I took a suitcase with my riding gear off the carousel and looked for my tires. After a brief moment of mild panic I realized they were somewhere else with the oversize cargo area. Now to get my bike.

The customs people at the airport told me that they don't deal with that. OK. I found the pick up location on my paperwork and began asking around. I was told to to terminal 3 and catch a bus as the cabs probably won't entertain such a short ride. At terminal 3 I found the bus stop and was told that #24 will get me close. I also found out that the buses are cash only and they do not give change. (That was from thrusting my smallest denomination Euro, a 20, at the driver who just rolled his eyes and waved me away)

Once I thought I was close and with the help of the driver I located Worldwide Freight Services which is the company I deal with as instructed by AMC. It is a large facility with numerous buildings and apparently I went to the wrong one. A kind employee loaded me, my suitcase and my tires into his personal vehicle and drove me over to the correct location.

At this location I hand my paperwork over to a dude and an office kiosk who looks it over and determines that my bike would not be ready for another 20 minutes. Approximately 45 minutes later he tells me I have to go to customs.

I locate Customs not too far away in the same building. I hand them over my paperwork, my Canadian motorcycle registration, and my green card insurance for France and Spain. (purchased online). They do their office thing and make some copies of my documents and hand me back a package which includes a document indicating that I've imported my motorcycle temporarily. I'm traveling without a carnet for those who are wondering.

I returned to the first dude at the kiosk and hand in my completed paperwork. He checks it over, charges me 128 Euros and sends me down the hallway to the warehouse. I give Warehouse dude my paperwork and he takes off with the forklift returning about 10 minutes later with my motorcycle on a pallet. Voila!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/e5h73mNj2B897QyJ6

They permit me to spend some time in a corner of their loading dock to reattach the terminals on my battery and strap on my tires. I put on my riding gear and trash the suitcase and off I go. From the time I landed to the time I drive away is about 4 to 5 hours. Could I have hired some agency to simplify and possibly expediate this process? Possibly.....but like the dude at AMC said: "If you're going to be motorcycling through Africa you'd better get used to some challenges."

Well put.

what did you end up paying, I used air Canada cargo in 2018 and I payed $1000 cad from Montreal to Paris, and 1200 cad from Paris to Vancouver.

Clearly prices have gone up but I also see they have gone down from 2 years ago. im looking at using Air Marine for a similar trip next summer and have not gotten a response back, just want to see how far off the prices have gotten thanks.

It was just shy of $2000 CAD to ship and then the 128 Euro fee at the cargo facility at the Paris airport.