flying bike from Cambodia to Korea - any tips?
 

I am wanting to send my bike from Phnon Penh to Soul by plane.
has any one done this??
have you got any tips or recommendations for me??
im about to head back to cambodia (from veitnam) to pick up my bike and make the arrangements.

Really dont know, but Ive once landed in Phnom Penh airport, and it didnt exactly seem like a big international ´flight hub´.... wonder if you can find an airline, that operates an aircraft big enough to get your bike in.

Luckily Bangkok is only a couple of days away from PP, there you got probably every airline in the region, so many more possibilities from there I think.

Not 100% related, but I was sending by air from Bali, Indonesia to Perth, Australia just a couple of months ago, and the problems were:
- Garuda, who had a wide-body aircraft, did not accept anything heavier than 50kg;
- Qantas, who also had a direct flight (which we took for ourselves), operated a small-body aircraft, and wouldnt accept a crated bike into that plane (probably hard or impossible to fit in). So we needed to put it on one Qantas/Jetstar flight to Melbourne, then another to Perth, flight time jumped from 3 hours to 10 hours, so thats when the costs naturally went sky-high, too. Still did it, because it was our only realistic option at the time.

I think you may find similar problems, if youre not freighting between the major hubs.

And if its any help, we previously freighted by air from Chennai-Bangkok with Malaysia Airlines, charged by actual wgt (~315 kgs, if my memory serves me right), some 600 euros total, including customs clearances and paperwork only in India.

And from Bali, via Melbourne to Perth by Qantas, charged by volumetric wgt (~370 kgs), some 1300 euros total, including everything in Indonesia, not including costs at the receiving end.

Flight time Chennai-Bangkok was a bit more than 3 hours, perhaps PP-Seoul could be something similar.

I've flown bikes around a few times Maxi.

Your options are crated or uncrated and cargo or accompanied baggage. Narrow body jets wil certainly do the job - I 've flown a bike in the cargo hold of a 707 and the passenger compartment of a DC8 freighter before.

Best deal I got was Panama City to Bogota in '84 for $200. I parked my uncrated CX500 in the V at the end of the fuselage of a freighter - that space is otherwise empty as the pallets won't fit down the very end. The pilot also offered to carry me for free in the jump seat (behind the cockpit). If you can do the same then it is certainly the cheapest way to go.

Have you tried riding into China? I'm in Beijing at present, having ridden from Qingzhou (just next to the Vietnamese border). If you can somehow get into China through Laos it would definitely be the way to go.

Garry from Oz.

Well, maybe the times have changed, because nowadays it seems you must crate it every time.

And the airline will tell you, if they will accept a bike at all (because its dangerous goods) and whether or not they think their aircraft will be suitable to transport it. Did not appear to me like there would be any room for negotiations about that.

Maybe there are some places in the world, or some airlines, where it works differently. But both Malaysia Airlines and Qantas seemed to go very much ´by the book´ on these things.

Edit: from Laos (or Vietnam) to China on a non-chinese registered bike sadly might not happen, unless you´ll arrange all guides and other very expensive requirements months in advance. Just popping up at the border and entering has worked, or so Ive heard, but only when the bike has had chinese plates.

Pecha, I have no doubt you are correct re the reputable airlines but I reckon in Pnomh Penh there should be opportunities for "greasing the wheels" a little.

As for doing China legally, I am sure you are correct too. However, I have been in China less than 2 weeks as a visitor and have bough a local bike and travelled 3,800 kms in 9 days.

Garry from Oz.

Yes, in Cambodia a lot of things may be possible if you know who to give some "tea money" to smoothen things up a bit. Still I doubt, if there would be any such services operating as far as Seoul, but surely might be worth giving it a try.

Re China, Ive spoken with a couple of buddies, and we may fly there some time, buy local bikes and then try to ride them thru the south of the country into Laos and then Thailand. That way it might be a lot easier - still probably lots of hassle in China, before you get going, but I hear its been done before.

Qantas will ship (fly) an uncrated bike from Sydney .. think the person you are talking to does not know about uncrated shipping being aproved?
See
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...cles-air-21880

print it out and take it to them?

OK, so Qantas will fly an uncrated bike from Sydney.. to where? And you have actually flown a bike that way more or less recently? (And I do not mean this in a provocative way, just curious to know, if you really have such information)

That really did not seem like an option, when flying out of Bali (or Chennai for that matter).. everyone else I talked to, while on the trip, who had shipped by air, had most definitely needed to crate their bikes.

MAYBE it could be different, if shipped by some smaller airplane, for a shorter distance, like I heard someone had flown his bike from Kupang to Darwin, but that plane had such a small cargo door, that he needed to dismantle the bike almost completely to fit it in... and that was a over decade ago.

The airline may not follow the most up-to-date list of regulations, either, and theres little you can actually do about it... in Bali I was told that the bike has to be drained of fuel completely, and even take out engine oil. And also that the battery needs to be away from its location, disconnecting it wasnt enough for them.

I flew the bike originally from Brisbane to Bangkok. I sent it through Qantas , uncreated and they only charged me for the weight of the bike its self!! so it turned out to be $600. other companies were going to charge me for the volume.

I didn't really want to go back to Bangkok, if i can help it, as its a big airport... lots of hassles and annoying people who want to help for money, specially me, being a girl!!

Ill find out when i get back into Cambodia and post it on this forum for future references.

As for China, I just didn't think i could get into the country, a few people have tried and got turned away. Visas are becoming a problem too. I also have a seasons problem, as i'm trying to make it to Russia for their summer!!

Airfreight Brisbane-Bangkok for $600 ? Normally you would be lucky to get it done for that price, even by sea! Yes, I would like to hear more... like if you perhaps happen to know some important persons at Qantas?

And how do you get it into the airplane without a crate. It still needs to be put in a pallet to get moving by forklift, right?

I asked several times at the qantas desk, and every time i got a different answer. I was starting to get feed up with the whole thing, and i looked around at other compaines.

Qantas was telling me they charge per kg... the next phone call a second later they told me per volume. When talking to other companies they all said they will charge me for the volume. So i decided to take a gamble with Qantas. It definatly paid off, I ony got charged for the weight of my bike.

I rode it up onto their docking yard where they checked the weight and then pushed it out the back.... from there i think they put it on a pallet and strapped it down. Two days later it was in bangkok waiting for me to arrive to check it out of customs.

That sounds like the easiest, and (BY FAR!) the cheapest airfreight from Australia to Thailand, I must say!! I think I would have serious trouble repeating what you did. No crating, just put it on an aeroplane... I sure wish it was that easy every time!

Yeah, in the end it was really easy. Im actually had a really easy time, with Bangkok customs, Laos customs and Cambodia customs. I completley didnt bother with Vietnam - i just brought and sold a bike while i was there. Now, ive found a Khemer guy to help me sort out flying it to South Korea. So fingers crossed for the next part of my journey!