Stupid Virgin Policy - no booking no bike box will be sold

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michjfro

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Travelling overseas with a bike for the first time, so I rang the velocity gold hotline for advice. "Go to the departures - oversize baggage and buy a box for $15 said the helpful lady on the phone.

Sounds easy - drive an hour to the airport, sell my left kidney to pay for parking, walk in and ask for a box. "Not sure if we have one but will look" said the polite lady at the oversize baggage counter. About 10 minutes later they find one and bring it out. Brilliant so far!

Get the credit card out for the $15 fee but no can do. She needs a booking reference. I explain that the bike itself is kinda big and that I would like to see if it fits in the box so I know what ticket to get (being Gold Velocity, I get one free bag - might need two if I am taking the bike). She cant sell me the box without a reference. I have cash or credit, but no can do. She helpfully calls the supervisor but there is no way they are letting me buy a cardboard box without a ticket ref. If I get to the international airport early on the departure date, I can pack the bike at the airport - pretty good advice but I might pass given that 15 minutes ago they weren't sure they had any boxes, nor do I want to do this on the departures floor.

Drive home forlornly for an hour and a half in peak hour traffic, mostly inventing new swear words for a ridiculous policy...
 
I wonder if the "managers" making up this policy travel much......
 
To process a transaction in Sabre you need a PNR to attach it to. It just needs to be any future booking AFAIK.
 
samas said:
I bought a Body Bag from Ground Effect for this purpose:
https://www.groundeffect.co.nz/product/BAG/BOD/

(But then when I landed I took my bike out my bag and put the body bag in my back pack and cycled on from the airport )
Click to expand...

I love my Body Bag, served me well on many a trip.

Michjfro, you could try a box from any bikestore. Normally they give them away for free. Not sure what car you drive or how you're getting to the airport, but the airline boxes tended to be pretty big whereas the bikestore ones a bit smaller making it easier to get in the car but harder to pack other stuff around it.
 
What he said. If you ask nicely they might even help you pack it quickly. Al Italia managed to rip open my bike carton last time I travelled with treddly.

If your bike is a nice one you might consider buying a hard case but then you will need a place to store it while away.
 
Just brought a bike for Master Here2go from CBR to DRW. As per other posters, the bike store gave me an adult box, and even packed it for me, for free.
The box made it intact to DRW just then, but handles were ripped. Suggest lots of tape if a return trip, or as others suggest a good bag.

Does anybody have experience flying with recumbent trikes and how package them?
 
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Did you consider trying the Qantas service desk? They sell bike boxes (a little larger than the VA ones) - I don't recall being asked for a PNR when I've bought them in the past. I've used QF bike boxes on VA and v.v.

I've flown with the VA and QF boxes and also using a free box provided by my bike shop. The VA / QF boxes are much bigger than the free bike boxes so the bike will travel with less disassembly and with more room for protective packing, helmets etc. Make sure that you have something to space out the front forks (the rear wheel stays in place with both the VA and QF boxes). Bike shops will usually give you a free spacer if you ask nicely.

A big advantage of buying a box at the airport is it makes logistics of getting to the airport much easier (don't need a maxi taxi etc).

As for the recumbent question, I've never flown with one, but one option might be wrapping the whole bike in one piece using the bag wrap you can often find being sold at the airport.
 
There is a thread will post it later but I go to the arrivals baggage area at Qantas in Melbourne often you will see a used one standing there doing nothing.

And sorry about the stupid way you were treated by VA they should know better
 
Thanks to those (like here2go and jstar) who made the suggestion of going to the bike shop - the guy climbed into the bin and found me one of the proper size and also gave me some helpful advice. I wonder if VA will reimburse me for the $70 I inevitably spent simply for walking into the bike shop (yay shiny new pedals!)

Perhaps in future VA could make a booking for me with a cost of $0 for this type of thing.
Or perhaps they could just be a 'real business' and take my money for a box with the expectation that I will spend lots of money on an air ticket(s).
Or just maybe even perhaps they could have given me a box as a sign of goodwill to a gold member given that I drove for 2 1/2 hours and paid $14 in parking after following the advice from the virgin helpdesk...
 
You can't just create a PNR for the sake of selling the bike box. The way Sabre charges for ancillaries does not allow this AFAIK. It needs a ticket to associate to the ancillary for a start.

marki said:
There is a thread will post it later but I go to the arrivals baggage area at Qantas in Melbourne often you will see a used one standing there doing nothing.

And sorry about the stupid way you were treated by VA they should know better
Click to expand...
Sure the phone agent was wrong but what else could the agents at the airport have done...VA don't get bike boxes for free you know!
 
Must...Fly! said:
You

Sure the phone agent was wrong but what else could the agents at the airport have done...VA don't get bike boxes for free you know!
Click to expand...

They are used bike boxes after flights so it's useful to keep an eye out for a free one. ( at the arrivals hall) They get left behind by passengers
Who no longer require them.

And yes it's the bike shops who really help a lot. You can get free usually tube padding so the bike does not get any scratches.

Ultimately a bike case is the way to go. But there are different was to go about it.

Cheers
 
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