I need to get a couple of bike cases for use on airplanes. If you have one and have used it to ship overseas would you recommend it?

Is it possible to rent good bike travel cases? (not the cardboard ones the airlines provide)

Hi,

Youve probably already taken care of this, but I have a Bike Pro USA case. Its a soft case. Worked well for me last year. There are alos cases by Trico, and several others that work fine.

BTW, I think we may be on the same trip this week. At least we are departing from the Paris hotel that you mentioned in another thread.

Son has used both the soft and hard case. The soft one yielded a bit of damage to the bike I think. He took a hard case last year when going to the Tour de France and also a couple of weeks ago to come to the beach. I think he is renting or had the use of it from his bike shop. It has wheels to roll it and was pretty easy to navigate. I was very concerned last year about use on the airline--he may have purchased some kind of "passes" for it. They were also being met by a bike tour group so transportation to the hotels was not an issue. If you are going independently I wonder how you will manage it.
It was of course good for packing a lot more than the bike.

my husband uses a hard case for his bike- he's most concerned about the frame. He did run into a problem flying to europe as the TSA decided that the bike case had to a searched and it was locked. The case only shuts properly if locked- these guys did not care! He was able to go with the guys and talk them through the opening and more importantly CLOSING and LOCKING of the case. But was not able to touch the case ever.
The other draw back of the hard case is that it is HUGE Really really HUGE. Figur out how much your bike is worth to you-and then make a purchase. Or ask your local quality bike store if they rent and would they apply the rental cost towards the purchase of a case.

I will quantitate highledge's "huge"--son's bike case filled the back of my Tahoe on its trip to UPS--and is about 14" tall I would estimate. It was cheaper for them to ship it UPS (under a special rate) than to bring it on the plane domestically. I don't know what the price was for the international flight last year but he did mention buying a package of flight passes somehow.

OK, I did talk to my son. It is free shipping internationally. A membership in the American Cycling Federation can get the "passes" depending on the level you choose.

Continental Air tells us we will be charged $80 each way for our hard suitcase-type bike case.

What's the deal on these Cycling Federation passes? We leave on Sunday so I guess it's too late for those this time.