Bike Friendly Airlines

[04Morley]

Hi all, I'm currently in Bishkek, looking to fly out with my bike, preferably to SE Asia. Does anyone know any airlines who charge reasonably for bikes? I want to book a flight with Fly Dubai but I've been to their office three times now and they can't seem to tell me with my bike weight counts towards my overall baggage allowance or whether it's separate! Thanks.

[matt2matt2002]

Turkish airlines. Reasonable charges and twice I paid zero.
UK to Istanbul and Bishkek & return. Plus I've used them to Ethiopia from UK. Nice folks.

[Sinkolot]

Turkish airlines. Reasonable charges and twice I paid zero.
UK to Istanbul and Bishkek & return. Plus I've used them to Ethiopia from UK. Nice folks.

Wow how'd you manage to do it at no charge twice? Now that would be a travel hack!

[trikolka]

I also travelled several times on Turkish Airlines and would recommend them as bike-friendly.

I always paid, generally from 50 to 90 € depending on the flight (90€ for transcontinental flights with connection in Istanbul). The rule was not always the same : fixed rate, or weight of the bike, it depends on the airport, but the cost was almost the same in the 2 cases. For the packaging, the requirements also depend on the airport, but they generally accept the bike even without a special box. The detail I appreciated most is that when I travelled with a recumbent trike (I can no longer ride a "normal" bike because I had an accident), they told me they would accept it for the same price as a normal bike, and they did it.