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I took my road bike from Phoenix, AZ to Honolulu, HI on ATA airlines this past September (2006) and had no problems. I chose to have my bike card-board BOXed at my local bike shop, and brought along the tools I needed to reassemble (and re-box) the bike in Honolulu for my return trip (which amounted to a couple of hex wrenches and a pedal wrench).
Upon arriving at the Phoenix airport, they applied a $50 charge to my card that I had used to purchase the ticket, and took the bike off my hands. Pickup at Honolulu was so easy it was disconcerting. There was no verification that I was who I said I was, I just told the BAGgage clerk that the BOX was mine and he handed it over (it was brought in from the tarmac through a backdoor to the BAGgage claim area).
The return trip was equally easy, though I did have to run the bike through the fruit inspection x-ray machine. Pickup at Phoenix was also a cinch. I asked an ATA / Southwest BAGgage clerk about my bike, and she went out and grabbed it from the back somewhere (again, no claim ticket or ID check) and I was on my way.
The cardboard BOX served me well both ways, though it probably would not have held up to a third trip. For the $35 my bike shop charged me to BOX it up (and re-using the packing material and BOX for the return trip) it was cheap too. The hardest part of the whole trip was ferrying my bike to and from the airports (and cleaning the volcanic island mud from the gearing). |
