Air Canada charged me $960.50 to fly with my bicycle
The biggest bicycle fee you ever did see but don't worry, you won't be charged this much for flying with your bike
Airline bike fees can vary widely but generally you’d expect to pay anywhere from $20 to $100 in order to fly with your bike. On a recent trip, I was charged an astounding $960.50, a cost that far exceeded the prize of my ticket. Luckily, the charge was made in error but had it not been noticed at the airport who knows how difficult it would have been to get reimbursed.
If you have the right bag or a sneaky tactic you can sometimes avoid airline bicycle fees all together. On a recent trip from Halifax to Toronto with Air Canada, a mere two-hour flight, I rolled a Bike Box Alan loaded to the brim with all my luggage up to the kiosk and dully handed over my credit card to pay what I was told would be a $50 charge.
The baggage tag was printed, I was handed a receipt and the employee attached the appropriate tags to the box. It seemed everything was good to go when a number caught my eye on the receipt. A number that made my jaw drop. Over $900 to transport a bike? That could not be right. Was I looking at the price of my entire trip? That wasn’t right either.
I asked the Air Canada employee about the charge I had just paid for. Like myself she was immediately taken aback by the number she was looking at and immediately apologized. You could, after all, just buy a new bike on arrival at your destination for that much money.
The employee was kind and went to work to void the charge, a process that took about five minutes. It seems the charge was made in error, but exactly how it came out to so much I am still not sure. On this day, the bike flew for free as a result of the mistake.
Always check your receipts.
