
## Bike Travel Insurance Starts With a Camera, Not a Policy

The most useful bike travel insurance you will ever own costs nothing: five minutes with your phone before the bike goes in the case. Photograph the bike assembled, photograph it packed, photograph the closed case, write down the serial number, and put the purchase receipts somewhere you can open from a foreign airport. Then, on arrival, report any damage **before you leave the baggage area**.

That is the whole protocol, and it is free. The paid products come second, because a policy without evidence is a slow way to be told no.

Everything below assumes you are already handling the rest of [traveling with your bike](/posts/traveling-with-your-bike-complete-guide) competently — the case, the packing, the fees. This piece is only about what happens when the case comes off the belt with a corner stoved in.

<Highlight label="The short version">
- **Before you pack:** photos of the bike assembled and of the serial number, drivetrain, wheels and existing scuffs.
- **While you pack:** photos of each stage, plus the closed case. This is your defence against "inadequately packed".
- **At check-in:** read the limited-liability release before you sign it. Bikes in soft bags are often treated differently from bikes in hard cases.
- **On arrival:** open the case in the baggage hall. Damage gets reported there, in writing, with a reference number.
- **Then:** photograph the damage untouched, keep the case and packing materials, get a written shop estimate, file inside the carrier's deadline.
- **Coverage lives in four places:** the carrier, your home policy, a travel policy with a sports rider, or a specialist bicycle policy. None of them is automatic.
</Highlight>

<SectionDivider variant="trail" />

## The Documentation Protocol: What to Photograph and When

Claims adjusters are not judging your bike. They are judging whether you can prove three things: that the bike was intact when you handed it over, that it was packed competently, and that it is worth what you say it is worth.

### Before the bike goes in the case

Shoot the bike assembled and rideable, from both sides, in decent light. Then shoot the details that a repair estimate will hinge on: **the serial number, usually stamped under the bottom bracket**, the rear derailleur and hanger, both wheels from the side, the bars and levers, the fork legs and the top tube.

Include the scuffs you already have. That sounds counterproductive; it is the opposite. A photo set that shows a chainstay scratch on 14 August makes the cracked chainstay on 16 August much harder to argue away as pre-existing.

### While you pack

Photograph each stage — fork or wheels out, derailleur removed and bagged, foam and padding in place, everything strapped down. Then photograph the closed case with the airline tag on it.

This is the part almost nobody does, and it is the part that matters most. **"Inadequately packed" is the denial reason you can most easily pre-empt**, and a nine-photo sequence of a careful pack job pre-empts it. Our guide to [how to pack a bike for flying](/posts/how-to-pack-a-bike-for-flying) covers what that pack job should look like; the photographs are what make it count later.

### Where to keep it

An album in your phone is not a filing system. Put the photos, the serial number, the original purchase receipt and any receipts for wheels, drivetrain or dropper in one cloud folder, and check you can reach it without wifi. Timestamps come free with the files — do not strip metadata, and do not screenshot the photos, which usually does.

<Warning title="The pre-trip inspection doubles as evidence">
Ride the bike before you box it and note anything already wrong. A wheel that arrives out of true is a weak claim if it was already out of true, and you will not remember which. Our [pre-trip bike inspection checklist](/posts/pre-trip-bike-inspection-checklist) is a reasonable script for the ride and the notes.
</Warning>

<SectionDivider variant="rule" />

## What Airlines Actually Owe You for a Damaged Bike

Two ceilings apply, and both are ceilings on liability rather than promises to pay.

**Domestic US flights.** The Department of Transportation sets a minimum baggage liability limit that carriers may impose. The rule raising it "from the current amount of $3,800 to $4,700" took effect on **22 January 2025**, according to the [Federal Register notice published on govinfo](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-10-24/html/2024-23588.htm). DOT's consumer page confirms the working figure, stating that on domestic trips "the airline can invoke a liability ceiling that is regulated by DOT and that is adjusted for inflation every two years" and that the limit is [currently $4,700 per passenger](https://www.transportation.gov/lost-delayed-or-damaged-baggage). Because it is indexed and reviewed on a two-year cycle, check the source page rather than trusting a number you read in a forum thread.

**International itineraries.** The Montreal Convention governs. ICAO announced that the limit for destruction, loss, damage or delay of baggage rose from 1,288 SDR to **1,519 SDR — roughly US$2,000 — effective 28 December 2024**, under the treaty's built-in five-year inflation review ([ICAO](https://www.icao.int/news/international-air-travel-liability-limits-set-increase-enhancing-customer-compensation-0)). SDR is an IMF unit, so the dollar equivalent drifts: DOT currently puts 1,519 SDR at [approximately $2,175 per passenger](https://www.transportation.gov/lost-delayed-or-damaged-baggage).

Note the gap. A ceiling around $2,175 does not cover a $5,000 bikepacking rig, and even the domestic $4,700 is a maximum, not a default payout. DOT notes that airlines, like insurance companies, [consider the depreciated value of your possessions](https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/fly-rights) rather than the original price or replacement cost. Carriers also deny for exclusions and settle for repair cost when repair is possible.

<PullQuote>
A liability limit is the most the airline can be made to pay, not the least it will offer.
</PullQuote>

## The Limited-Liability Release Nobody Reads

At check-in, many carriers will hand you a release for sporting or fragile equipment. Signing it is a decision, not a formality.

Delta's sporting equipment policy requires bicycles to be "packed in a durable protective container designed specifically for bicycles," and states plainly that "Delta is not responsible for damage noted at the time of check in or damage due to over packing the bag." A hard shell case designed for bikes needs no release; a soft-sided travel bag or anything else means [a limited liability release form gets signed](https://www.delta.com/us/en/baggage/special-items/sporting-equipment). Avelo takes the same line, accepting bicycles in cardboard or soft-sided cases [subject to a limited release of liability](https://www.aveloair.com/help/special-baggage-and-sports-equipment).

Policies differ by carrier and by route, so read your own. But the pattern is consistent enough to change a purchase decision: **the case you choose has an insurance dimension, not just a protection one**. That is worth weighing against price and weight in our [best bike travel cases and bags](/posts/best-bike-travel-cases-bikepacking) roundup, and against the fee structure in [airline bike fees and policies](/posts/airline-bike-fees-policies), where the counter conversation usually happens.

We would not tell you a hard case is always right — they are heavy, expensive, and awkward to store at the far end. We would tell you that if you fly a $4,000 bike more than twice a year, the release form is a real cost of the soft bag.

<SectionDivider variant="ornamental" />

## Airline Damaged My Bike: Filing the Claim Step by Step

1. **Open the case in the baggage hall.** Not at the hotel. DOT's guidance is to check for damage and report problems to the airline before leaving the airport, and to insist on having a report created ([transportation.gov](https://www.transportation.gov/lost-delayed-or-damaged-baggage)).
2. **Get a written reference number.** American Airlines, as one published example, asks passengers to file a damaged-bag report before leaving the airport or within a few hours of receiving the bag on domestic flights, and within seven days on international ones, then issues an incident number ([aa.com](https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/baggage/delayed-or-damaged-baggage.html)). For international travel the treaty backstop is Article 31 of the Montreal Convention, which requires a written complaint at the latest within **seven days** of receiving checked baggage ([summary of Article 31](https://www.rumberger.com/insights/baggage-claims-under-the-montreal-and-warsaw-conventions/)).
3. **Photograph the damage before you touch anything.** Case exterior, case interior, bike still strapped in, then the broken part.
4. **Keep the case and the packing materials.** Adjusters ask for them, and throwing them away reads as destroying evidence.
5. **Get a written estimate from a bike shop.** Itemised, on letterhead, with part numbers. This is the single document that moves a claim.
6. **File inside the deadline, and follow the paperwork chain.** American, for instance, asks for a property questionnaire within 30 days of the first report. Miss a stated window and the merits stop mattering.
7. **Escalate in writing if denied.** Ask for the specific contract-of-carriage clause relied on. Vague denials often soften when you make them cite something.

<Tip title="When you need the bike rideable tomorrow">
Claims take weeks; your trip does not. The practical move is almost always to pay for the repair now, keep every receipt and the shop's written diagnosis, and claim the repair rather than the bike. Carry enough of a [travel tool kit](/posts/bike-travel-tool-kit-reassembly) to diagnose the damage yourself at the airport, because "bent derailleur hanger" and "cracked chainstay" are very different conversations.
</Tip>

## The Four Places Bike Coverage Can Come From

Terms vary enormously by insurer, product and country. Treat what follows as a map of the categories, then read your own documents.

**1. The carrier's own liability.** Free, capped at the limits above, and narrowed by the release you signed. Best for obvious in-transit damage to a properly cased bike.

**2. A homeowners or renters policy.** Many policies cover a bicycle as personal property, on and off the premises. Two catches: the deductible often exceeds a modest repair, and limits can be low — Policygenius notes off-premises coverage is [typically capped around $500](https://www.policygenius.com/homeowners-insurance/does-homeowners-insurance-cover-bikes/) without a scheduled endorsement, and that a scheduled endorsement runs roughly $100 per $10,000 of coverage. Some policies also exclude property in transit. Ask your agent that question specifically.

**3. Travel insurance with a sports-equipment benefit.** Useful, and frequently smaller than riders expect. Squaremouth describes sports equipment loss limits as [typically $500 to $3,000 per person, with per-item limits between $50 and $500](https://www.squaremouth.com/travel-insurance-benefits/sports-equipment-loss). A $300 per-item cap does very little for a loaded gravel bike. Read the per-item number before the headline number.

**4. A specialist bicycle policy.** The only category built for this. Velosurance, underwritten by Markel, states its policy covers the bike [while in transit by airline and other shipping companies](https://velosurance.com/bicycle-travel-insurance/), with an optional worldwide extension for international riding. We are not naming a best insurer — the point is that the category exists and reads the way cyclists actually travel.

**A weaker fifth: credit-card protections.** Some cards include baggage benefits, but sporting equipment is frequently sublimited or excluded outright. AwardWallet's summary lists Visa Infinite and select Signature cards at [up to $3,000 per person per trip, including up to $500 for high-risk items](https://awardwallet.com/credit-cards/baggage-loss-insurance/) — but Visa's own [Lost Luggage Reimbursement terms](https://usa.visa.com/content/dam/VCOM/regional/na/us/pay-with-visa/documents/lost-luggage-reimbursement-infinite.pdf) exclude "sporting equipment", cover bicycles only "when checked with the Common Carrier", and pay for loss "due to theft or misdirection" rather than damage. Treat it as a backstop, not a plan, and pull your own guide to benefits.

<SectionDivider variant="trail" />

## Bike Shipping Insurance Claims Are a Different Animal

Ship the bike and you are not a passenger any more — you are a shipper, and the protection on offer is usually declared value, which is not insurance.

BikeFlights is explicit about this: "Bikeflights.com is not an insurer. Our Premium Protection Plan is not insurance." Every order includes **$100 of Premium Protection**, with additional cover purchasable [in amounts up to $20,000](https://faq.bikeflights.com/support/solutions/articles/13000072404-how-much-does-insurance-cost-) at booking. The default $100 is close to meaningless against a bike, so the declared value is the line to look at.

The upside is that it is cheap relative to the bike, and the claim runs against a shipper with a defined process rather than an airline counter at 11pm. The downside is that "properly packed contents" is a condition, which puts you right back at the packing photographs. If you are still deciding, our comparison of [shipping your bike vs flying with it](/posts/shipping-a-bike-vs-flying-with-it) covers the cost and hassle side.

## Is It Worth Insuring at All?

Run the arithmetic instead of the anxiety.

A $900 touring bike, flown once a year, against a homeowners policy with a $500 deductible: usually no. Most realistic damage — a bent hanger, a taco'd wheel, a snapped lever — lands under or barely over the deductible, and a claim on your home policy has its own downstream cost.

A $5,000 bikepacking rig flown four times a year: usually yes, and specifically a specialist policy rather than a rider, because the per-item caps on generic travel cover do not reach. Somewhere in the middle, the honest answer is that the free protocol at the top of this article does more for you than any premium you could pay.

One more variable: how repairable the bike is where you are going. Carbon frames, proprietary dropouts and 12-speed electronic drivetrains raise both the cost of a claim and the odds your trip ends when the case is opened.

<SectionDivider variant="rule" />

## What to Do Before Your Next Flight

Tonight, before you think about premiums: photograph the bike, photograph the serial number, find the receipt, and put all three in one folder you can open on hotel wifi. That is the highest-return fifteen minutes in this whole article.

Then read one document — your carrier's contract of carriage, or your own policy schedule. Not a summary of it, the actual document. Every real answer about what you are owed is in there, and the binding version is never the blog post.

This closes our series on bike travel logistics; if you are planning the whole trip rather than just the insurance question, start from our guide to [how to travel with a bike](/posts/traveling-with-your-bike-complete-guide) and work forward from the case you choose.


Bike Travel Insurance and Damage Claims: What to Do When Your Bike Arrives Broken

The Bike Travel Tool Kit: Reassembling Your Bike at the Airport


## Flying With Bikepacking Gear: The TSA Rules in Three Sentences

Three rules cover almost everything in a loaded bikepacking kit. **Fuel never flies** — not in your carry-on, not in your checked bag, in any quantity. **Compressed gas flies only if it is provably empty.** **Lithium batteries ride in the cabin**, never in the hold.

Learn those three and you can reason your way through the rest of the checkpoint. Get one wrong and you lose a stove, a power bank, or forty minutes at bag drop.

Everything below is sourced to the FAA's PackSafe pages, the TSA's item pages, or a carrier's published policy, current as of August 2026. Rules move — verify yours the week you fly. For the rest of the logistics, start with [our bike travel guide](/posts/traveling-with-your-bike-complete-guide).

One caveat runs through every TSA item page: the final decision rests with the officer in front of you ([tsa.gov](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/camp-stoves)). Technically correct is not the same as through.

<Highlight label="The short version">
**Carry on:** power banks and spare lithium batteries (terminals taped), headlamp, GPS, an empty odor-free stove, a bladeless multi-tool.

**Check:** anything with a blade, plus tools over 7 inches, sheathed or wrapped.

**Buy at the destination:** stove fuel, CO2 cartridges, tubeless sealant, chain lube, bear spray.

**Leave home:** any canister or bottle with fuel in it, full CO2 cartridges, and bear spray — banned from both bags, not just the cabin.
</Highlight>

<SectionDivider variant="trail" />

## Can You Fly With a Camping Stove? Yes — the Fuel Is the Problem

The stove is legal. The fuel is not, and neither is the smell of fuel.

According to [the FAA's PackSafe guidance on fuels](https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/fuels), all forms of camp stove fuel are forbidden in both carry-on and checked baggage, and that prohibition extends to containers and equipment holding residual fuel. The TSA allows stoves in either bag **only if they are empty of all fuel and cleaned so that no fuel vapors or residue remain** ([tsa.gov](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/camp-stoves)).

"Empty" is not the standard. "Empty and odorless" is, and an officer's nose is a legitimate instrument.

### Canister stoves are the easy case

An isobutane screw-top stove has no tank of its own. The burner head is brass and steel, so it packs with no drama, and the canister — the actual hazmat — stays home. You are only ever solving a *sourcing* problem on arrival, never a *purging* problem at the airport.

Threaded canisters are typically easy to find in cities across North America, Europe and Japan, but in our experience availability thins fast outside them, so confirm one shop near your start. Our guide to [bikepacking stoves and cooking systems](/posts/bikepacking-stoves-cooking-systems) covers which burners earn their space.

### Liquid-fuel stoves are the hard case

A white-gas stove has a bottle, pump, fuel line and jet, and every one has been wet with naphtha. Purging is possible — burn it dry, run the pump empty, wash the bottle, then leave both uncapped in open air for a day or more. Even then you are asking an officer to disagree with their own nose, and the FAA's [outdoor equipment page](https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/outdoor-equipment) notes some airlines will not accept used camping equipment that has had fuel in it, regardless of how well it has been purged. If you own both, fly the canister stove.

### Alcohol and solid fuel

An alcohol burner is the least objectionable stove here: the fuel evaporates without oily residue, and the burner is a piece of metal. Solid fuel tablets are still fuel — the FAA's fuels page names compressed canisters, liquid fuels and solid fuel tabs together as camp stove fuels forbidden in both carry-on and checked baggage ([FAA PackSafe](https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/fuels)).

<Warning title="A used stove is one of the easiest things in a bikepacker's bag to lose">
The confiscation is rarely about a rule you broke. It is about a smell. A fuel bottle that spent last season in a frame bag reads as "residual fuel" even if it is bone dry inside, and an officer can refuse it on that basis alone. If the stove is worth more than the trip's fuel budget, ship it ahead by ground or fly a burner that never held liquid.
</Warning>

<SectionDivider variant="rule" />

## Lithium Battery Rules for Flights: Do the Watt-Hour Math

Batteries are where the airline cares more than the checkpoint does. Per [the FAA's PackSafe page on lithium batteries](https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/lithium-batteries), spare — meaning uninstalled — lithium ion and lithium metal batteries, including power banks and battery charging cases, must travel in **carry-on baggage only**. They are prohibited in checked bags, full stop. A battery installed in a device can go either way. A spare cannot.

### Converting mAh to watt-hours

Power banks are sold in milliamp-hours. Aviation runs on watt-hours. The conversion is arithmetic:

**Wh = mAh × V ÷ 1000**

Use the cell's nominal voltage — usually 3.6 V or 3.7 V for lithium-ion — not the 5 V or 20 V printed next to the USB port ([UGREEN](https://us.ugreen.com/blogs/power-bank/mah-vs-wh-in-power-banks)). A 20,000 mAh pack at 3.7 V works out to 74 Wh ([Anker](https://www.anker.com/blogs/others/wh-to-mah)), comfortably legal. A 27,000 mAh pack lands right on the line.

### The three tiers

From the FAA's lithium battery guidance, which states that 0 to 100 Wh is allowed, 101 to 160 Wh requires air carrier approval, and anything exceeding 160 Wh is forbidden ([PackSafe](https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/lithium-batteries), [FAA passenger resources](https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/resources)):

- **Up to 100 Wh** — carry-on, no approval needed, reasonable quantities for personal use.
- **101 to 160 Wh** — carry-on **with airline approval**, no more than two spares per passenger.
- **Above 160 Wh** — forbidden in passenger baggage entirely.

The FAA also requires terminals be protected against short circuit, by the manufacturer's packaging or by taping terminals and bagging each battery separately — and if your carry-on is taken at the gate or planeside, every spare battery and power bank comes out of that bag and stays with you in the cabin. American Airlines says the same in its own policy: lithium batteries must be carried in carry-on bags only, and spare batteries must be individually protected ([aa.com](https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/baggage/restricted-items.html)).

<PullQuote>
If it powers something, it flies with you. If it is a spare, it flies with you and it flies taped.
</PullQuote>

### Dynamo hubs are easy. E-bike batteries are not.

A dynamo hub is a generator, so it raises no hazmat question. A dynamo cache battery does, and plays by the rules above.

E-bikes are where this falls apart. BikeRadar notes many airlines ban e-bikes outright while others accept the bike only with the battery removed and left behind, and gives the arithmetic: a Specialized Turbo Levo SL battery is 320 Wh, a Brompton Electric battery 300 Wh ([BikeRadar](https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/flying-with-an-electric-bike)). Both sit far above the 160 Wh ceiling, and no paperwork fixes that. Realistically you rent at the destination or ship the battery as regulated dangerous goods.

### Carriers are getting stricter, fast

Southwest became the first US carrier to restrict power banks in May 2025, and as of **April 20, 2026** limits passengers to one power bank, requires it to stay in plain sight rather than an overhead bin, and bars using in-seat power to recharge the bank ([Paddle Your Own Kanoo](https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2026/04/07/southwest-airlines-is-tightening-its-power-bank-rules-even-further-now-passengers-are-limited-to-just-one/)). That wave followed a January 2025 fire aboard an Air Busan A321, which investigators concluded was most likely started by a power bank inside an overhead bin as the aircraft prepared for departure ([ABC News](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-18/airlines-change-rules-after-south-korean-plane-fire-battery-pack/105063388)).

For a rider running a GPS, headlamp, messenger and phone, one bank is a real constraint — our guide to [choosing a portable charger for your phone and GPS](/posts/navigating-with-power-the-best-portable-charger-for-your-phone-and-gps) works through the capacity math.

<SectionDivider variant="ornamental" />

## CO2 Cartridges on a Plane: Empty, or Not at All

The TSA's CO2 cartridge page states that apart from personal medical oxygen, only an **empty** compressed gas cylinder may be carried, and it must be **clearly visible to the officer that the cylinder is empty** ([tsa.gov](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/co2-cartridge)). A 16-gram threaded bike cartridge is an opaque sealed steel slug. Nobody can see inside it, so the exception does not apply to you — not in carry-on, not in checked.

One allowance trips people up because it sounds like it covers inflators. The FAA permits a life jacket or similar self-inflating safety vest holding up to two small nonflammable gas cartridges, plus two spare cartridges per device — and even that requires airline approval ([FAA PackSafe](https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/outdoor-equipment)). That is written around safety devices, not tire inflators. Do not stretch it.

<Tip title="The mini pump ends the argument">
A frame pump is not a regulated article. It is a hollow tube. Fly the pump, buy cartridges when you land, and you never have this conversation. Our comparison of [mini pumps versus CO2 inflators](/posts/bikepacking-pumps-mini-vs-co2) argues the pump is the better multi-day tool anyway — you cannot run out of it.
</Tip>

<SectionDivider variant="trail" />

## Tools and Sharps: What Rides in the Cabin

Per [the TSA's multi-tools page](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/multi-tools), a multi-tool with a knife of **any** blade length is prohibited in carry-on and must be checked, while one with scissors shorter than 4 inches may go in carry-on. The TSA's separate [tools page](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/tools) adds that tools 7 inches or shorter may be allowed in carry-on while anything longer must be checked — that never overrides the blade ban — and the multi-tools page says sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped to protect baggage handlers and inspectors.

For a bikepacking kit, that shakes out as:

- **Bladeless multi-tool, chain tool, tire levers, short wrenches** — usually fine in carry-on, though checking them costs you nothing.
- **Multi-tool with a knife, any folding knife, scissors over 4 inches** — checked, wrapped.
- **Torque wrench, cassette lockring tool, long hex keys** — checked once they measure over 7 inches.

Simplest is to put every tool in the bike box, which is going in the hold anyway. See [how to pack a bike for flying](/posts/how-to-pack-a-bike-for-flying) for what belongs in the case, and [the bike travel tool kit](/posts/bike-travel-tool-kit-reassembly) for the reassembly-day list.

<Warning title="The forgotten multi-tool in a hip pack">
The confiscation riders report most often is not exotic. It is the multi-tool that lives permanently in a hip pack, forgotten, with a blade folded into it. Empty every cabin bag the night before — not the morning of — and look inside each pocket.
</Warning>

<SectionDivider variant="rule" />

## Liquids: Sealant, Chain Lube, Sunscreen and Aerosols

Two rule sets apply here, and confusing them is how people lose things.

**In carry-on**, the TSA's 3-1-1 rule caps each container at 3.4 ounces (100 ml), all of it in one quart-sized bag, one bag per passenger ([tsa.gov](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/liquids-aerosols-gels-rule)). A standard bottle of tubeless sealant exceeds that, so it gets decanted or it does not fly in the cabin.

**In checked baggage**, the FAA's medicinal and toiletry allowance applies: no more than 2 kg (70 oz) or 2 L (68 fl oz) per person, with no single container over 0.5 kg (18 oz) or 500 ml (17 fl oz) ([FAA PackSafe](https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/medicinal-toiletry-articles)). Sunscreen, sanitizer and aerosol deodorant count against that pool.

The catch is flammability. The FAA's aerosols page is explicit that flammable aerosols which do not qualify as a medicinal or toiletry article are forbidden in both carry-on and checked baggage ([FAA PackSafe](https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/aerosols)). Aerosol chain lube, degreaser and aerosol sealant are the likeliest to land on the wrong side of that line. Read the can — if it says flammable and you do not put it on your body, assume it stays home.

Our advice is to fly with none of it. Top up before you box the bike — see [tubeless tire maintenance](/posts/tubeless-tire-maintenance-bikepacking) — and carry a plug kit, not a bottle.

<SectionDivider variant="ornamental" />

## Flying With Bear Spray: The Rule People Get Wrong Most Often

Bear spray is banned from both bags. Not just the cabin — **both**.

The TSA lists bear spray as prohibited in carry-on and in checked bags ([tsa.gov](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/bear-spray)). The reason is size and formulation. [The FAA's sprays and repellents guidance](https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/sprays-repellents) permits one self-defense spray per passenger in **checked baggage only**, capped at 118 ml (4 fl oz), with no more than 2 percent by mass of CS or CN tear gas and a positive means of preventing accidental discharge — a recessed button alone does not count. A typical bear spray canister is well past 4 ounces, which is why that allowance does not rescue it.

So **buy bear spray where you are riding and leave it there.** Outfitters across bear country sell it, and some airports and hostels run donation bins. Plan that purchase into day one the way you plan fuel. Our [wildlife safety guide for bikepackers](/posts/wildlife-safety-bikepacking) covers how much it changes your risk profile.

One more distinction from the same FAA page: repellent sprayed on skin or clothing falls inside the toiletry exception, while insecticides sprayed into the air or at insects do not. Your DEET bottle is fine. Wasp killer is not.

## Non-US Flights, Codeshares and Connections

Everything above is the United States. Leave it and two things change.

First, the operating carrier's rules apply, and they can be stricter than the regulator's floor. IATA's 2026 guidance for passengers travelling with lithium batteries keeps the familiar shape — spares in carry-on only, airline approval and a two-spare cap in the 100 to 160 Wh band — but on power banks it is tighter than the US floor: a maximum of two power banks, none over 100 Wh, no recharging a power bank from aircraft power, and no stowing one in an overhead locker. It also states that airlines may impose more stringent conditions of their own ([IATA](https://www.iata.org/contentassets/6fea26dd84d24b26a7a1fd5788561d6e/passengers_travelling_with_lithium_batteries.pdf)). So a 130 Wh power bank an FAA-only reading would let you carry with approval is simply not accepted on an IATA-aligned carrier.

Second, the US self-defense spray allowance does not travel. The same FAA page notes that international aviation regulations (ICAO/IATA) prohibit self-defense sprays in both carry-on and checked baggage ([FAA PackSafe](https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/sprays-repellents)), so on a non-US itinerary pepper spray stays home too.

On a multi-leg trip the strictest carrier governs your packing, and screening happens again at each international transfer — an item that cleared in Denver can still be pulled in Frankfurt. Screenshot the policy page for the leg you expect to be questioned on. Checked-bag allowances shift between carriers too; we cover the money side in [airline bike fees and policies](/posts/airline-bike-fees-policies).

## The Night-Before Checklist

Run this at home, not at the curb. It takes about fifteen minutes.

1. **Empty every pocket** of every cabin bag — the forgotten multi-tool, a stray cartridge, a lighter.
2. **Smell the stove.** Any fuel odor and it is not flying. Decide now, not at the checkpoint.
3. **Read the watt-hour rating** on every battery. Under 100 Wh, cabin. Over 100 Wh, call the airline. Over 160 Wh, it stays.
4. **Tape the terminals** on spares and bag them individually, as the FAA requires.
5. **Move every blade** into the bike box or checked bag, wrapped.
6. **Pull all CO2** out of every bag, including the seat pack you have not opened since spring.
7. **Decant or drop the liquids** — under 3.4 oz for the cabin, or buy on arrival.
8. **Check the operating carrier's dangerous goods page** for each leg, not the marketing carrier's.
9. **Write the buy-on-arrival list**: fuel, cartridges, lube, sealant, bear spray, plus one shop near your start.

## What This Actually Costs You

Almost nothing, if you plan for it. A fuel canister, a couple of cartridges and a bottle of sealant are a day-one errand. The expensive version is finding out at the checkpoint.

The rules that will not bend: fuel and residue never fly, CO2 flies only if visibly empty, spare lithium batteries fly in the cabin or not at all, blades go in the hold, and bear spray does not board. The rest is a judgment call by an officer trying to move a line — a good argument for boring bags.

Sort the hazmat first, then the box, then the fees. The rest of that sequence is in our full guide to [traveling with your bike](/posts/traveling-with-your-bike-complete-guide).


Flying With Bikepacking Gear: TSA Rules for Stoves, Fuel, Batteries, and CO2


## How to Pack a Bike in a Bike Box, Step by Step

To pack a bike in a bike box, strip it to a frame and fork, protect the five parts that actually break, and weigh the box before you tape it shut. The order: photograph the built bike, pull the rear derailleur, then the pedals, wheels, rotors, seatpost and handlebars, pad every hard contact point, and check weight and linear inches last. Budget 90 minutes the first time and about 40 once you have done it twice.

The sequence matters more than the materials. A cardboard box with disciplined padding survives a connection through Dallas better than a hard case that someone filled in a hurry, because almost every flight injury we have seen or read about comes from one part levering against another inside the box, not from the box itself failing.

This article covers the packing step only. For fees, case shopping, [shipping alternatives](/posts/shipping-a-bike-vs-flying-with-it) and the rebuild at the other end, start with our full guide to [how to travel with a bike](/posts/traveling-with-your-bike-complete-guide).

<Highlight label="The short version">
1. **Photograph the built bike** from both sides, plus seatpost height, stem spacer stack and lever angle.
2. **Shift into the smallest cog**, then unbolt the rear derailleur and bag it with the cable still attached.
3. **Remove pedals** (the left one is reverse-threaded), **wheels, rotors, seatpost and handlebars**.
4. **Fill every empty space that can be squeezed**: fork blocks, a rear axle spacer, pad spacers in the calipers.
5. **Pad tube-to-tube contact**, put something rigid between wheels and frame, and zip-tie anything loose.
6. **Weigh the closed box and measure length plus width plus height** before the tape goes on.
</Highlight>

<SectionDivider variant="trail" />

## What You Need Before You Start

### A box or a case

Your three options are a cardboard bike box from a local shop, a soft travel bag, or a hard case, and they differ mostly in how much protection you buy per pound of dead weight. We compare the specific models in [best bike travel cases and bags](/posts/best-bike-travel-cases-bikepacking); the packing method below is the same for all three.

Sizes are closer than people expect. The [Bikeflights Bike Box Large](https://shop.bikeflights.com/products/bikeflights-bike-box-large) is listed at 64 by 14 by 32 inches assembled, which works out to 110 linear inches. OutdoorGearLab lists the [EVOC Travel Bag Pro](https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/reviews/travel/bike-travel-case/evoc-travel-bag-pro) at 54 by 17 by 30 inches, or 101 linear inches, and weighed it at 21 pounds 11 ounces empty with its packing materials inside. Both clear the common airline ceiling, but neither clears it by much, and the soft bag has already eaten 21 pounds of your weight allowance before the bike goes in.

If the whole job sounds like more than you want to take on the night before a flight, a shop will do it. Bikeflights says shop packing "typically ranges from $75 to $125 for most shops in the US" ([bikeflights.com](https://faq.bikeflights.com/support/solutions/articles/13000072604-how-much-does-it-cost-to-have-a-bike-shop-pack-my-bike-)). The tradeoff is that you still have to pack it yourself for the flight home, in a hotel room, with whatever tools you brought.

### Padding and consumables

Pipe insulation for the tubes, bubble wrap or foam for components, flat cardboard for dividers, zip ties, packing tape, and a few zip-top bags for hardware. Buy double. Everything you cut and tape here has to be reproduced at the other end, and the hardware store nearest your hotel may not stock foam.

### Tools

Park Tool's packing walkthrough lists the short version: a pedal wrench, hex wrenches, padding, tape, zip ties and parts bags ([parktool.com](https://www.parktool.com/en-int/blog/repair-help/packing-the-bike)). Add a torque wrench if your bike has carbon parts. What travels with you and what stays home is its own decision, and we work through it in [the bike travel tool kit](/posts/bike-travel-tool-kit-reassembly).

### Your phone

The camera is a packing tool. It is your rebuild reference, and if the bike comes off the belt damaged, the photos are the difference between a claim and an argument.

<SectionDivider variant="rule" />

## Disassemble a Bike for Travel: the Order That Works

### 1. Photograph, then touch nothing

Shoot both sides of the built bike, then close-ups of the seatpost at its mark, the spacer stack under the stem, the brake lever angle on the bar, and the saddle fore-aft position. Thirty seconds now saves twenty minutes of fiddling in a hotel parking lot.

### 2. The rear derailleur comes off first

Shift into the smallest cog first — that is where [SRAM's travel instructions for its Full Mount derailleurs](https://www.sram.com/en/learn/traveling-with-full-mount-derailleurs) start — then unbolt the derailleur from the hanger, leave the cable or wire attached, wrap it, and zip-tie it to the chainstay. Park Tool's guide gives the same instruction: remove the rear derailleur, wrap it in padding, zip-tie it to the frame.

The reason is leverage. As Quintana Roo's mechanics put it, "the derailleur acts like a big lever, and if weight gets put on it inside your bike bag or box, your hanger will bend" ([quintanarootri.com](https://quintanarootri.com/blogs/news/the-4-most-common-triathlon-bike-mechanicals-and-how-to-avoid-them)). Bikeflights makes the same point about half measures: "Don't be fooled into thinking that just shifting it inboard will protect it" ([blog.bikeflights.com](https://blog.bikeflights.com/post/112815060249/packing-tip-protect-your-derailleurs)). A bent hanger is usually straightenable, but you will not discover it until your first climb.

### 3. Pedals, wheels, rotors, axles

Pedals next, because a pedal sticking out of a packed box is a puncture waiting to happen. The left pedal unthreads clockwise. Park Tool suggests greasing the threads before you bag them, which is free insurance against a seized pedal next season.

Then the wheels. Park Tool also recommends removing disc rotors from the wheels, wrapping them, and storing them with the parts bag, and reinstalling thru axles into the fork and frame so they do not get lost. A rotor left on a wheel that gets leaned on comes out shaped like a potato chip, and a bent rotor is a rub you cannot dial out at the trailhead.

### 4. Seatpost and handlebars

Wrap tape around the seatpost at the frame's edge before you pull it, then remove and pad it. Handlebars can usually stay on the stem if you rotate them 90 degrees, which is what Park Tool advises. If they have to come off, tape-mark the rotation first and leave the cables and hoses connected. Disconnecting hydraulic hoses to save two inches of box means bleeding brakes on arrival.

### 5. Tires and sealant

Let some air out, but do not evacuate the tires. Park Tool is blunt about the physics: unless it is a high-pressure road tire, "it is not necessary to deflate for air travel," because the additional pressure from air travel is less than 14 psi. The practical reasons to drop pressure anyway are that plenty of airline and case-maker instructions still ask for it, and a softer tire packs flatter and absorbs impact better.

Do not drop a tubeless tire below the point where the bead unseats. If yours is due for fresh sealant, we would top it up after landing rather than before the flight, so there is less liquid sloshing around a tire that is going to spend hours on its side. Spare sealant can ride in a checked bag — the 3.4-ounce limit is a carry-on rule, and TSA's own instruction is to "pack items that are in containers larger than 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters in checked baggage" ([tsa.gov](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/liquids-rule)) — but bag it twice.

<Tip title="Tape is a memory device">
Mark the seatpost, mark the stem rotation, and write the front tire's direction on a strip of tape stuck to the rim. Every one of those marks removes a decision from the tired version of you who is rebuilding a bike at 11pm in a strange city.
</Tip>

<SectionDivider variant="ornamental" />

## Protecting a Bike Frame in Transit: Where Damage Actually Happens

Padding everything equally is a waste of foam. Five places take nearly all the abuse.

**The rear derailleur and hanger.** Already handled above, and worth the five minutes.

**The fork and rear dropouts.** An empty fork is a spring with nothing between the legs. A stack of bags on top of the box squeezes it, and the legs stay squeezed. Park Tool's fix is a fork block in the fork legs plus a rear block if the rear wheel came out; a length of dowel or the old thru axle does the same job.

**Thin tubes and stays.** Seatstays, chainstays and the down tube take hits from whatever moves inside the box. Pad every place where two hard things touch, then separate the wheels from the frame with rigid cardboard so the cassette and rotors cannot chew the paint.

**Disc brake calipers.** With the wheels out, the pistons have nothing to stop them. SRAM explains it directly: "If you pull your brake lever when the wheel is removed from the bike, the brake caliper pistons will adjust to a narrower position that doesn't include the width of the rotor," and recommends installing a pad spreader in the caliper "while traveling with your wheel removed to prevent the pistons from advancing if the lever is accidentally activated" ([sram.com](https://www.sram.com/en/service/articles/9-important-things-to-know-about-road-disc-brakes)).

**Anything that protrudes.** Bottle cages, top-tube bag mounts, a dropper remote hanging off the bar. If it sticks out and can catch, it will catch.

<Warning title="A squeezed lever ruins your first morning">
Baggage handlers do not squeeze your brake levers, but boxes get stacked and levers get pressed. Without pad spacers, you arrive to a caliper whose pistons have closed past rotor width, and you are prying pads apart with a plastic tire lever before your first ride instead of after your first coffee. The plastic spacers that came with your brakes cost nothing and weigh nothing.
</Warning>

<PullQuote>
Nothing in a bike box breaks on its own. Things break because something else levered against them.
</PullQuote>

<SectionDivider variant="trail" />

## What to Do With Bikepacking Bags When You Fly

This is the part generic packing guides skip. You are not flying with a bike; you are flying with a bike, four soft bags, a sleep system and a stove.

**In the box:** empty bikepacking bags, straps and harnesses. They are soft, light, and they double as padding around the frame. Keep hard objects out. Delta states plainly that it "is not responsible for damage noted at the time of check in or damage due to over packing the bag" ([delta.com](https://www.delta.com/us/en/baggage/special-items/sporting-equipment)), and a pot set pressed against a carbon down tube is exactly the claim an airline will decline.

**In a separate checked bag:** sleeping bag, pad, tent, clothing, shoes, and your stove — as long as it is genuinely clean. The FAA forbids all camp stove fuels in both carry-on and checked baggage, "including containers and equipment with residual fuel" ([faa.gov](https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/fuels)). A stove purged of fuel, vapors and other hazardous materials is allowed, but the FAA also warns that "some airlines may not accept used camping equipment that has had fuel in it regardless of how well it has been purged" ([faa.gov](https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/outdoor-equipment)). Buy fuel at the destination and plan the first night around a resupply stop.

**In your carry-on:** spare batteries and small tools. Spare lithium-ion batteries and power banks must travel in the cabin, not in checked baggage ([faa.gov](https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/lithium-batteries)). Screwdrivers and wrenches 7 inches or shorter are allowed in carry-on bags, measured end to end when assembled, with longer tools relegated to checked baggage ([tsa.gov](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/screwdrivers-shorter-7-inches)) — so a multi-tool rides with you and a pedal wrench does not.

**Nowhere:** CO2 cartridges. The TSA's entry for them reads "No" for both carry-on and checked bags: apart from personal medical oxygen, "you can only carry an EMPTY compressed gas cylinder onboard a plane," and it has to be clearly visible to the officer that it is empty ([tsa.gov](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/co2-cartridge)). The one narrow exception is cartridges inside a life vest, which TSA handles under a [separate entry](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/co2-cartridge-life-vest) and does not extend to loose inflator cartridges. Pack a mini pump instead; we compare the options in [mini pumps vs CO2](/posts/bikepacking-pumps-mini-vs-co2).

The full security-side rundown, including electronics, bear spray and the questions agents actually ask, is in [flying with bikepacking gear](/posts/flying-with-bikepacking-gear-tsa-rules).

<SectionDivider variant="rule" />

## Weight and Dimensions Before You Close the Lid

Two numbers decide whether you pay the fare you expected. Delta requires bikes to be "packed in a durable protective container designed specifically for bicycles," charges an excess weight fee above 50 pounds, and will not accept a bike that exceeds 115 linear inches or weighs 100 pounds or more ([delta.com](https://www.delta.com/us/en/baggage/special-items/sporting-equipment)). American's published requirements are similar: the bike has to be "in a hard-sided case, bicycle bag or box built for bicycle transport," handlebars "fixed sideways," and pedals removed — or pedals and handlebars "wrapped in plastic foam or a similar material" — with standard checked-bag fees applying up to 50 pounds and sports equipment capped at 115 linear inches ([aa.com](https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/baggage/specialty-and-sports.html)). Current fees by airline live in our [airline bike fees and policies](/posts/airline-bike-fees-policies) roundup.

Now do the arithmetic. A soft bag measured at 21 pounds 11 ounces empty leaves roughly 28 pounds for the bike and everything else — comfortable for a 22-pound gravel bike, tight for a loaded touring rig with a dynamo wheelset. Weigh the closed box on a bathroom scale by holding it and subtracting yourself, and measure the outside of the box including feet and wheels, because that is what the agent's tape measures.

If you are 3 pounds over, the fastest fix is to move tools and shoes into your carry-on, not to repack the bike. If you are over on dimensions, you have the wrong box, and there is nothing to do at the airport about it.

<Tip title="Do the weigh-in twice">
Weigh again before the flight home. Dirty kit, a replacement tire and the souvenirs you did not plan for add up, and the return leg is where most surprise overweight charges happen.
</Tip>

## At the Airport: Inspection, Tape and the Oversize Belt

Assume your box will be opened. TSA screens all checked baggage, and if an officer has to open yours, a "Notice of Baggage Inspection" goes inside the bag. TSA also points travelers to recognized locks, which officers can open with universal master keys "so that the locks may not have to be cut" — the packaging tells you whether a lock qualifies ([tsa.gov](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/travel-tips)). A cardboard box gets its tape sliced and re-taped by hand, and nobody re-tapes it as well as you did.

So carry a roll of packing tape and four zip ties in your carry-on, and give yourself an extra 20 minutes at check-in. Bikes usually go to an oversize baggage belt rather than the main carousel, so look for the oversize claim area on arrival — and if the box comes off the belt damaged, report it at the airline's baggage service office before you leave the airport, not after.

Photograph the closed, taped box at the counter. If it arrives crushed, that photo establishes what it looked like when you handed it over.

## Rebuild It the Same Way You Packed It

Packing a bike for air travel is a checklist, not a craft. Photograph, strip in order, fill every space that can collapse, pad every place two hard things meet, and weigh the box before the tape goes on.

Then reverse it deliberately at the other end. Torque the seatpost and stem to spec rather than by feel, reinstall the derailleur before the wheel, and run through our [pre-trip bike inspection checklist](/posts/pre-trip-bike-inspection-checklist) before you ride away from the hotel — a box arriving intact is not the same as a bike arriving in tune.

For the rest of the logistics, from what carriers charge to what happens when a case shows up damaged, our complete guide to [traveling with your bike by air](/posts/traveling-with-your-bike-complete-guide) covers the whole trip.


How to Pack a Bike for Flying: A Step-by-Step Guide


## Shipping a Bike vs Flying With It: The Two-Line Verdict

The honest answer on shipping a bike vs flying with it: **ship when your trip starts and ends in different places**, when the itinerary involves more than one flight, or when you are gone long enough that a case would sit in a hotel closet for two weeks. **Fly with it when you are doing a short round trip out of a single airport** and you will have a vehicle at the far end.

Everything after that is a cost and risk argument, and the numbers are closer than most riders expect. A specialty shipper is not always cheaper than a checked bag; it is more *predictable*, which is a different and usually more valuable thing. This piece is the money-and-logistics half of [traveling with your bike](/posts/traveling-with-your-bike-complete-guide).

<Highlight label="The short version">
**Ship** if the route is point-to-point, if you connect through more than one airport, or if the trip runs past about ten days. **Fly with it** if it is a round trip from one airport, if you are renting a car anyway, or if you are landing somewhere rural where a carrier's estimated delivery day is closer to a suggestion. Ground shipping with a bike-specific service ran roughly **$57 to $120 each way** in recent published comparisons; flying costs a checked bag plus everything after you pull the case off the carousel.
</Highlight>

<SectionDivider variant="trail" />

## What It Actually Costs to Ship a Bike

Bike shipping is a rate table, not a price — distance, box volume, weight and speed all move it, so quote your own route. But the spread between services is large and consistent. Red Stag Fulfillment's carrier comparison, [last updated July 8, 2025](https://redstagfulfillment.com/cost-to-ship-bike/), priced one reference bike — a 54 x 8 x 28-inch box, about 30 pounds packaged, declared at $3,000 — across routes of roughly 130 to 2,450 miles:

| Service | Ground, one way (130–2,450 mi) |
|---|---|
| BikeFlights (UPS Ground) | $56.97 – $100.89 |
| ShipBikes | $76.20 – $117.71 |
| FedEx Ground | $115.56 – $206.04 |
| UPS Ground (retail) | $131.54 – $226.65 |
| USPS Ground Advantage | $134.65 – $278.85 |

A [March 2026 carrier roundup from atoship](https://atoship.com/blog/cheapest-way-to-ship-a-bike-2026) puts the whole category at "$50 to $350 depending on your method," with BikeFlights at $60 to $150 for domestic ground.

**The specialty resellers are the product.** BikeFlights and ShipBikes buy carrier capacity in volume and resell it with insurance and signature service attached; the identical box booked direct at retail costs roughly twice as much.

Speed is the other lever, and it is brutal. The Pro's Closet quoted BikeFlights at [$75 for six-day ground from New York City to Boulder and $390 for three-day air on the same lane](https://www.theproscloset.com/blogs/news/are-bike-shipping-services-worth-it) — 2021 figures, so read that as a ratio, not a rate. Buying three days cost about five times the shipment. Plan earlier instead, and remember every number above is one direction: budget **$120 to $240** for a domestic round trip as of August 2026, before coverage and before the box.

<SectionDivider variant="rule" />

## The Airline Fee Is Not the Airline Cost

Flying looks cheaper on the booking screen because the checked-bag fee is the only number anyone shows you. Current carrier-by-carrier prices, size caps and overweight thresholds live in our [airline bike fees and policies](/posts/airline-bike-fees-policies) piece. The costs missing from that fee decide the comparison:

- **Oversize and overweight surcharges.** Step functions, not gradients. A case that weighs 52 pounds is not 4% more expensive than one that weighs 50.
- **A vehicle that fits the case.** A hard case does not go in a compact rental. You are booking an SUV or minivan for the airport transfer, both directions.
- **Storing the case while you ride.** On a point-to-point route the case has to live somewhere. [Radical Storage lists US luggage-storage pricing from $4.90 per bag per day plus a service fee](https://radicalstorage.com/travel/radical-storage-vs-bounce/), and prices its New York example at $4.90 plus a $1.75 fee, or $6.65 — call it $7 a day, and confirm the location takes an item that size. Fourteen days is most of a shipping bill.
- **Ground transport at the far end.** A 45-inch case does not fit a sedan taxi, a rideshare hatchback, or most airport shuttles.

<PullQuote>
Shipping costs more than the checked-bag fee and less than the checked-bag trip.
</PullQuote>

None of it applies if you land at one airport, throw the case in a rental you were booking anyway, and start your loop from the parking lot. That is the trip where flying wins.

<SectionDivider variant="ornamental" />

## Door-to-Door Timing and the Buffer You Need

Shipping trades certainty of *possession* for certainty of *cost*: you give up the bike for several days on each end. BikeFlights says it [offers service speeds between one and five business days](https://blog.bikeflights.com/post/685973459916947456/shipping-vs-flying-with-your-bike), ground being the cheap end. Pickups are scheduled by day, not time: [all are set for between 12 pm and 4 pm local time](https://faq.bikeflights.com/support/solutions/articles/13000112768-how-can-i-schedule-a-time-for-my-pickup-) and can fall outside that window depending on the driver's volume. Delivery is the same — a day, not an hour.

The planning math is transit estimate, plus weekend days that are not business days, plus buffer. **We would ship domestically seven days out, and ten for anything crossing a border or heading to a mountain town.** The buffer costs nothing; missing it costs the trip. The return is the mirror problem — the bike leaves after you do and lands at home three to seven days later.

<Tip title="Ship the box, carry the small expensive things">
Pedals, GPS head unit, power bank and multi-tool belong in your carry-on either way. If the box goes astray you still hold the parts that are annoying to replace, and the case gets lighter for free. Our [bikepacking packing list](/posts/bikepacking-packing-list-checklist) is a useful sorting pass.
</Tip>

## Risk and Liability: Who Actually Pays

Here the two options stop being similar, and the fine print beats the marketing.

**Flying.** On domestic US itineraries an airline may cap its liability for lost, delayed or damaged checked baggage at a DOT-set ceiling, which [rose from $3,800 to $4,700 effective January 22, 2025](https://www.eckertseamans.com/stay-informed/blogs/aviation/revised-liability-limits-for-oversales-and-mishandled-domestic-baggage-are-now-effective) — a maximum a carrier may impose, not a payout you are promised. Packaging conditions matter too: Delta requires bikes to be [packed in a durable protective container designed specifically for bicycles](https://www.delta.com/us/en/baggage/special-items/sporting-equipment), and several carriers ask you to sign a limited-liability release for a bike in a soft-sided bag. Sign that and you have largely signed away the claim.

**Shipping.** Coverage is bought, not assumed. Every BikeFlights order [comes with $100 of Premium Protection, with more available up to $20,000 at booking](https://faq.bikeflights.com/support/solutions/articles/13000072404-how-much-does-insurance-cost-). Note the limits: BikeFlights states plainly that it is "not an insurer" and the plan "is not insurance," it covers the contents rather than the case, and packages valued at $500 or more require a signature on delivery. Carrier-direct is stingier — reporting on FedEx's terms describes a [default liability of $100 per package and a maximum declared value of $2,000 for Ground and Home Delivery](https://www.shipscience.com/understanding-fedex-declared-value-limits/).

BikeFlights' own comparison claims [loss or damage rates of 1-2% for shipping carriers against 4-6% for airlines](https://blog.bikeflights.com/post/685973459916947456/shipping-vs-flying-with-your-bike). That is a shipping company's number about shipping — but the structure underneath is fair. A parcel network scans a package a dozen times and owns the whole chain; a bike box at an airport meets a different ground crew at every stop.

Claims differ just as much. A shipping claim is a commercial dispute with a tracking number, photographs and a value you chose. An airline damage claim starts at the baggage service office before you leave the airport — walk out without filing and you have usually lost. Riders with expensive bikes should treat [bike travel insurance and damage claims](/posts/bike-travel-insurance-damage-claims) as a separate question; a standalone or homeowner's rider often pays where neither carrier will.

<Warning title="Declared value is not a lottery ticket">
Both shipping and airline settlements pay depreciated value or repair cost, whichever is less, and both turn on proof of packing quality. Photograph the packed box before you tape it shut, every time. That photo is the difference between a paid claim and a denied one.
</Warning>

<SectionDivider variant="rule" />

## What the Bike Travels Inside — and What Fits

The box is the same problem either way, with one difference: airlines price by linear inches and pounds, shippers by cubic volume and pounds.

BikeFlights publishes its thresholds on its [dimensions and rates page](https://www.bikeflights.com/dimensionsandrates). Best rates need a longest side of 48 inches or less, a second side of 30 inches or less, volume under 8,640 cubic inches and weight under 50 pounds; good rates extend to 17,280 cubic inches and 110 pounds. Hard ceilings are 165 inches total size, 108 inches of length and 150 pounds, and exceeding them triggers carrier penalties the company describes as "totaling US$2,100 (or more during heavy demand/surge periods)."

**Shipping is far more forgiving about weight and far less forgiving about volume.** A 70-pound box is a routine shipment and an expensive checked bag. A coffin-sized hard case clears an airline's linear-inch limit and becomes a volumetric-rate problem for a shipper.

Our guide to the [best bike travel cases and bags](/posts/best-bike-travel-cases-bikepacking) covers hard shell versus soft bag versus plain cardboard, including the free bike-shop box you are willing to abandon. Either way the bike comes apart the same way — the [how to pack a bike for flying](/posts/how-to-pack-a-bike-for-flying) sequence is the sequence for a shipping label too, minus the airport.

One thing neither method solves: CO2 cartridges. The [FAA's PackSafe guidance on small compressed gas cylinders](https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/small-compressed-gas-cylinders) allows at most four non-flammable cartridges of 50 ml or less, checked baggage only and with airline approval — but TSA screening is the stricter rule you actually meet, and [TSA lists CO2 cartridges as prohibited in both carry-on and checked bags](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/co2-cartridge) unless the cylinder is visibly empty. Shipping is not the loophole either: BikeFlights says that because it [cannot specify whether a shipment travels by ground or air](https://faq.bikeflights.com/support/solutions/articles/13000072608-can-i-ship-c02-cartridges-), and cartridges are prohibited on air shipments, "you should never include CO2 cartridges in your shipment." Pack a hand pump and buy cartridges at a shop when you land.

<SectionDivider variant="ornamental" />

## How Shipping Actually Works, Practically

The mechanics are simple. The addressing is where people get burned.

**Ship to a bike shop, not to yourself.** A shop has business hours, a signature-capable human and a floor pump. Call first, confirm they take inbound customer shipments, and ask what they charge to hold and reassemble. Put the shop's name on line one and your name plus arrival date on line two, so the box does not read as inventory.

**Hotels and lodges work if you get it in writing.** Email the property, get a named person's reply, and put your reservation dates on the label. A box that lands before your reservation opens is a box in a stranger's storage room.

**Have a fallback.** If you cannot sign on the delivery day, BikeFlights says it will [reroute to another pickup point such as a UPS Store or a local bike shop](https://faq.bikeflights.com/support/solutions/articles/13000072457-can-i-request-a-specific-delivery-time-), for a $20 fee within the same delivery area.

**Plan the return leg at home.** Keep the box and the packing material, and decide now where you repack. Point-to-point riders should ship to the start and buy a fresh label at the finish, not drag a box across a state.

## Which Trip Shape Wins

- **Point-to-point route.** Ship. There is no way to move a case from the start to the finish that does not involve a rental car you drive twice.
- **Loop from one airport.** Fly with it. Land, drive, park, ride, come back to the same case.
- **Two or three flights to the trailhead.** Ship. Every connection is another chance to miss a transfer, and regional aircraft have real limits on what they load.
- **Long weekend.** Fly with it. Four days of transit on each end does not fit inside a five-day trip.
- **Three weeks or more.** Ship. Storage and rental-vehicle costs scale with time; shipping does not.
- **Expensive carbon race bike.** Ship it, in a hard case, with the value declared.
- **Steel tourer in a cardboard box.** Fly with it. If the box dies you are out an hour at a shop, not a frame.

<SectionDivider variant="trail" />

## The Case Against Shipping

We would still fly with a bike more often than the internet suggests, and the reason is asymmetry of failure.

A delayed checked bag is an inconvenience: your bike is at the airport, you are at the airport, and the airline is on the hook to deliver it. **A box that has not arrived when you land is a different animal** — somewhere in a network you cannot see, on a schedule you cannot escalate, with waiting or renting as the only remedies.

Shipping also asks you to commit early: a box, a packed bike and a confirmed address a week out. Fine for a planned tour, hopeless for a trip booked on a Tuesday. And it is worse for rural destinations, where ground networks thin out. If your start is a forest service road in Idaho, the flight is the more controllable option even though it looks harder.

Run the [pre-trip bike inspection checklist](/posts/pre-trip-bike-inspection-checklist) before the bike goes in the box either way. Whatever is wrong now will be worse after a rebuild in a hotel car park.

## What We Would Do

If we were flying to a loop we could start from the airport, we would pack the bike and check it. If the route ends somewhere other than where it starts, or there are three boarding passes between home and the trailhead, we would ship — $120 to $240 round trip, sent a week early to a bike shop, landing with nothing but bags.

The version that goes wrong most often is neither. It is deciding late, packing in a hurry, and finding out at the counter that the case weighs 58 pounds. Pick the method a fortnight out, weigh the packed box at home, and either works.

For the rest of the sequence — cases, packing, security, the rebuild at the far end, and what to do when the bike arrives damaged — start with our guide to [how to travel with a bike](/posts/traveling-with-your-bike-complete-guide).


Shipping Your Bike vs Flying With It: Cost, Risk, and When Each Wins


## What Airline Bike Fees Cost in 2026

Budget **$45 to $60 each way** to fly a bike inside the United States as of August 2026. That is the price of one ordinary checked bag, not a bike surcharge — most major US carriers folded bicycles into standard checked baggage years ago. Blow past the size or weight cap and you add **$100 to $200** per bag, per direction.

*This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase through our links, at no extra cost to you.*

What trips people up is not the fee. It is the *threshold*. Two riders on the same flight can pay $45 and $245, and the only difference is a packed case that weighs 72 pounds instead of 49. This piece covers the money and the rules; for everything else, see [our complete guide to traveling with your bike](/posts/traveling-with-your-bike-complete-guide).

<Highlight label="The short version">
As of August 2026, Delta, United, American, Southwest and Alaska all treat a properly packed bicycle as one regular checked bag, priced at **$45 to $50** each way domestically. The common ceiling is **115 linear inches and 50 pounds** — cross either line and $100 to $200 in surcharges kick in. JetBlue is the outlier. E-bikes are a different problem entirely: the battery, not the bike, is what gets refused.
</Highlight>

<SectionDivider variant="trail" />

## How Bikes Became Ordinary Luggage

For most of the 2010s, checking a bike meant a flat special-handling fee of $150 to $200 on top of the bag charge. That era is over at nearly every US carrier.

United went first among the big three, dropping its bicycle surcharge and treating bikes as standard luggage — [BIKEPACKING.com reported the change in October 2021](https://bikepacking.com/news/united-airlines-drops-bicycle-fees/), noting you would still pay for a box over 50 pounds "as with any standard luggage." Alaska had already moved sports equipment to standard checked-bag pricing, [replacing what its own newsroom describes as a previous $75 oversize fee](https://news.alaskaair.com/guest-experience/sports-equipment-update/), and Hawaiian [began accepting bicycles as standard checked baggage on January 8, 2025](https://news.alaskaair.com/releases/hawaiian-airlines-now-accepting-surfboards-bicycles-and-other-sports-equipment-as-standard-checked-baggage/).

Then the base price of a checked bag went up. In spring 2026, four major carriers raised checked baggage fees within about two weeks of each other, a move [Afar attributes to a jet fuel price spike](https://www.afar.com/magazine/united-and-jetblue-airlines-to-raise-baggage-fees). Bag fees are a profit center — Bureau of Transportation Statistics data put US checked-bag revenue above **$7.2 billion in 2024** ([bts.gov](https://www.bts.gov/baggage-fees)) — so expect the numbers below to keep moving.

<PullQuote>
The bike fee did not go away. It got renamed "checked baggage" and repriced twice in eighteen months.
</PullQuote>

## The Two Numbers That Trigger a Fee: Linear Inches and Pounds

Every policy below is built on the same two measurements.

**Linear inches** = length + width + height. A case measuring 45 × 30 × 12 inches is 87 linear inches. Measure the *outside*, including wheels, feet and protruding hardware — that is what the agent's tape catches.

**Weight** = the case plus everything in it. This is where riders get burned. A hard case can weigh 25 to 33 pounds empty, leaving 17 to 25 pounds of bike before you cross the 50-pound line. A 24-pound gravel bike plus a 28-pound case is 52 pounds, and that is a $100 mistake at the scale.

The thresholds that matter, as of August 2026:

- **62 linear inches** — the ordinary checked-bag limit. No bike case clears it, which is why the sports-equipment exemptions exist.
- **115 linear inches** — the outer boundary most carriers set for a bicycle at the standard bag rate.
- **50 / 70 / 100 pounds** — where overweight charges begin, escalate, and turn into a flat refusal.

<Tip>
Weigh the packed case at home — stand on a bathroom scale holding it, then subtract your own weight. Do it again before the return flight, because dirty kit and that spare tire you bought mid-trip add up. If you are borderline, move tools into a carry-on. Our [bikepacking tool kit guide](/posts/building-bikepacking-tool-kit) covers what has to travel with you and what you can buy on arrival.
</Tip>

<SectionDivider variant="trail" />

## Airline Bike Fees by Carrier: August 2026

Domestic economy, first checked bag, each way. Fees rise for a second bag and vary on long-haul international routes.

| Airline | First checked bag (domestic) | Bike-specific fee | Size cap at standard rate | Weight before surcharge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta | $45 ($55 second) | None | 115 linear in (hard refusal above) | 50 lb; refused at 100 lb |
| United | $45 prepaid / $50 at airport | None | 115 linear in | 50 lb; $100 to 70 lb, $200 to 100 lb |
| American | $45 prepaid / $50 at airport | None (oversize waived) | 115 linear in | 50 lb, then standard overweight fee |
| Southwest | $45 ($55 second) | None (oversize waived) | 115 in total dimensions | 50 lb; $100 to 70 lb, $200 to 100 lb |
| Alaska | $45 ($55 second) | None | 115 linear in | 70 lb; $100 from 71 to 100 lb |
| JetBlue | $45 off-peak / $49 peak | $100 handling fee reported | 80 linear in (refused above) | 50 lb; $150 at 51–99 lb |

### Flying With a Bike on Delta

Delta's sporting equipment page requires bikes to be "packed in a durable protective container designed specifically for bicycles," charges the excess weight fee over 50 pounds, and states that if the outside linear dimensions "exceed 115 linear inches (292 cm) or weigh 100 lbs, or more the item will not be accepted" ([delta.com](https://www.delta.com/us/en/baggage/special-items/sporting-equipment)). Standard baggage fees apply — no separate bike charge.

Delta raised domestic checked bag prices to **$45 for the first bag and $55 for the second, effective April 8, 2026**, per Afar's summary of the 2026 increases — a hike that applied to domestic and select short-haul international routes only, leaving long-haul pricing alone. One paperwork trap: a soft-sided bag requires a signed limited liability release, under which Delta accepts no responsibility for damage.

### The United Airlines Bike Policy

United treats a bicycle as a standard checked bag when the packed case is under **115 linear inches and 50 pounds**, with overweight charges of **$100 from 51 to 70 pounds and $200 from 71 to 100 pounds**, according to [Orucase's United airline guide](https://www.orucase.com/blogs/airline-guides/flying-with-a-bike-on-united-airlines). United asks that the bike be padded and enclosed in a hard or soft case, with pedals removed and tires slightly deflated.

United was the second carrier to move in 2026, following JetBlue's late-March increase: **$45 prepaid or $50 within 24 hours of departure for the first bag, $55 / $60 for the second**, on tickets purchased on or after **April 3, 2026**, per Afar. Prepaying online is a real $5 saving, not a marketing line.

### American Airlines

American removed oversize fees for sports equipment including bicycles, and accepts a bike case up to **115 linear inches and under 50 pounds** at the standard checked-bag rate, [per Orucase's American guide](https://www.orucase.com/blogs/airline-guides/flying-with-a-bike-on-american-airlines).

American's newsroom puts the domestic Main Cabin first bag at **$45 prepaid or $50 at the airport** and the second at **$55 / $60** for tickets booked April 9, 2026 and beyond ([news.aa.com](https://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2026/American-Airlines-updates-bag-fees-and-Basic-Economy-fares-OPS-POL-04/default.aspx)). The same release adds a Basic Economy penalty: from **May 18, 2026**, domestic Basic Economy passengers pay **$50 prepaid or $55 at the airport** for the first bag, and $60 / $65 for the second. On American, the cheap fare costs your bike an extra $5 each way.

### Flying With a Bike on Southwest

Southwest's bicycle policy page is unusually blunt: non-motorized single-seat bicycles are accepted as checked baggage, "pedals and handlebars must be removed and packaged in protective materials," oversize fees are waived, and "bicycles over 100 pounds in weight and/or 115 inches in total dimensions cannot be checked as baggage" ([support.southwest.com](https://support.southwest.com/helpcenter/s/article/flying-with-a-bike-policy)). Cardboard and soft cases travel only under a limited release of liability.

The bigger change is upstream: Southwest ended its long-running free-checked-bag policy in 2025. Its Optional Travel Charges page now lists a **first bag at $45 and second at $55** for travel booked on or after **April 9, 2026**, with overweight surcharges of **$100 (51–70 lb)** and **$200 (71–100 lb)** on top ([southwest.com](https://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/travel-fees.html)). A-List Preferred and Business Select still get two free bags, which makes Southwest the cheapest bike carrier going if you hold status.

### Alaska Airlines

Alaska has been the bike-friendliest major for years and structurally still is: bicycles ride as standard checked baggage up to **115 linear inches and 70 pounds**, with charges starting at $100 beyond that, [per Orucase's Alaska guide](https://www.orucase.com/blogs/airline-guides/flying-with-a-bike-on-alaska-airlines). That 70-pound allowance is the most generous number in the table. Alaska raised its own fees on **April 10, 2026**, to **$45 first bag and $55 second**, with overweight tiers of $100 (51–70 lb) and $200 (71–100 lb), per [Upgraded Points' Alaska baggage breakdown](https://upgradedpoints.com/travel/airlines/alaska-airlines-baggage-fees/) updated June 10, 2026.

### JetBlue: The Expensive Outlier

JetBlue is the one carrier where a normal bike case can be refused outright. JetBlue's own optional-fees schedule lists oversize bags of 63–80 inches at **$150**, overweight bags of 51–99 pounds at **$150**, and states plainly that bags over 80 inches "will not be accepted" ([jetblue.com/legal/fees](https://www.jetblue.com/legal/fees)). First checked bag runs **$45 off-peak or $49 peak**.

Eighty linear inches is small — plenty of cardboard bike boxes and full-size hard cases measure 100 to 115. Orucase's JetBlue guide also reports a **$100 bicycle handling fee** on top of the bag charge, plus a pre-registration requirement. If JetBlue is your only option, you need a genuinely compact case — the sub-80-inch designs we cover in [the best bike travel cases for bikepacking](/posts/best-bike-travel-cases-bikepacking) — or a different plan.

<SectionDivider variant="trail" />

## Five Ways the Cost to Fly With a Bike Goes Sideways

**1. Basic economy.** American's Basic Economy bag surcharge is explicit and published. Elsewhere the risk is subtler: the waivers tied to co-branded cards and elite status are what keep your bike cheap, and the cheapest fare bucket is where they get clipped. Price the fare *with* the bag.

**2. International versus domestic.** On long-haul international itineraries the first checked bag is often included in the fare, so your bike can fly free inside the allowance. On short-haul routes to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, the 2026 domestic increases generally do apply.

**3. The connecting-carrier trap.** Under [14 CFR 399.87](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-II/subchapter-F/part-399/subpart-G/section-399.87), on itineraries with a US origin or destination, carriers must apply the baggage allowances and fees in effect at the start of the itinerary across the whole trip — and on codeshares, the *marketing* carrier's rules govern, not the operating carrier's. So a JetBlue-marketed segment does not get Alaska's rules just because Alaska flies the plane.

**4. The overweight cliff.** Surcharges are not prorated. At 51 pounds you pay the full $100, same as at 69. One pound of packing foam can cost more than the bag itself.

**5. Compressed gas.** TSA lists CO2 cartridges as prohibited in both carry-on and checked bags, with narrow exceptions for empty cylinders and life-vest cartridges ([tsa.gov](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/co2-cartridge)). Pack a mini pump and buy cartridges at your destination — worth cross-checking against your [bikepacking packing list](/posts/bikepacking-packing-list-checklist) before every flight.

## E-Bikes and Lithium Batteries Are a Separate Rulebook

<Warning>
This is the one that gets bikes left at the curb. The FAA's PackSafe guidance permits lithium-ion batteries up to **100 watt-hours** in carry-on, allows **101–160 Wh with air carrier approval** (limit two spares per person), and **forbids anything above 160 Wh** in either carry-on or checked baggage. Spare, uninstalled lithium batteries are prohibited in checked bags entirely ([faa.gov PackSafe](https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/packsafe/lithium-batteries)).

A typical e-bike battery is 400 to 750 Wh. That is four to seven times the absolute ceiling. There is no fee that fixes this, no form to sign, and no gate agent with discretion — the battery cannot fly on a passenger aircraft. Southwest's policy is explicit that only non-motorized bicycles are accepted.
</Warning>

Your realistic options are shipping the battery by approved ground freight, renting a battery at the destination, or renting the whole bike. We go deeper on batteries, tools and stove fuel in a forthcoming piece on flying with bikepacking gear. If you fly often, that constraint belongs in the buying decision — see our roundup of [bikepacking bikes at every budget](/posts/best-bikepacking-bikes-every-budget).

## How to Actually Pay Less

- **Prepay online.** United and American both discount the first bag by $5 when you pay in advance rather than at the counter.
- **Get under 50 pounds, always.** The highest-leverage move there is. Riding kit, tools and shoes go in your carry-on; the case carries the bike.
- **Choose the case by linear inches, not by looks.** A sub-80-inch case clears every carrier in the table, JetBlue included. A 110-inch case is fine on five of six and refused on the sixth.
- **Use the status you already have.** A co-branded airline card with a free first checked bag pays for itself in roughly two bike flights a year.
- **Consider not flying it.** A case plus two bag fees plus reassembly time can exceed a good rental. Run the numbers on shipping your bike vs flying with it before you commit.
- **Do a dry run.** Packing at home tells you what fits and what the case weighs. Our [bikepacking bag and storage guide](/posts/complete-bikepacking-bag-storage-guide) covers what goes where; a dedicated piece on how to pack a bike for flying is coming next.

## When the Gate Agent Quotes the Wrong Policy

It happens often, because bike rules changed recently and counter staff do not check bikes every day. The fix is procedural, not confrontational.

**Bring the policy with you.** Screenshot the carrier's own bicycle or sports-equipment page, URL visible in the shot, and save it offline. A screenshot beats a memory every time.

**Ask for a supervisor before you raise your voice.** Bike-fee disputes are almost always a training gap, not a decision. A supervisor can override in seconds.

**Pay under protest, then file.** If you have a flight to catch, pay, keep the receipt, and submit a refund request through customer relations with the screenshot attached.

**Arrive early.** Oversize baggage drop is a separate counter with its own queue. Add 30 minutes to whatever you would normally allow — the same buffer logic we use in [planning your first bikepacking trip](/posts/your-first-bikepacking-trip-planning).

## The Bottom Line

As of August 2026, flying with a bike inside the US is a **$45 to $60 each-way** proposition on Delta, United, American, Southwest and Alaska, provided your packed case stays under **115 linear inches and 50 pounds**. JetBlue's 80-inch ceiling and reported bike handling fee make it the one carrier to plan around. E-bike batteries above 160 Wh cannot fly at all.

Do three things before you book: measure and weigh your packed case, screenshot the airline's current bike policy, and confirm the marketing carrier on every segment. Everything downstream — cases, packing, insurance, ground transport at the far end — is covered in our guide to [how to travel with a bike](/posts/traveling-with-your-bike-complete-guide).

Fees will change again. The thresholds rarely do. Build your setup around 115 inches and 50 pounds and you stay on the cheap side of the counter no matter what the price sheet says next spring.


flying-with-a-bike

Bike Travel Insurance and Damage Claims: What to Do When Your Bike Arrives Broken

The Bike Travel Tool Kit: Reassembling Your Bike at the Airport

Flying With Bikepacking Gear: TSA Rules for Stoves, Fuel, Batteries, and CO2

How to Pack a Bike for Flying: A Step-by-Step Guide

Shipping Your Bike vs Flying With It: Cost, Risk, and When Each Wins

Airline Bike Fees and Policies: What It Really Costs to Fly With a Bike

Best Bike Travel Cases and Bags for Bikepacking: Hard Shell vs Soft Compared

Traveling With Your Bike: The Complete Guide to Flying, Shipping, and Trains