TL;DR: Singapore Airlines wrecked our bike box and lost our tent. China Airlines found it days later… only because I’d slapped a luggage tag on last-minute. Lesson learned: strap everything down inside, and tag anything that might come loose!
Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/bicycletouring/s/wBjpBJ6LCx
On our flight from Europe to Taiwan, my partner’s bike box arrived in Taipei completely disintegrated and barely being held together by clingfilm. We suspected the box had been left out in the rain during our connection in Singapore.
When we realized his handlebar bag (and our Slingfin tent within) were missing, we filed a claim and placed a number of calls to the airports, Singapore Airlines, and baggage handling companies. Luckily, I can speak Mandarin so was able to explain our situation to teams on the ground, but it was a difficult and frustrating system to navigate, with everyone pointing the finger at somebody else.
LUCKILY, I had put one of these airline luggage string tags on his bag (within the bike box) right before everything got taped up. I had an extra tag so figured I’d put it on something, but didn’t remember tagging this specific bag. An employee from China Airlines found the bag, checked the tag, and contacted my partner via the email address inside. Singapore Airlines was never able to connect this bag back to our destroyed box.
So we got a lucky break, but learned a few valuable lessons with this experience…
-
Strap everything together in the bike box (several of you mentioned this on my original post; I will definitely always do this going forward)
-
… and/or put identification tags on everything that might come loose!
-
For our most recent flight from Taiwan > South Korea, I spent $2 USD at 7-Eleven in Taipei to buy an extra roll of packing tape, which I used to reinforce the edges and handles of my bike box, as I noticed one side was starting to rip. I would happily spend a few bucks again in the future to make sure my box is pretty sturdy to start.
(And happy to report our flight from Taipei to South Korea went without a hitch! Bikes and belongings all made it.)
by tinaon2wheels