London Fixed-gear and Single-speed

Me and a friend just booked some Easyjet flights for our touring holiday, does anyone have any experience taking bikes with them?

yeh i took my bike to southern france on easyjet last yr, no problem, just extra baggage fee. just pack it well!

Despite packing it well, easyjet dropped my gf's bike wrecking a chain stay, a rear dropout, two chainrings, the bottom bracket and the pannier rack. It was her 10 yo trek so after much wrangling over how we'd waited to get home to unpack the bikes and discover the damage they bought her a Mercian. I escaped with a slightly bent front pannier rack that I can't be arsed to claim for.

If you do take your bike with them, pack it well and when it gets off the belt carry it to their desk, notify a member of their staff and inspect it in front of them. The frontline staff are usually OK but the claims department - WABOC.

Make sure it's really well packed - I took mine up to Scotland in a well padded bike bag and filled it with all the bubble wrap i could get my hands on....Still had to fork out for a new rear derailleur when i got up there (which was unsuccessful in claiming back) cos some idiot must have packed cases on top of it!

You should unscrew your rear der. from the frame when packing bikes.

make sure it's packed well

be certain that it is adequately packaged.

How adequate is your package? :P

From watching Airport I think you also need to take off your pedals and deflate your tyres.

Yeah you do have to deflate your tyres so packing a track pump is always a good measure. You should also try and get your hands on those little plastic things you can put between your forks! - I also used a lot of pipe cladding round my frame!