Airline Travel with Riding Gear

Anyone have any tips on traveling with all of your gear (suit, gloves, helmet, boots, airbag etc.)?

Does anyone trusts leaving their helmet in a checked bag to get tossed around? Or are you carrying your helmet some other way?

The OGIO 9800 bag seems to be the most popular. I wear a larger suit size so I'm concerned the bag may not be big enough for everything.

 

I did it many times, always checked in beg. Never had problem.

 

Did you do anything special with packing it, like wrapping the helmet in padding or something?

 

I did have helmet beg with padding. Same as this one
https://www.bellhelmets.com/motorcy...es/p/race-pro-star-helmet-bag/BL-8043613.html

 

if you can't fit all your roadrace gear AND a weeks worth of street clothes in a 9800 bag... you need to learn how to pack.
on weeks when Im riding tracks and dirtbikes... I pack a 2nd 9800... that way each discipline has the gear I need.
The shape of the 9800 ensures your helmet wont get batted around.
If you are that concerned... carry your helmet(s) in a bag as a carry on.
Ive flown across the country numerous times and never had an issue.
My 9800s are unique in appearance so I can always recognize when they are being loaded.

 

I've done it quite a few times, no issue.

Alpinestar Komodo bag fits all my kit, KYT helmet is in a MotoD helmet case, size 56 suite with hanger, Impact Armor chest and back protectors, gloves, boots, under armor, spare visors, tearoffs, water bottle, ear plugs, and a few other small bits. Spare helmet goes in my wife's checked suitcase, in a moto d case. Fold the race suit nicely and everything looks great when I pull it out.

Only concern is weight, I usually hoover right at the 50lbs allowance. They mark it Heavy, but out of 4 overseas trips, I only had to pay an excess charge on one leg of a trip.

 

Arai has a great bag and a helmet backpack if you prefer to carry it on the plane. I love the standard bag I have.

 

Helmet? Carry on in a Arai helmet bag. They want to give you shit tell them you'll wear it on flight because you're afraid of the plane crashing if they won't let you carry it on.

Might throw you off the flight and you get on the do not fly list but 99% they will leave you alone.

The rest? Gear bag, checked and insured. I have a nasty looking Alpinestars A 747 that could carry Mongo and I've never gotten an oversized charge.

 

obviously the baggage surcharges from carriers range all over the map based on status, plane size, etc... most are ~$35ish for up to 50lbs per bag but > 50lbs =$100 surcharge.
Roadrace gear has a good 20lbs on mx all things equal. There were a couple times where I had > 50lbs of weight on the way home but the counter folk let it slide at smaller airports.
A good standard carry on roller coupled with a backpack as the personal item & checked 9800 works best for me on domestic flights.
For low money luggage a standard military surplus duffle works.

 

So far, I haven't had any problem carrying my helmet as a carry-on (in a helmet bag). I have gone to the UK and Japan this way. Of course, your mileage may vary. On the day, it is kind of a crap shoot on how they are going to behave.

This last trip to Japan, My wife and I carried our helmets with gloves (and snacks and other flying crap) inside the helmet. We wore our boots and carried on our textile jacks and wore armored jeans. We had other gear packed, but we were leaving on a tour immediately upon arrival and wanted to make sure we could show up and ride if our luggage got lost.

We went through everything okay except for the metal and wire stuff inside of my wife's boots. Once they saw what they were, there was a short discussion and demonstration and everything went okay with a little delay. No issue arriving in Japan or taking a Japanese domestic flight shortly thereafter. Only real problem was my knee armor rubbing against my knee for 13 hours (ouchie).

Earlier, I have carried my helmet like this on trips to the IOM. Flew into UK and Ireland without issue and even flew over to the IOM one time (somebody brought a bike for me).

Don't know if I'd wear full leathers on a plane, but you could probably even get away with that.

 

Hockey gear bags work well.

 

Interesting mix of carry on vs. checked bag for the helmet.

I’d prefer to keep all the gear in one bag and just carry on a backpack with clothes, toiletries, etc.

 

Yeah, I did do gear as checked baggage on one IOM trip too, forgot to mention that. In the case of Japan, I had to be sure I could ride when I got there. A lost checked bag with gear would have meant that the whole 14 day tour was a no go with a big money loss. I kept enough stuff in my sight the whole way out to make sure that wouldn't be an issue.

As it is, the usual poorly-performing airline industry these days made it a close call even with that prep.

 

I’ve used the Ogio 9800 Rig several times to fly with all my gear including helmet. It has a lightly padded helmet area and I put my helmet in another thin helmet bag inside that area. Flew internationally several times with no extra fees. I also use the same bag every time I go to the track to haul my gear. It has been well worth the money.

 

I've flown a number of times. My protocol is:

Gear: checked bag for leathers, gloves, back & chest protectors, boots, base layers, socks, etc. go into the gear bag. I have a Fox gear bag that's enormous and eats all that up no problem.

Helmet: carry on. Simply because I want to protect for impacts/crushing from improper loading of the luggage.

 

I use a gear bag checked as baggage for all but the helmet, which I carried on in a helmet bag. There have been no issues. I've done this several times for trips to ride with friends on the other ends of the country.

 

I put my leathers in a suit bag and would bring them on with my helmet as carry on. I usually would upgrade to 1st class with miles, or just would get upgraded as I flew for work allot. The only issue I ever had was some guy in 1st class bitching because my leathers smelled like race fuel, I had just done a Friday endurance race at PIR (Portland OR) and was flying to do cycle Jam at Road A.

 

My friend was on a multi-state trip and his bike had a fuel leak, caught on fire, burned to slag. He had to fly home wearing Klim pants as that was all he had.

 

Did anyone say airtag!

 

I have a couple that I use when traveling, just to be safe.