I would be happy to ship from Buenos Aires to Montreal if that is a route.

Just checked, still "Our Motorcycle program for 2016 starts May 1. Check back for updated information." I am planning to ship May 10th and am getting a bit antsy, would really like to nail this down.

Shipped my bike from Van cover to Frankfurt last year, $100 for Dangerous Goods paper, and $1030 total for the bike. No charges in Frankfurt. This year I am shipping one over for the wife to Rome. Air Canada people have my vote for best airline in the world, this is a great deal and they were great to deal with. Just hope this years rates are similar.

Bob

I was told that the special rates would be available that day for shipping May 1st and that anyone who wanted to ship in April could possibly be accommodated.
Just FYI

All is good, Air Canada gave me a quote this morning of 900 Euro (US$1025, CA$1345) for flying wife's bike May 9th, Vancouver to Rome. Will not be able to book until April 11th, (28 days prior to departure). This included discount for us flying on Air Canada. Will need to pay third party for "Dangerous Goods Certificate", one sheet of paper for $100 which is a ripoff but you got to have it.
I flew one over last year to Frankfurt for $1030 US so it looks like the numbers are going to be about the same as last year. Was the easiest shipping I have ever done.
Couple of notes if you are flying bike over:
1. write out an inventory of what is going with bike, makes it easier for them.
2. No butane soldering irons, lighters, spare fuel and fuel in bike should be on reserve.
3. I shipped helmet strapped on to bike last year, and with tank bag.
4. best to not arrive on a weekend, harder to clear bike with second string skeleton staff.

Air Canada also has a special on airline tickets to Europe if you book by April 8th.
(two putt putts across Eastern Europe coming soon)

Is their a link to that AC passenger ticket special?

To tag on - I was just quoted very similar shipping rates from Calgary to London. I have not quoted passenger ticket yet. The AC website doesn't seem to offer the same "one-way" options, only a pricier one (I was hoping to leave the return open a bit) but when I quoted the exact same departure with a round trip - it was significantly cheaper than the cheapest one-way. Guess I'll give them a call.

I was quoted $125 by a local Calgary outfit for all the EX and DG paperwork, they seemed easy to deal with.

The Europe flight special (for us people) was on their web site last Friday, with note it would end April 8.
One way flights tend to be higher than round trip, no idea why. I have bought round trip tickets in the past and tossed the return ticket. I may have figured it out by doing a multiple city ticket you get the round trip price then if the place or time of return changes you just pay a fee, (100 to 300$) to change the ticket but still cheaper than two one way tickets. Have also been told that you can cancel the return trip and get a credit to apply to your next flight.
Maybe someone with airline experience can shed some light on this.

Good suggestions! I actually called AC and after being on hold for 30 minutes, they pretty much said one ways are just that way....no great explanation. A round/multi leg trip is the way to go!

Well the details are coming in at Air Canada, special rate motorcycle transport will only be to three cities London, Paris and Dublin. So you will need to plan for that.
I need to get to northern Italy so it looks like it will have to fly wife's bike to Paris and ride two up to Italy. Not so bad and great rates but I wish they would put the information out quicker.

Just called them up to inquire, and looks it's only Canadian and European cities that they are working with this year. Last year I was eyeing South America - but only ended up going to Vancouver from YYZ. This time the list of available cities is:

• Frankfurt
• Paris
• London
• Manchester
• Edinburgh
• Glasgow
• Dublin
• Brussels

And of course, Vancouver and Calgary.

Prices for them vary from $850 to $1K, and some destinations also have additional fees, but that's the ballpark. This all is assuming you have a passenger ticket with AC. There isn't any HST on international shipments. Dangerous goods paperwork is always extra (I paid $100 tax inclusive for it last year).

They also can arrange return shipping from those same cities, although the prices will differ. For example, I was quoted YYZ to Manchester as $850 (CAD) + £60 in fees, and £690 for going back to YYZ, which is close to $1300 at current exchange rates.

Overall it's disappointing. Prices have gone up, destination coverage has gone down. Sure, they added more destinations in the UK and Ireland, but realistically, Edinburgh and Glasgow are an hour ride apart, and none of it is more than a day away from London, so it's not like we're breaking new ground here.

It's too bad about South America, but I guess it's not AC's fault, it's the backwards customs making life difficult for people and AC is not wanting to get the bad rep for that.

Looks like this year my bike is sticking with wheels firmly on the ground (or at least, not 10,000 m in the air), and I'm flying with carry-on only. Oh well...

Thank you for posting the update on summer 2016 offers. The following explanation might help you understand which city pairs are offered by the airline.

When you look at the cities that Air Canada offers this sale-priced motorcycle shipping to and from, and wonder why certain cities are not included, you have to keep in mind that what Air Canada is doing is selling off excess cubic capacity in the belly of their wide-body fleet.

Relative to other cargo carried in a wide body aircraft (for example, passenger baggage or air freight), a motorcycle weighs "nothing" in relation to the amount of cubic space it occupies. It might as well be popcorn or inflated birthday balloons.

Loading an aircraft is always a trade-off between a variety of items: passengers, fuel, cargo, and distance that needs to be covered.

It's not uncommon on some routes (for example, from certain Chinese manufacturing centers to the west coast of the USA) for the passenger cabin to be "sold out" when only half the seats in the cabin are occupied. This situation exists because the carrier has filled the lower deck with much more profitable cargo, and after adding up the weight of the cargo and the weight of the fuel needed to do the flight, there just isn't much weight capacity left over to allocate to passengers and their baggage.

Conversely, on other routes (notably Canada to Europe in the summertime), there is not much commercial cargo to carry, but there are a heck of a lot of passengers going back and forth, all paying a high-season price for their seats. The distances are relatively long for the type of aircraft used on the route, hence quite a bit of fuel has to be loaded.

The result of the loading equation for the summertime transAtlantic routes described in the above paragraph can be described thus:

1) All the passenger seats are full.
2) Passengers have a lot of baggage, which is a dense and heavy form of cargo.
3) A lot of fuel is being carried due to the distance that has to be covered.

The combination of those three points results in a lower deck (cargo hold) that may be only half-full by volume, but cannot be filled any further because the aircraft is at its weight limit.

Think about an aircraft that has a maximum takeoff weight of 400,000 pounds - typical for an Air Canada 767. All the seats in the cabin are sold out, the baggage is loaded, you've put the required fuel in the plane, but your cargo hold is only half full by volume. On top of that, you have an imbalance of empty cargo containers (Uniform Load Devices, or ULDs) at your originating city that you have to move to your destination city. The ULDs, empty, weigh very little. At this moment, your aircraft is 5,000 pounds under maximum take-off weight (in other words, it's at 99% of weight capacity, even though the cargo deck is only half full by volume).

How do you monetize a half-empty cargo deck when your aircraft can only accept another 5,000 pounds, and at the same time, move all those empty ULDs to your destination?

Easy, just put one motorcycle (average weight about 700 pounds) into each of those empty ULDs that are designed to hold about 7,000 pounds. Money for nothing, and chicks for free.

Michael
(retired factory test pilot, and longtime shipper of my motorcycle by air)

Windfall money, because the airline has to ship that empty container to the destination city even if it is empty

Here is a link to the most recent post on Air Canada's website about shipping motorcycles by air. It is a very comprehensive explanation of everything that is involved, for example, fuel tank 1/4 full or less, no need to disconnect the battery, you have to fill in the DGR form yourself, etc. Much to my surprise, Air Canada is now permitting some materials to be shipped in the saddlebags along with the bike... historically, airlines have insisted that saddlebags be empty.

This article contains prices and information valid for the period May 1 to September 30, 2016.

Click here: Air Canada Cargo’s Fly Your Bike Program - 2016

Michael

Fantastic! This could be a perfect alternative for us. Will call them next week to get a quote.

I have been dealing with AC Cargo over this past week.

My bike is booked to be flown out next week from Montreal to Dublin.
Start of RTW trip.

I will be paying $950.00 (total) for shipping my BMW R1150 GS from Montreal to Dublin Ireland.

To get this deal I had to book my passenger ticket with Air Canada.
Otherwise the shipping costs would have been $1450.00 for the bike.

I live in Ottawa but need to tender the motorcycle with Air Canada Cargo at the airport in Montreal.

For the dangerous goods document I contact DGC Consultant in Montreal.
The company is right near the airport. They are charging me $150.00 for the form and say they need to accompany me and the bike to Air Canada and have AC Cargo weigh the vehicle so that they can have an exact weight before they can sign off on the DG form.

As mentioned on the AC site, make sure that the fuel tank is 1/4 or less. The DGR rep said if you present your bike with more than 1/4 tank of fuel, you could be liable for a financial penalty if AC need to drain your fuel tank.

Air Canada site says that you need to remove battery terminals and wrap them up, DGR rep seem to think otherwise, that the battery could be left connected ??

I will find out next week when I drop off the bike.

AC advised me not to fly on same day with the bike, but rather fly out the following day, so that the bike will have been off loaded and stored in their cargo facility in Dublin. They need at least 6 hours lead time before a flight departure to load it on the plane. No disassembly of bike required, they just
tie it down on a skid.

I asked what items I could leave stored on the bike, i.e. in the panniers, top box, they said only motorcycle related items could be stored on the bike, tools, spare parts, no personal items, clothing, camping equipment etc.

You can have your bike insured for transport, as I remember AC quoted me $3.00 for each $1000 that you declare as value of your bike.

This Fly Your Bike program is only valid for flights between Canada and Europe.

To fly my bike back from Dublin to Montreal, costs would be ~ $1800.00



Brian

Awesome update - and congrats/GL on your RTW venture!

I received much the same news from AC on flights from Calgary to London. The only things that differed were - the logistics company I contacted said they would unhook battery (with my guidance) and I could basically strap anything to the bike (like a duffel full of camp/riding gear) - at least that's been there experience with AC on the Fly My Bike program in the past in Calgary. Cost are right in line with your quote.

I originally planned a May departure as well (not RTW), but I think it'll be pushed back to early-mid June.

I just checked passenger tickets - and they actually went down from a quote I got a month ago...so maybe it's time

Brian:

Please see this post: Rules for shipping motorcycles by air freight. It's an old post, but the procedures have not changed. You don't need an 'exact' weight (to the kilogram) for the DG form. Look up what your manufacturer says your moto weighs - that info will probably be in your owner manual - and adjust as appropriate for presence/absence of liquids, and any significant accessories you have added, and that will be close enough. The airline will weigh the moto with precision before they load it, this because the precise weight is needed for weight and balance purposes (as opposed to DG form purposes).

It is unfortunate that you paid $150 for someone to fill in your DG declaration for you. Next time, you can do it yourself. See this post: How to complete the DG declaration.

The Air Canada site DOES NOT say that you need to remove battery terminals and wrap them up. It says (and I quote) "All batteries must be installed and securely fastened in the battery holder of the vehicle and be protected in such a manner as to prevent damage and short circuits". Here's a link to Air Canada's PDF on the subject: Air Canada - Fly Your Bike 2016

If you don't get damage and short circuits when riding the bike down a bumpy road, for sure you aren't going to get damage or short circuits when the whole bike flies as air freight. If your moto is of recent manufacture and the battery compartment has not been modified from original construction, then you don't need to do anything special concerning the battery or the wires.

Air Canada's statement about batteries, quoted in italics above, is more or less word-for-word what Packing Instruction 900 says - in paragraph (d) - about batteries in vehicles. You can read Packing Instruction 900 in the first link I provided above, I posted a scanned image of it here on the HUBB about 10 years ago.

Michael