I just talked to an Air Canada's customer service rep (in French in Montreal) by calling 1-800-387-4865

He explained that they quit shipping to South America because people had problems bringing the bikes back on the plane when it was time to come home. They quit offereing the service for that reason.

After I told him I needed transport one-way only, he said it was worth sending an email to the sales dep to inquire.

I was informed that Air Canada is responsible for the shipping only and that all customs issues were between me and the country I was going to.

The email address of the sales team that was given to me is cargo.salessmb@aircanada.ca

I am going to let you guyz know what they have to say about this.

jfman

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Alaska 2014: Hotel Budget ZeroXmas in Death Valley, New Year in Urique

Well it looks like I will be able to use AC to ship to SA one way.

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Alaska 2014: Hotel Budget ZeroXmas in Death Valley, New Year in Urique

Thanks for the offer! I called again and finally talked them into honoring the deal. The regular freight was going to be $3300!


So, I'm in!

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is "screening?"

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motomon at pobox dot com
Have returned to Latin America ... again in 2024/2025. +15179800336 WhatsApp

jfman they (Air Canada) had problems in previous time . And it was the same reason why they stopped with their services, or should I say paused them. Money extortion, and the forced bribing is bad, and the whole community is always pushing everyone not to pay if it's possible in any case. This will cause less damage to the ones arriving after you etc etc.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you to go through as smooth as possible, and let us know how it goes

Cheers
Dooby

Just got off the phone with a sales rep at myaircargo.com.
I was quoted and emailed an offering of their air freight services and a price for a bike from Chicago to either Germany, Switzerland, or Austria. Apparently all shipments go into Frankfort, then are shipped to your preferred address in Germany, Switzerland or Austria. The price is the same, no matter where you pick up your bike.

They provide some sort of "rack" that your bike is strapped to, then this rack is attached to a pallet. Bike is not crated and is exposed. This of course wouldn't bother my trusty 2007 KLR but may bother others with fancier bikes. They also provide an "equipment box" for all your gear, and perform all the paperwork for customs on both sides. 50,000 Euro insurance is included. They want 4-5 weeks advance notice on shipments, and say to allow 10 days for the total transport time.

Price all in is 1,900 Euro, which translates to $2,020 USD in March 2017.

I'm just passing this info along to others. I have no affiliation with this company or any other company.

Good luck with your plans, hope this helps you with your adventure decisions.

I shipped my GSA from Toronto to Frankfurt via Air Canada cargo on 10 March. I was the first bike of the 2017 season (so they said). The process is fairly straightforward as mentioned here.


I did have a company called DGC Academy do the dangerous goods paperwork. The guy at AirCanada said I had to have a company do it and I wasn't going to argue. The DGC guys were great, stuff was ready when I got there. One problem I had was that I didn't have the exact weight as the bike was going to be shipped so I estimated. That wasn't good enough. When I got to the AirCanada cargo place they asked me to weigh it but it had to be exactly how it would be shipped. Since it was 23F and snowing I had a lot of gear I was wearing that was going in the bike and my carry-ons for the flight needed to come out of the bike. They were nice and let me change in the warehouse and pull all my crap out of the bags to repack it. Once I got changed and got everything in the bike it weighed in at 14kgs more than my estimate - back to the CDG guys to get the paperwork fixed. Incidentally the cargo shipping place is on the west side of the airport. The CDG guys gave great directions, not sure I could've found it without them. You need to go to the ramp labeled G46 at the far end of a huge warehouse. If it's closed there is a entry door by G50 that says live animal shipping or something.


RECOMMENDATION #1: Prep the bike so that it's easy to configure it for shipping - if you are riding in from very far plan a stop to organize all the stuff on the bike (will be easier when it's not freezing outside). I imagine when it's busy they won't have as much flexibility with unloading the bike and taking up room in their warehouse.


RECOMMENDATION #2: Take your easily-reconfigurable bike to AirCanada cargo and have them weigh it, then take that number to CDG to get your paperwork done. It's about a 6 min ride from one to the other - just make sure you don't run out of gas. The other option is get the dangerous goods guys to leave the weight blank - not sure if you can work that out with them.


After the paperwork and weight issues were solved the security folks had to look through all the bags, etc. Liquids were ok as long as it wasn't flammable; he said engine oil was ok if you have some spare on the bike. They took dimensions - he said it didn't matter with the motorcycle deal but they still took them for their records and for packing purposes. I wasn't sure what all could be on the bike so I went for broke. I had hippo hands on my handlebars, a windscreen extension, lockable GPS mount, tank bag, all three hard cases and a dry bag strapped to the back seat. No issues - bike was good to go as-is.


Next he wanted to see how much gas was in it - he did this by just turning the key on and looking at my (mostly unreliable) BMW fuel gage. He was happy with what he saw so he told me to disconnect the battery and tape up the terminals. After all that I paid with a US Visa and he was like "thanks, have fun." I'd never heard where to go in Germany, phone number to call, how to get to the Toronto airport - nothing. I asked about that and he was very helpful giving me an address and phone number for Frankfurt (both turned out to be wrong but I didn't know that at the time) and he walked me across the huge warehouse to a local phone and they had a taxi number after a lot of searching.


RECOMMENDATION #3: If you don't have a Canadian phone/data plan have a local taxi number with you when you arrive.


I left Toronto that day, stayed one night in New York City then on to Frankfurt to arrive on Sunday morning. A friend of mine picked me up at the airport, we spent about 45 mins looking for the address that the guy in Canada gave me. After a while we gave up and went towards the cargo area looking for Air Canada. You can't see it from the road but it's in gate 26. I understand there is a bus from the terminal but I didn't use it so I'm not sure how it works, but it has to be easier than what I ended up doing. After producing my passport and getting registered in the system we were allowed into the cargo area and found the Air Canada cargo office.


The guys in the office were great, very helpful and knowledgeable. They asked me for my receipt, my ID and that was it. We were on our way up to customs and he asked if I had my proof of insurance. I had forgotten to get insurance squared away early enough and it was arriving to my friend's house on Monday. No way to get the bike without it. He printed out directions to the closest German auto club where I could buy insurance if the other one didn't show up on Monday. Of course no one was open on Sunday that could sort out insurance on a short notice basis. So, off we go to my friend's place for the night with no bike.


RECOMMENDATION #4: Make sure you have your green card insurance sorted out early enough.


Monday my buddy had to work so we were delayed getting back to the airport. In fact, we didn't get there till about 1600 - which is when the AirCanada customs guys leave for the day. Thankfully I was lucky and they weren't busy so one AirCanada guy took pity on me and drove me over to the Lufthansa customs office (he says they are real sticklers) and walked me through the process there. My insurance had not arrived, but it had been emailed to me and I had two copies. The customs guy wanted to keep one copy.


RECOMMENDATION #5: Have a copy of your insurance documents ready for the customs guys to keep.


After customs we went back to AirCanada, checked the computer to make sure the bike was released then went to the warehouse. After a quick registration to be in the warehouse complete with badge and reflective vest we walked to the back of the warehouse where my bike was patiently waiting in the exact same condition I left it in Canada. I gave it a good look over and then pulled the seats to connect the battery. The guy there was upset that they asked me to disconnect the battery and said I shouldn't have done it. (yeah, right). So he had me take a picture of the packing direction for future reference so that I could show it to the guys in Canada. Personally I'd just do what they recommend, but that's me. Shortly I was ready to roll and off I went - free and clear to Europe.


I failed to get the number back in Germany for booking the return trip but I'll work on that and post it here when I get it. Good luck to anyone doing this - it really was pretty easy even though I tried to screw it up for myself all along the way!

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Thanks for the Info.
How much total shipment ?

Id like to ship my bike to Calgary from Spain.
Is it posible from any spanish airport ?

F&H

Hey EvilE, thank you so much for the excellent information! I will be following your 'track' Toronto-Franfurt in early May with my 800GS for a 2 month tour mostly in Eastern Europe and the Alps. Your tips are well presented and appreciated.

I've been a bit concerned with getting the original "Green Card" insurance document in time after booking the flight (Planning on Using MotoTouring in Milan). Glad to hear that a 'copy' is acceptable in Frankfurt. I have not had bike shipping pricing quoted from AC yet as they have not announced dates/pricing to date. Could you please share your costs?

Brian
(Just found this site the other day and signed up...Hoping this first post works!)

Thanks for description EvilEye - hope your tour goes well.
Brian - I'm shipping from Van to Dublin w AC in early May.
while details of AC FlyyourBike for 17 not out yet, I've been told they'll match last years price if I book before this year announced ($1200 o/w)
Like you I'm planning to get Green Card ins via MotoTouring in Milan.
cheers

Hopefully it helped everyone!


Total cost for me was $1140 I believe but I'll have to look at my receipt. They said I got last year's deal.


Vehoriding: I'll be leaving Holland the first week of May going towards Bulgaria as well, maybe we'll cross paths?

EvilEagle, I'm targeting May 3 arrival Frankfurt, then 1 week to get to Athens via Italy (Ancona-Patras ferry). Touring Athens for couple weeks with family, then north through Bulgaria/Romania in early June, then west into southern Germany/Austria/Italian Alps and a Concours Owners Group rally. Finally back to Athens via Croatia/Albania end of June were I will leave the bike for further adventures in 2018. Never know, maybe we will x paths!

Best Travels.....Brian

.....and thanks for the info Evil. I was quoted about $1000 CDN + the Dangerous Goods papers ($125 each way). Official rates and dates not announced yet. I'll get on their case this coming week.

Brian

I called 3/31 and was told updated info will be available in a week or so.

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2000 KLR650, beater wanting to become ADV bike. John Deere livery
2010 Goldwing Airbag tourer, of course it is yellow!

$1000.00cad one way is a great price considering I paid $800.00cad and $900.00cad for shipping two bikes from France to Montreal by boat.