Guides · Cycling in Taiwan
Flying a Bike from Korea to Taiwan, Baggage Rules and What It Actually Costs
Incheon or Busan to Taipei or Kaohsiung is barely over two hours and the fares are often cheap, but checking a bike can cost more than the ticket itself. Carriers price it very differently. Some stack a "special item" fee on top of per-kilo excess weight, while others charge a flat amount per item regardless of weight. Each flight also caps how many bikes it will carry, a limit that is rarely mentioned and matters a lot to a group. This guide sets out the current rules and figures taken from each airline's own site, how the charges add up, and which requirement is easiest to trip over.
How Air Busan, Jeju Air and T'way charge
Air Busan stacks its charges. Sports equipment costs KRW 10,000 per set (about NT$250), and one bicycle counts as one set. That fee does not depend on weight. The international free allowance is 15 kg, and anything above it on Taiwan routes is billed separately at KRW 15,000 per kilo. A road bike in a hard case often weighs 15 to 20 kg, and adding a normal suitcase easily puts you a dozen kilos over. At that point most of the bill is excess weight, and the KRW 10,000 is a small part of it.
Jeju Air also bills sports equipment separately. The fee is KRW 20,000 at the airport and KRW 15,000 if bought online, a 25% discount, payable up to 24 hours before departure. T'way uses a third approach, a flat KRW 20,000 per special-baggage item on international routes (NT$600 / US$20). Its site states that the fee is charged regardless of the free checked allowance, and refunds are only processed at the airport where you paid. Korean Air's bicycle rate could not be retrieved from its site for this guide, so confirm it directly with the airline's reservation centre before you fly and do not extrapolate from the other carriers.
Combined-dimension caps and packing requirements
The cap on combined dimensions (length plus width plus height) differs by airline and is easy to overlook. Air Busan treats anything over 203 cm combined as oversized baggage and bills it separately. T'way caps special baggage at 277 cm combined and does not accept items that reach 32 kg or 277 cm for checking at all, sending them to air cargo instead. Jeju Air allows 292 cm, the most generous of the three. Switching airline can turn the same bike case from a normal charge into an oversize fee, or into a refusal.
Packing rules are firm. Air Busan and Jeju Air both state on their sites that the pedals must come off, the handlebar must be secured, and the bike must go in a dedicated hard case with built-in padding. Sports equipment not packed to spec may be refused, and even if accepted, damage is not compensated. T'way accepts either a hard case or a heavy cardboard box. Motorised bikes with an engine, scooters and other equipment with a fire or explosion risk cannot be checked at all and must go as air cargo. Rules for e-bikes differ by airline because of lithium battery limits, so if you plan to bring one, confirm with the airline before booking rather than at the counter.
How many bikes one flight can carry
T'way's site spells out a limit that is rarely mentioned. On international routes, a single flight carries at most 7 bikes packed in cardboard boxes or 15 packed in soft bike bags. Anything beyond that may be refused, and the figure can be lowered further depending on conditions on the day. A team of eight to twelve riders all using cardboard boxes will not fit on one aircraft.
A group can declare the number of bikes to the airline at booking and get it confirmed, rather than finding out at check-in. It can switch to lower-volume soft bike bags to raise the number that fit, or split across two departures. This has to be settled before tickets are bought, because once everyone is booked on the same flight there is very little room to fix it. Other carriers may not publish the same figure, but every flight can carry only so many bikes, so ask before booking.
After landing in Taiwan, and the day you fly home
A bike box normally comes out on the ordinary baggage carousel, with no special collection lane. After clearing customs, follow the terminal signage or ask ground staff. The return leg needs more thought at check-in. Taoyuan Airport's self-service baggage kiosks only handle standard-sized luggage. A bike box or bike bag is rejected by the system and has to go through a staffed airline check-in counter instead. The location of the oversized-baggage counter varies by carrier, so allow more check-in time on departure day than an ordinary passenger would.
The return leg usually brings parts and souvenirs bought in Taiwan, and a bike that was unpacked on arrival has to be repacked. Sort out packing materials in advance. If you flew out with a reusable soft bike bag, reusing it is the easiest option. If you came with a cardboard box, it was most likely discarded at the start line and you will need to find another in Taiwan. All of this weight and volume counts toward the excess-weight charges described earlier, so work out how many kilos of allowance you have left before the souvenir shopping starts.
FAQ
Which airline is cheapest for carrying a bike?
There is no single answer, because it depends on your total weight. If you travel light, Air Busan's KRW 10,000 sports equipment fee is the lowest figure, but once you pass the 15 kg free allowance, KRW 15,000 per kilo on Taiwan routes pushes the total up fast. T'way's flat KRW 20,000 per item is charged regardless of the free allowance, so it is simpler to work out when your total weight is high. Jeju Air's online pre-purchase price is KRW 15,000, a 25% discount. Compare using "special item fee + estimated excess kilos × per-kilo rate" and do not rely on the first figure alone.
What does Korean Air charge for a bike?
We could not retrieve Korean Air's bicycle rate and size rules from its own site while compiling this guide, so no figure is listed here. Contact Korean Air's reservation centre (1588-2001) directly to confirm the fee, the combined-dimension cap, and whether advance registration is required, rather than extrapolating from other carriers. Asiana has been absorbed into the Korean Air group and its rules may still be consolidating, so ask it directly as well.
Do I need a hard case, or will a cardboard box do?
It depends on the airline. Air Busan and Jeju Air both specify a "dedicated hard case with built-in padding" on their sites, and note that equipment not packed to spec may be refused, with no compensation for damage even if accepted. T'way explicitly accepts either a hard case or a heavy cardboard box. All of them require the pedals removed and the handlebar secured. A cardboard box also costs you slots. T'way's per-flight cap is 7 bikes in boxes versus 15 in soft bags, so a group using boxes gets 7 bikes on a flight instead of 15.
Do these fees change every year?
Yes. Air Busan's excess weight charge on Taiwan routes was KRW 9,000 per kilo a few years ago and is now KRW 15,000, and its site notes the new rate applies "to tickets issued from 8 September 2025". That is an increase of about two thirds over the period. The figures in this guide are taken from each airline's current published rates, but fares and baggage fees are adjusted often, so check the airline's own current notice before booking.
Sources
Rules and road conditions change, so always check the official announcements before you travel.
Related guides
- Getting from Taoyuan Airport to the Ten-Day Traverse Start Line in Kaohsiung
- Bring Your Bike to Taiwan｜Airline Baggage Rules
- TPE Taoyuan Airport Bike Pickup & Transfer
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