We tried the Sun Country booking fee hack — with a bike

By now you may have heard about the Sun Country hack — show up at the airport to book flights and you can save $22 in hidden online fees for each flight segment.

Yes, but: Unlike other members of the media who tried the hack, I doubled down by saving $5 on parking and another $3 in gas.

• I biked about 20 miles round trip to Terminal 2 on a recent Friday afternoon, when the Sun Country check-in area was nearly empty.

By the numbers: I booked five tickets for my family to fly to San Diego and return from Palm Springs. We saved $220 in total.

Reality check: Biking there turned out to be a lot of work. Getting near the airport from Southwest Minneapolis wasn't bad, but the last stretch on 34th Avenue was white knuckles as motorists — not used to seeing bicyclists — zoomed by me.

• There are bike racks in the parking ramps, which were fine for a half-hour, but I would not leave one there if I was flying for a few days. There's no secure bike storage at the airport.

What to expect: The Sun Country agents were lovely. When this hack was first made public, agents weren't prepared . But the ones I talked to told me that they see a lot of in-person buyers now, so it went relatively smoothly.

• Still, telling an agent the flights dates, names of my family and their birthdays for two separate flights was long and tedious.

The bottom line: If you have some time to kill, the hack is worth it, especially if you are buying a bunch of tickets.

• Otherwise, just book online.