I’m sure we have good and bad experiences with all the bags. IMO, it’s not the bag. It’s the airport and the airline. In the states, some tsa agents at certain airports will always mess with your bags. Some airlines will charge an arm and both legs to treat your bike like an awkwardly shaped shot put.
Regardless of bag (Thule Round Trip or Scion soft) TSA at SeaTac and LAX always leaves me a note saying they had to go through my bag. Thus, something will always be hosed. Without fail.
Denver and Salt Lake always flawless. Same with Vancouver BC.
The Round trip has a bike stand. I always take it regardless of the bag I take.
Depends on where I am going and which airline. If I am using SeaTac always use bike flights for at least half the trip. If it’s not clear, I think they are horrible. I will never put a bike through lax. Always bike flights.
I also never sign the airline waiver. You can’t charge me and take no responsibility. It takes an extra 20 minutes to argue but worth it. On one trip 3 out of 5 of us had bikes that were severely damaged. All 3 replaced by Delta airlines. We didn’t signed the waivers. Had them place notes in the account. You charge $150 to take my bike be accountable. Delta will have the manager on duty come by and type forever.
The two that didn’t have damage had the Thule.
FWIW, the Thule is a pain to navigate the airport and we rented large trucks just for the bikes.
In the winter I travel somewhere warm to ride once a month. 60% of the time I’d use cardboard and go bike flights before I use an airline or deal with TSA.