Hi Everyone!
I was hoping some of you might have some ideas or advice on flying with my bike. I will be flying from Massachusetts to California for Sea Otter and I would like to take my own bike as opposed to renting. My plan was to purchase a bike bag for the airline and check the bike, although I know it will be expensive. Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated!
If the Handlers in the US are anything like in Europe don’t buy a bag, rent borrow or buy a box instead.
There is a thread somewhere on here about traveling with your bike….and one of the recent podcasts talked about some of the bike case options.
I would disagree with @HLaB here, though….the primary reason being a bike box doesn’t have wheels and trying to get it around an airport is a PITA. But they also don’t provide anywhere near the protection that a good travel case does.
I personally have a Serfas hard shell case and have used it for 15+ years. On the smaller size of cases today ( but think they updated the size in the last few years). Pretty basic in design, but never had any damage to my bikes, either through shipping or flying.
Last week’s podcast (late in the episode) was about flight travel. Give that a listen.
In addition to that, here are some search results worth a look:
Thank you @mcneese.chad for pointing me to the podcast! @Power13, it appears that a hard shell case would be better and I think I’d feel more assured traveling with that rather than a softer bag. thank you for your help!
My mates destroyed bike in Mallorca makes me very wary. My borrowed Bike Box Alan has wheels and the Scion box I borrowed before that also, actually every box I’ve seen has wheels 
Ah, I thought you were referring to a standard cardboard bike box when you said “bike box”. 
Yes, the cases you note would be pretty bombproof!
You are the man spot on precision…Thats what I needed as I’m searching info on this topic. Well done!