Yesterday I got my tally of clear-bag-flights-on-BA to three (or 2.5*). return trip LHR-HAMburg
Staff have been initially confused each time, but cooperated eventually. I haven't used any bubble-wrap etc.
Nice-LHR*: had to turn bars 90'. They somehow lost one water bottle.
LHR-HAM: the most helpful staff. No mods to bike. I taped rear der' to stay. rear light and mudguard both got a bit squished, neither terminal.
HAM-LHR: massive twat at check-in. He did eventually give in. required (and checked!) TOTAL deflation of tyres, no other mods. Same mudguard damage, one brifter slightly bent in.
Overall I found this all very stressful, but then I find all flying stressful (I average about 1 flight per 3 years of adult life).
Final irritation at LHR yesterday - the wombles stole my plastic bag!?! I moved a few metres to complete re-assembly, and at some point the bag got tidied-up, presumably as suspect trash
Flying is much easier with a "buddy" to stop this sort of thing, spot signage, etc etc ...
Summary: TOUCHES WOOD I see no reason to use boxes or hard cases (on trips where you would like to ride to and/or from the airport.)
I found it very difficult to organise the right objects between the bike and my hand-luggage (e..g you need your tools handy, but you need to pack them inside the bike-bag before you check it in! And you don't want to unfold your clear bag to show the staff until the last minute. And I keep forgetting to take a bottle off the bike to use during flight - I hate buying bottled water
) Others who faff less and have more organised brains won't have this trouble
Oh and re-attaching a rear-der' is an amazingly fiddly job with the chain still on. I need to rehearse this next time ...
At Hamburg last week, LWAB had two Moultons reassembled only a couple of minutes after I'd got my bike ready to roll. All about an hour after actually leaving the plane!
*Flight never left thte ground due to 2017 BApocalypse