Yes, sadly. The bag is not only about getting it on the plane, but about getting the bag into a compact rental car.
So I have to start traveling more and more and more for work and one of my main issues with it is that I cant train.
Are there any bags that you dont have to remove your handle bars or adjust? I ride a 54 cm road bike.
Scicon and evoc have bags where you donāt have to remove bars.
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once on french airlines i just took my bike into 2 parts
Iām sure we have good and bad experiences with all the bags. IMO, itās not the bag. Itās 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 itās 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 canāt 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 didnāt 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 didnāt 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 Iād use cardboard and go bike flights before I use an airline or deal with TSA.
You mind saying more about this? Iāve had a number of fights regarding paying for bikes with airlines.
My view is similar, iām not paying extra money for an airline to not take responsibility to replace or to only provide $500 of coverage in case of an incident.
Okay with everything said on this string makes me really never ever want to travel with my bike let alone every month or more ugh.
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I have a Thule Round Trip Transition hard case sitting in my basement. From a protection standpoint it is outstanding and the integrated bike work stand is super cool, but I only ended up using it once. It is HUGE and I ended up having to rent a Suburban to fit it in with other luggage. If someone is interested in it, message me and perhaps we can work something out.
The other thing now is getting your bike and bag to 50lbs with a number of the airlines, including American, waiving bike charges as long as you make the weight. Itās not bad with a road bike but can be challenging with a mountain bike and really limit what else you put in the bike bag.
The new Evoc bag where you leave the bars on does look very convenient from a packing standpoint, but similar to the Thule, Iād be concerned about how bulk it is and it may be awkward to fit in some vehicles. I think Iād rather take the bars off and use an Evoc Pro which packs flatter.
Iām going to give the Scicon Aerotech Evolution X TSA hard case a go in early January for a trip to Maui with the road bike. This case has been heavily discounted at times and I picked it up under $500 back in the summer. It offers the protection of a hard case but is much less bulky than the Thule.
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I fly Delta 99% of the time. Ask for the manager on duty. She/he will come over note the account that you refused to sign and why. However, you have to know to ask and be politely insistent. My argument has been there is no way my bike should be treated differently than my other bags especially given Iām paying a premium.
Alaska made me sign a waiver for not signing a waiver. I do my best not to utilize their services. Thatās just me however. Some of my travel buddies love them.
Stick to Delta. Take pictures of your bike before itās packed. Take pictures afterwards. Always. It took a few weeks for them to get the cash but they got it. If you can prove the bike was packed well There shouldnāt be a problem. Just in case you have problems arrive a day early. Research the bike shops.
Hope it helps,
Polite Jerk!
Whole heartedly agree about the Thule. It fits a station wagon or mid size suv. I can get to exactly 49 lbs. itās a massive piece of plastic that is hard to move around.
Scion is good and is 40% off today.
Do you argue to only pay the oversize fee then and NOT the additional $50 or so for it being a bike.
Just read about this new EVOC
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How is the process of packing the bike in smaller cases like postcarry or orucase? I can imagine it is quite a pain to take out handlebars and fork, especially with (semi-)internal cable routing and disc brakes and such.
What are your experiences with that?
FWIW iām an over-researcher so thought Iād share some of my experiences.
Short answer: get the Pika Packworks.
Long answer:
Airline Elusiveness: The Pika bag is pretty non-descript. (ie all black) no big logos or another implying its a bike. So at the time it was able to skirt through under āexercise equipmentā etc. However, since most major carriers, American, Southwest, Delta etc. have gotten rid of their $150 fee each way and reduced it to $30, the āelusivenessā isnāt so important anymore. Leading to my next pointā¦
Weight: Itās light, and since the $30 only applies to bags under a certain weight, by using a lighter bag you avoid bumping over this threshold resulting in oversize fees. My 17 lb bike, bag and all accessories/tools easily come under the limit. In addition , what do you want to drag around an airport? While it doesnāt come with wheels, you can carry w/ a shoulder strap, slidde it around on the floor or, if you call the guy who makes it, heāll send you some wheels (for like 30? bucks.)
Shipping: Speaking of weight, for those who do not want to fly with the bike and go the Bikeflights route, remember itās a UPS/Fedex carrier service at discounted rates. Between weight and dimensions, the Pika is significantly cheaper than any other case, Bike Box Allan, Thule, Scicon etc. Iāve shipped it cross country with no problems. When asked, the Bikeflights reps all said they use the Pika for the same reason. Whatās also nice about this service is you can put a padlock on it and nobody will open it. So, if you donāt want to fly because of the TSA, might as well also save yourself some costs on shipping.
Ease of Packing: Ok, this may be a bit personally dependent and while Iām good at bike maintenance, If you are on this forum I assume you know how your bike works, its parts, and how to handle it. Wheels off, hangar off (optional), seatpost out, and bars off, nothing unusual. The bag has a spot for everything and is a tight fit which is nice and prevents the parts from flopping around. Sure, you have to take your bars off - but Iāve read many comments about the Scicon with bikes arriving with twisted hoods etc. Like a crash, the parts the furthest out get smacked around. So save yourself the hastle of trying to re-adjust your hoods/remove tape at your destination, and just take the one bolt out of the headset in advance 
Yes, Iāve read the new Evoc has more protection but for the cost of the bag you could buy a ātravel bikeā, plus there are more little pieces and parts in that bag than there are in the human bodyā¦
Protection: Most important right? Since the best way to avoid damage is to simply avoid impacts, why give the baggage handlers something to drop? Let me explainā¦ the debate between hard and soft cases since the thought is a hardcase provides more protection, right? Sure, this may be true, but an interesting fact I both heard and also witnessed on my last trip is baggage handlers (and the less-strong TSA/Counter agents) donāt like big, heavy, slippery hard cases. Try to wrap your arms around a slippery plastic hard case and youāll notice its very clumsy. Easy to drop and the lack of handles and the hard case gives handlers a false sense of ācontents protectionā resulting in it being tossing on the belt and floor a heck of a lot harder. Since the Pika has handles everywhere, and as strong as the handlers are, I watched as them lift it with ease, place it down on the floor gently, and easily place it on the belt at 3 diff airports, two of which are notoriously busy (LGA/MIA) - no additional jostling. Ultimately, Iād rather my soft bag placed gently than tossed in a hard case.
Also, since itās a tight fit, the parts when packed donāt move much if at all, preventing any sort of banging into eachother which would ultimately cause damage, and no protruding parts (think Scicon). My one suggestion is also to make a little cardboard piece for the inside top of the bag to provide a bit more rigid support, but as the bag is always sideways or right side up, its not a problem either way.
Also, I found that putting this adds one more layer of āugh i have to go through this as wellā for the TSA folks, so a quick unzip of the zipper (purposely positioned at the top) and a lift of the cardboard results in a quick visiual screen and if anything, the little TSA letter in the bag and nothing out of place when I unpack.
On the topic of waivers, Iāve never had to sign a waiver saying they wouldnāt cover damages and while I do believe that is the case, frankly, Iām not so concerned about any damages to begin with (and I <3 my bike) given all of the above. But if youāre concerned Iāve heard you could insure the bike under homeowners.
Storage: Since I have a small living space, I wanted to be able to squish it in a closet or under the bed and in short, yes, it fits under a bed/in a closet, which brings me to my next pointā¦
Versatility on Trip: How are you getting to and from your destination and what are you doing? Many larger cases will not fit in regular/compact cars (or cabs) that one would frequently rent on vacation, unless youāre renting/hiring an SUV which adds to the cost of the trip. On a recent trip, I rented a very small car (Chevy Aveo or something?) and it fit across the back seat no problem.
Multiply ease by the number of destinations/stops/times you have to do this, and you get real benefit
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@ deepakvrao if you are interested in selling an Orucase, I would love to by one from you - especially if you have a large size. Let me know!
Couple of potential transferable lessons / tips I learnt from taking my bike to California from the UK last June - using a borrowed hard case (no idea of the make - it was a rectangular old school style and pretty heavy duty):
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BA charge a fixed fee but if you then fly internal US flights using a through ticket with one of their āone worldā partners watch out for the American Airlines (and affiliates) sporting goods ancillary charge. Around May last year AA changed their policy and the rather ridiculous $200 charge was reduced to about $30 IIRC. I may have got these numbers a bit off but the order of magnitude was there or thereabouts. However not all staff are / were aware and I got charged the big number at LAX and was told tough luck - pay up or donāt fly. Luckily the US person I was staying with knew about the policy change and found the link for me that I then used to get a refund. AA staff at Fresno weāre aware of the change and charged me the correct fee on the return leg.
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TSA will definitely open your bike bag / box and on the outward leg they didnāt really repack very well. Worth bearing this in mind in terms of how you wrap up your gear. I bubble wrapped my derailleur and also used cheap foam pipe lagging tube cut to length and numbered with a sharpie to protect the stays and tubes - tied with twine so they could be re-used - definitely helped save my headset and handlebars after the TSA people poorly repacked
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allow a bit more time for faffing about checking in / collecting the bike box as at some locations you have to join a different queue for collection which adds time
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if youāve not travelled before with your bike, do a couple of dry-runs for breaking down, packing, unpacking and reassembly to get confident with the process and the pitfalls
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make sure you pack all your tools in a small bag and tape / tie to the bike or if small enough stow in a plastic bottle / bidon
Hope this helps 
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"TSA will definitely open your bike bag / box and on the outward leg they didnāt really repack very well. " When I lived in the States I would occasionally put some packaged goodies with a nice note on repacking in a ziploc in a place where the TSA folks could find it. Whether that was effective or not, Iāll never know. My issues were always exterior/case damage.
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They pulled my battery out of my seat tube for a trip Mexico. Took me a good 45 Mins to figure out why my di2 wouldnāt work and had to fish the cable out of seat tube they didnāt reconnect with a hangerā¦
I have both an orucase and evoc bag. My orucase is only for the rim brake road bikes. I have never had any damage on the carbon or aluminum bike. The evoc bag would be hard to break stuff.
Id recommend you go to your bike shop and get the foam they have from unpacking bikes and use it. I also use small velcro straps to hold things like my seat post to the frame against the foam and such.
Yes tsa will take your bag apart. I probably have a dozen or more trips with both bags combined. I sometimes get charged with orucase. Sometimes not. I do have status with southwest though. I always pay for oversized with the evoc.
Happy to answer questions on either.
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The Evoc bag is on my wishlist.
Iāve heard of people switching from hard cases to soft ones like the Evoc because TSA is tends to be careless in closing up hardshell case latches and straps. A hard case doesnāt provide adequate protection if it isnāt closed properly. Soft cases like the Evoc are easy (quick) to zip back up.
Also, baggage handlers will stack heavier bags on top of hard shell cases, but are more hesitant to do it with soft cases.
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I have not had luck when flying with my bikes. The first year the left brake lever was pushed in, the following year the bike frame was broken in transit by JetBlue. This was back in 2018 and thatās when I became very familiar with Contract of Carriage. Please read your airlineās Contract of Carriage very carefully as it clearly states the liability the airline is willing to assume when carrying your items. In the US, this contract is registered with the FAA. At least that was the case in 2018.
I learned the hard way that damages to bikes fall out of their liability clauses and that they are not responsible for any incurred damages. JetBlue did offer me a voucher for future travel but did not cover the cost of replacement or repair of the bike.
I know lots of people have traveled successfully with their expensive rigs, but be aware of what airlines will assume liability for and recognize that baggage handlers are good at packing airplanes quickly, not handling delicate items, like carbon bikes carefully.
And yes, I had carefully packed my bike in a Scicon bag with lots of additional padding to protect the frame and wheels. Perhaps TSA didnāt pack things back as carefully as they should have. Iāll never know, other than I had a damaged frame that I had deal with.