ill second everything steven (maasland) said.
however, not all airlines will let you just roll a bike on, which is my preferred method as well - though last year, when i flew sf > boston on my to europe, on continental, they told me they would have let me just roll my bike on! i was quite surprised.
if you do roll your bike on, remove your pedals - not for any damage-related reason, but to keep baggage handlers from riding your bike :)
if youre trying to pack your bike for *maximum* protection, though, i dont think id opt for a hardshell case - ive become increasingly distrustful of these, as over the past 10 years, seeing hundreds of foreign messengers arrive at the messenger worlds each year, i see more damaged bikes come out of hardshell cases than anything else.
if a soft case, bag or loose bike makes you fear for your bike too much, i would really take into consideration building your own crate out of the sturdiest cardboard you can purchase (even if that means double-layering), and a frame of 2" x 2" wood members, padded internally with foam as needed. a few people have shown up at the messenger worlds with cases built like this, and while a bit on the heavy side, the bikes inside have bee pristine upon arrival. the main thing is to brace the largest surfaces - the weak point of a bike box, whether cardboard or hardshell case, is the big flat side with no internal bracing - this is where the weight of other luggage will crush the box and your bike. this is what i would do if shipping a valuable vintage bike to a show or somesuch, personally... make my own crate so the only person id have to blame would be myself :)
since were talking about this stuff, i may as well pull a shameless
plug/request for more data - ive got a page ive been haphazardly
working on for a few years at http://www.blackbirdsf.org/
the airline flown direction of flight (ie us > europe, us west coast > us east coast, etc) year of flight how the bike was packed what charges were levied, if any
thanks!
-joel
--
joel metz : magpie@messengers.org : http://www.blackbirdsf.org/
i know what innocence looks like - and it wasn't there,
after she got that bicycle...