Thought this was interesting and sad yesterday. Was in Burlington picking someone up at the airport and the oversized luggage window opened up. With Nationals in town thought it would be funny to see how many bike boxes there were being unloaded from the flight. Among the first boxes unloaded was a soft case which was placed on the bottom. Followed by a bunch of hard case dropped on top of the soft case. If that bike wasnt damaged I would be surprised! With what United charges for bikes that truly sucks.
Ugh. 
Pack it like eggs, then close your eyes and don’t look … it is never good!
:0( x2
.
I’m no airline apologist and I have more bad things to say about United than just about anybody on here, but I will say that stacking luggage on top of other luggage is totally reasonable. Every piece of luggage gets stacked on the baggage carts before loading, it gets stacked inside the baggage compartment of the airplane, and it gets stacked in the bag cart again when they unload it. If your luggage is so fragile that it can’t be stacked then it has no business being checked in as luggage.
Now if they were throwing it around or otherwise abusing it (which obviously happens a lot) then I’d be pissed. The rampers have neither the time nor the ability to analyze every piece of luggage and determine which ones are fragile and which aren’t. They don’t know what’s in your bags and as such your bags will and should be treated the same as every other bag. Even if they don’t throw or abuse it the bags will still be picked up and set down repeatedly, stacked up with other bags, bounced along across the ramp in a baggage cart train with no suspension, stacked again in the aircraft, bounced along in turbulent air for a few hours under that stack of bags and boxes, subjected to the same nasty hard landing that you feel, and then bounced along the ramp again before finally sliding down a couple conveyor belts before it gets to you. All of that is reasonable and expected and it will occur on every flight regardless of which airline you choose. It’s the passengers responsibility to pack it in such a way to endure all that.
The flying population has proven that, in general, they will choose their airline based almost entirely on which ticket is cheapest on whichever travel site you use or Southwest, also based mainly on ticket price. That may not be how you choose an airline but it is how most of the flying public does. Accordingly, the airlines have raced to the bottom to cut expenses to be able to offer the cheapest ticket. They all want to be the one at the top of the list on Orbitz or whatever. Most jobs, from rampers to maintenance to even pilots have been contracted out to other companies and always to the absolute lowest bidder. The person handling your luggage is the person who was willing to do that job for the absolute least amount of pay. Having that person recognize your soft-sided bike case and care enough to go the extra mile to treat it a little better than all the other bags would be great, but expecting it is foolish.
I’m not saying this is right, it’s not right at all and I despise the airline industry. Just saying you should expect the worst treatment for your luggage and pack your bike accordingly.
The flying population has proven that, in general, they will choose their airline based almost entirely on which ticket is cheapest on whichever travel site you use or Southwest, also based mainly on ticket price. That may not be how you choose an airline but it is how most of the flying public does. Accordingly, the airlines have raced to the bottom to cut expenses to be able to offer the cheapest ticket. They all want to be the one at the top of the list on Orbitz or whatever. Most jobs, from rampers to maintenance to even pilots have been contracted out to other companies and always to the absolute lowest bidder. The person handling your luggage is the person who was willing to do that job for the absolute least amount of pay. Having that person recognize your soft-sided bike case and care enough to go the extra mile to treat it a little better than all the other bags would be great, but expecting it is foolish.
I’m not saying this is right, it’s not right at all and I despise the airline industry. Just saying you should expect the worst treatment for your luggage and pack your bike accordingly.
Brilliant summary. Seriously. It’s all about cheap, cheap, cheap. The whole on-line discounting business for tickets has completely distorted the airline business and set it up for that race to the bottom.
I may be one of the few, who don’t take the first and cheapest choice that pops up on Expedia or Hotwire - I look very carefully at the carrier, the connections, the transit time, and if traveling with my bike, the bike charges before making the ticket purchase. The cheapest ticket, may prove to be quit costly in terms of dollars and time, when you start to factor in some of the variables that are key to me. We are lucky in Canada that both West-Jet and Air Canada have reasonable bike fees ( $50), with good connections obviously in Canada and to many destination in the U.S. For me there are often up-front less expensive options from American Carriers out of Toronto, but again, if you factor in bike charges, and some crazy, and wild, connections, I will gladly pay more for the Air Canada or West Jet option with a reasonable bike charge, a direct flight, and less time in transit!