Having flown with hundreds of bikes over the years, and seen most ways of transporting them, tarping makes the most sense. There are better ways to protect a bike from baggage handlers but they are expensive and leave you with extra equipment to store/transport that you could not carry on your bike.

Bike bags are distributed by most airlines in Canada for free, and they are handy, but there is no guarantee that there will be one for you at the airport when you need it. One of the charter airlines used to distribute bike bags made from 2mm plastic--not much heavier than the plastic in dry cleaner bags. These didn't travel well.

Most airlines charge a hefty fee for transporting your bicycle. There is a way to deconstruct your bicycle so that it will travel for free. But this takes considerably longer (2 hours take apart, 1 hour back together). The best regular airline deal in Canada is Westjet at $30 per bike per flight (this price is slowly creeping up, so check). Air Canada charges $65 per bike per flight. US carriers are typically around $100 CA.

Its best to practice the art of bike tarping for flight at home so you have confidence that the system works, you know how long it takes and that you have all the necessary supplies you need. Once you have proficiency with the process, it should take about 20 minutes.

Do not attempt to ship full panniers on the bike when your tarp it. If the panniers are attached to the bike, they must be empty (or nearly). 

Once you have decided to tarp, you have two options:

• minimal disassembly to save time
• full disassembly to save $

Tarping a bicycle for flight with minimal disassembly

This is the strategy I recommend when cyclists travel on airlines with affordable bicycle transport policies.

Materials

• 8x12 ft camping tarp
• roll of 2" packing tape (duct tape is too aggressive)
• wire ties (green horticultural plastic covered wire tie that comes on a spool) 
• ID page.  (your name and the address and phone number of the destination).  Make one on your computer for both directions and save one for the return trip
• tool kit

Technique

Prepare the bike

• Clean your drive train before the tour so that packing the bike is a pleasant experience.
• Loosen the handlebars and turn them so that they are in-line with the frame.  You may find that the brake levers or bar end shifter stick out.  Try to rotate the bars in the stem so that these protrusions are least exposed (e.g., pointing down).  Retighten al bolts loosened during this processes.
• Remove the pedals.  The right pedal has a normal thread.  The left has a left hand thread (loosen by turning clockwise). Sow the pedals in a pannier attached to the bike if you have these.
• Detach the rear drailleur from the rear drop out and let it hang (no need to tie it up)
• Decrease the tire pressure until you can depress them with your thumb but not so much that the weight of the bike causes the tires to flatten.  I used to recommend against this but it is in the Civil Aviation Code.  Westjet is the only airline that I know that enforces it. 
• Mark the normal riding height on the seat post with a felt marker at the frame junction.  Drop the saddle down to the lowest it will go in the frame. 
• place roll of tape, wire and tools into your panniers so that they stay with the bike or stow in your baggage. 

Cover with Tarp

• Tie the long edge of the tarp to the frame with the wire tie material
• Wrap the 8 foot dimension of the tarp around the frame top to bottom then up and over again.  Secure with packing tape.  When placing the tape, fold over the ends so that the tape can be easily removed.
• Fold the end of the tarp towards the middle of the bike and tape again.  
• Tape the ID page to the outside of the tarped bike
• You are ready for check in. 

At the Airport

If you tarp your bike at home before being driven to the airport, you can usually move the bike about on a luggage dolly to check in.  Just lay the bike on top of your other baggage and steer the cart by grasping the bike on top.

If you are arriving at the airport by bike, find a quiet corner to retarp your bike.  If you are lucky, the airport will have a bicycle set up facility (Victoria & hopefully Calgary again).

The tricks to reattaching a rear derailleur are:

• getting the threads started square and not cross-threading. If the bolt on the derailleur feels tight as you turn it into the frame, you are probably cross-threading. STOP!!! 
• Rotating the derailleur back quite a ways before attempting to rethread into the frame. This moves the chain tension screw adjustment clear of the boss on the frame drop out.

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