I used BA a few years ago, no fuss about taking an unboxed/unbagged bike, left the tires inflated for the Denver-London leg, had to deflate the tires for the return trip. No charge for the bike for either half of the round trip. They've apparently tightened up their luggage policy since then, you have to call ahead and reserve a spot for your bike and put the bike in some kind of box or bag. They currently allow one piece of checked baggage (50 lb max) plus one piece of sports equipment free of charge between North America and Europe. Full baggage policy is on their website(
www.britishairways.com).
I used Lufthansa last year this time to go to Italy. No fuss about an unboxed bike, had to call a toll free number in Germany (the guy spoke excellent English) to reserve a spot for the bike. No charge last year but they have since instituted a charge and tightened up their baggage policies. Last year the rule was that you had to deflate the tires. I e-mailed with complaint when I got back home, they called me up and discussed the matter, a few weeks later they called me and said they had done some research and were changing the policy so deflating the tires was no longer necessary. Luggage/bicycle policy is on their website.
Both airlines required me to turn the handlebars sideways and remove the pedals, this was explained in their website.
Would it be worthwhile to make this thread a sticky?