I vote for the Trico iron case. I used one all through the 90's and have flown 30+ times with mountain and road bikes with no damage to the bikes. With the case I've lost a strap which was easily replaced and have a crack in one of the corners that doesn' effect anything.
Since you work for the airline do you have to pay the over size bag fee? About 80% of the time I would go to the sky caps for check in and they would say my bike case looks more like a display case. Or they would just check it without charging the fee and give me a wink, wink. So I would give them a $10 tip and they saved me $40. After 9/11 that luxury went away.
Where are you located? I have my case that hasn't been used in ten years. If your intersted we can work something out.